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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Return to the source

Amsterdam.
Mmmmmmmmm.  I don't know what to make of it.

It was good going away for the evening, and it was good to stay in Amsterdam for a change.

The hotel, Dikker & Thijs, was good, central, large rooms, and coffee & tea making facilities which ring my insomniac-bell to accompany my nighttime reading.

We started off at Felix Meritis, which is just lovely.
Quiet.
Stark and bare.



They had beer.
Nice ones.

Then to the Van Gogh museum, and I happen to like the fact that Vincent van Gogh couldn't decide on a particular genre, and was a bit of a non-fitter-inner like me.
Searching for his place in the world his whole life (and I sincerely hope I won't end up like him, although an asylum in the South of France is sounding more and more appealing).
The husband wasn't impressed though.

Then stroll stroll stroll through the city, walking to the Jordaan (an area in Amsterdam with old labourers' homes) for dinner.



Tin Pan Alley it was - salad and tuna steaks with noodles and vegetables.
South African wine.
Lots of it.

A tipsy stroll back to the hotel.
It was far.

Sleep. Just a bit.

Breakfast at Bagel & Beans on the Keizersgracht, then a visit for more coffee with French/Dutch friends Marc & Edith.
Tram to the Rijksmuseum.
Saw the Night Watch.
Check.

And home we went.
Glad to be back.



Amsterdam is an odd conglomeration of people.
They all have their own outspoken opinions.
Elbowing each other out of the way to make space.
And as lovely as it is, I don't feel the need to go again in a very long time.

But it was lovely to get away, our last opportunity to do so for a loooooong while.




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