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izmeinaIzzie's being a lazy serpent this morning and lurking about her sister's Lair. Got the place all to ourselves. Could not resist an opportunity like that!
Original plan was to trek off to the Hague for the day to visit the Escher Museum. But the choice of Tuesday - which we'd decided on even before leaving Oz was based on several assumptions - some of which turned out to be erroneous. The first - that many museums are closed on Mondays was correct. But the other - that the baby sitter turns up on Wednesday afternoons was not. Or rather - not this particular week. So the need to take advantage of that afternoon to go slinking about with the Izzie sister was no longer an issue and the fact that they are both at their mummies and babies play group from 10am until 11.30 or so today was just the excuse we needed to lurk about and catch up on our online squiggles.
Really must try bringing this laptop upstairs to see if the wireless works but somehow suspect that it doesn't reach that far. Since they have their main evening meal from around 8.30pm or so until 10 (A pair of foodies big into the art and rituals of cooking) unlike in the Izzie Lair - evening times are not really suitable for online lurking. So we got to make the most of the odd morning that we can snatch like today and Saturday
So, tomorrow will be Escher Day and today will go into the city around 1pm or so and spend the afternoon visiting the Vincent Van Gogh museum and slinking about the canals. Unlike Dursleyville - Amsterdam is one of those cities that is particularly pretty in the evening. Is also amazing what a difference it makes - the one hour of daylight saving. It would not be correct to say that the sun sets at around 7.20 pm since it's only done that once in the last five days. It doesn't rise very often either but just hides behind the clouds. Funny to have a very gorgeous sunrise and sunset on our first day but not a single one since.
This particular area is very pretty and green and near some nice canals. It's also a five minute walk from the Number 5 tram which is only a 20 min trip to Central Station and passes all the prettiest places in the city. It stops right outside most of the major museums and is just perfect for getting an overview - a sort of sample of the city.
This place has the advantage of being very quiet (apart from the planes) but being so close to transport. The big minus is the drab greyness and sheer fugliness of most of the buildings. Just as well there's lots of greenery to admire because the architecture is about as far from Gaudi and Hundertwasser that you can get (Wonders if there's a Dementor School of Architecture?)
There's a local museum with the intriguing title of Cobra but there's nothing snaky but the name. Seems to be the Dutch equivalent of Bauhaus - and equally soulless and miserable
So strange really. Even if there was not a single museum in the city, could spend hours slinking along the canals and drooling over the old buildings. There are far more dull grey and brown ones than we expected - even in the city but still plenty of quirky and colourful gems to make up for it. Not quite as quaint and quirky as Lubeck but a pretty good substitute nevertheless
But the other big attraction is the munchies. Cheese and chocolate heaven! There's plenty more here than the stereotypical tasteless oversalted plastic Goudas and Edams. The Dutch are a strange folk who have got their priorities right. Unlike the rest of the world, they export their junk and keep the best stuff for themselves!
Original plan was to trek off to the Hague for the day to visit the Escher Museum. But the choice of Tuesday - which we'd decided on even before leaving Oz was based on several assumptions - some of which turned out to be erroneous. The first - that many museums are closed on Mondays was correct. But the other - that the baby sitter turns up on Wednesday afternoons was not. Or rather - not this particular week. So the need to take advantage of that afternoon to go slinking about with the Izzie sister was no longer an issue and the fact that they are both at their mummies and babies play group from 10am until 11.30 or so today was just the excuse we needed to lurk about and catch up on our online squiggles.
Really must try bringing this laptop upstairs to see if the wireless works but somehow suspect that it doesn't reach that far. Since they have their main evening meal from around 8.30pm or so until 10 (A pair of foodies big into the art and rituals of cooking) unlike in the Izzie Lair - evening times are not really suitable for online lurking. So we got to make the most of the odd morning that we can snatch like today and Saturday
So, tomorrow will be Escher Day and today will go into the city around 1pm or so and spend the afternoon visiting the Vincent Van Gogh museum and slinking about the canals. Unlike Dursleyville - Amsterdam is one of those cities that is particularly pretty in the evening. Is also amazing what a difference it makes - the one hour of daylight saving. It would not be correct to say that the sun sets at around 7.20 pm since it's only done that once in the last five days. It doesn't rise very often either but just hides behind the clouds. Funny to have a very gorgeous sunrise and sunset on our first day but not a single one since.
This particular area is very pretty and green and near some nice canals. It's also a five minute walk from the Number 5 tram which is only a 20 min trip to Central Station and passes all the prettiest places in the city. It stops right outside most of the major museums and is just perfect for getting an overview - a sort of sample of the city.
This place has the advantage of being very quiet (apart from the planes) but being so close to transport. The big minus is the drab greyness and sheer fugliness of most of the buildings. Just as well there's lots of greenery to admire because the architecture is about as far from Gaudi and Hundertwasser that you can get (Wonders if there's a Dementor School of Architecture?)
There's a local museum with the intriguing title of Cobra but there's nothing snaky but the name. Seems to be the Dutch equivalent of Bauhaus - and equally soulless and miserable
So strange really. Even if there was not a single museum in the city, could spend hours slinking along the canals and drooling over the old buildings. There are far more dull grey and brown ones than we expected - even in the city but still plenty of quirky and colourful gems to make up for it. Not quite as quaint and quirky as Lubeck but a pretty good substitute nevertheless
But the other big attraction is the munchies. Cheese and chocolate heaven! There's plenty more here than the stereotypical tasteless oversalted plastic Goudas and Edams. The Dutch are a strange folk who have got their priorities right. Unlike the rest of the world, they export their junk and keep the best stuff for themselves!
