On Saturday 11-5 we awoke to a rainstorm and a bit of confusion because our friends and us had different times for the Van Gogh Museum. So we watch the rain from our apartment window and enjoyed good coffee and local croissants. We order our Uber ride to the museum and take off by ourselves.
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| Van Gough Museum |
At the museum we walked around the museum area in alternating sunshine and clouds. The Van Gogh museum is spectacular. It is dedicated to the works of Van Gogh and his contemporaries and located at the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. It opened in 1973 and was designed by Gerrit Rietveld and Kisho Kurokawa. The museum's collection is the largest of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. Last year the museum had 1.9 million visitors. We were lucky being one of the first in for the day we went backward and saw the top 2 floors with virtually no other people. That all changed as we got to the first floor. Admission is limited and the line can be very long. So after a visit to the museum cafe in the museum for good coffee.
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| 3rd floor of Van Gogh Museum. No people |
It took us well over three hours to go through the three floors and special exhibits a wonderful experience. As we were leaving we were greeted by our friends who were just arriving and another rain shower, but we took refuge under the eves of the building and listened to a musician playing for the crowd. We then walked a short distance to a cafe, the Pompa, for a wonderful salmon salad and then back to our apartment.
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| Lunch at Cafe Pompa |
On Saturday there is a farmer's market, the Noordermarkt, in the square directly on the other side of our apartment so not to miss trying to be a local we were off for raspberries, croissants and quiches for the next days breakfast. The Noordermarkt is so popular, that it draws crowds not only from the nearby Jordaan, but also from the whole city and from distant cities. People can buy fresh healthy food and the market has became a real social phenomena and recently a book (in Dutch) has been published about it.
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| Baked goods at farmers market. |
As we were walking back to our apartment we noticed one of the local pubs was very crowded and when we circled back a few minutes later a hearse had pulled up and everyone was out on the street singing we assume to the deceased who probably was probably a frequent visitor to the pub before passing from this life.
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| Saying farewell. |
We take it easy for a few hours and listen to the music coming from the Noordermarkt to the living room of our apartment. We are then off to a special dinner aboard the only antique riverboat in Amsterdam which has been transformed into a charming sailing fine dining restaurant. The Henry Schmitz, was built in 1898 and sailed as a ferry on the Rhine river. Then is was completely restored in 2000 with teak and mahogany, combined with the beautiful copper bar and comfortable red upholstered chairs which gives the boat a very warm and classic look and a very cozy intimate atmosphere.
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| Our dining compartment |
The dinner was excellent, Ed and Linda brought a special wine from one of our outings in California and the dinner is first class. We cruise the canals of Amsterdam with extra lights on buildings because it is a once a month museum night when all the museums are open and there are large numbers of people are out. We have the only table for 4 at the stern of the boat that almost feels like a private event. Since the boat has no galley on board we stop several times at a caterer for the next course. As we finish we dock and walk home and as we open the door to our building it starts to rain. Time to end the day.
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| Amsterdam at night |
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