Amsterdam

Autumn has come to the Netherlands.  I was startled to see the leaves start falling last week already, and I  had to remind myself that the NL is several degrees farther north than the PNW.  The temperature has dropped to about 60 degrees farenheit, and all the locals have dug out their coats and swapped their frothy scarves for scarves that might actually keep their necks warm.  As Seth puts it, it's good football weather. 

 

I was going to stun all my readers with beautiful pictures of our Amsterdam journey last weekend, but it turns out that a bus window is not the best way to see a city.  We signed up for a bus and boat tour because it promised to show us the most of the city.  I don't think their ideas of important matched up so well with our ideas of important.  For instance, I got the shock of my life while we were driving through a red light district (apparently there are three) when I saw a young woman posing in a window.  At first I thought she was a manikin for a lingerie shop.  Then we made eye contact.  That will bring the reality of legalized prostitution home in a hurry.   And we really didn't need to know where the most expensive houses in Amsterdam are.  The tours are mostly designed to show you where the sights are.  They don't really give you a chance to see the sights. 

 

 

We spent two hours on the bus, took a break for lunch, and then spent an hour on the boat.  By that point, the Boo had had enough, so we stopped at a candy shop and called it a day.  So my advice if you want to tour a foreign city would be figure out where you want to go, figure out how to use the public transportation, and then go where you want to go.  You'll save money, and you'll go where you want to go.  That's what Seth plans to do once we've gone home and he doesn't have to worry about the attention span of a four-year-old.  Am I jealous?  Yeah, a little. 

 

Here are some of the pictures that I did get:

 

This is Amsterdam Centraal Station where we arrivd a little after 9 o'clock in the morning to begin our tour.  We were kind of confused by the clocks at first until we realized that the one on the left tells wind direction, which given the number of boats moving in and out of the square in front of the station makes perfect sense. 

The Shipping House, a.k.a. the House of a Thousand Windows, once guardian to Amsterdam's Old Harbor. 

Sculptures of Renaissance and Classical gentlemen.  I found it ironic that they are on the outside of the Museum of Modern Art. 

Point of interest: the buildings alongside the canals lean when air gets at their support posts.   

Old and picturesque defense tower.

The shortest canal in all of Amsterdam.  I love taking pictures of water.

This is how you get Rembrandt to take your picture.  The windmill in back is called "Rembrandt's Windmill" because he often went there for inspirtation. 

 

The Rijks Museum, national art museum of the Netherlands.

The Van Gogh Museum, which our tour guide called the "Van Gog" museum.  I thought Van Gogh was the Dutch pronunciation.  Maybe not.  This is one of those places that Seth will be coming back to.  I told him to get me a poster.

The N.E.M.O. or science and technology museum. 

The Tower at the Sharp Curve in the Wall which has somehow become The Weeping Tower over time.  The names in Dutch are very similar.  One devolved into the other.  Still, the name "Weeping Tower" sounds like it would have a story behind it, and it doesn't. 

The Royal Palace

Boogaloo tackles an enormous shoarma hamburger, and yes, she did finish the whole thing.