Amsterdam 2

Having a real great time in Amsterdam exploring the city, the culture and the food, it is truly is a great city to visit.  The one major difference here is the "coffee shop" it certainly is not a Starbucks it is a whole different kind of place to take a break and the smells from these shops are every where (if you know what I mean).

 Notice the leaning buildings

And for the first few days I thought I was loosing my perspective on architecture as everything here is leaning.  I have never seen a city before where all the buildings are leaning one way or another.  It is because this city is built on reclaimed land and the soil is very unstable.  It certainly makes for some very interesting building sites.  But it is very pretty and the perfect city for the pedestrian, owning a car here would be a nightmare.  In fact you have to be on  a list for 5 years before you can get one, but not to sure why you would here.

Inside view of Rembrandt's House

Yesterday we went to the Rijksmuseum to see the Dutch masters of Rembrandt and Vermeer.  Their art is amazing to say the least, a bit somber, but amazing.  Then we went to the Anne Frank House, a very somber and sad place.  In fact Laurence got a bit teary eyed during some of the audio portions as her story is a very sad one.  Today we did more museums and a canal boat ride, which was the only disappointment here.  It was like taking a bad city bus on the water, it was crowded, loud and not enjoyable at all.  If you are planning on coming here it is the one thing I would give a miss.

Rembrandt Painting

Last night we enjoyed a very classy dutch meal of snert (pea soup) endive stompott and flaflip.  My father would have been in his glory with this meal, and so were we.

Got great news this week.  Barb Meads a great friend from Canada is now joining us in Australia in September with Susan.  Can't wait to play tour guide and catch up it will be so much fun.

And my mother and brother are joining us this weekend in Holland visiting the cousins in Dieren.  It is just like my brother to decide with about one day notice to bring mom to Holland to catch up with her family.  This is great news as mom really does need to connect with her family back here as they are all getting older and not so well to travel.  So we will be having a bit of a family reunion tomorrow at Connie and Leo's.