Sunday May 3, 2015 - Arrived into town just before 9:00 am. We pulled our suitcases the mile from Centraal to our apartment, along sometimes very narrow passageways that we were also to share with bikes! The cobble stones were uneven and resulted in tricky maneuvering of the suitcases. Several times, I thought I had lost a wheel for sure! The apartment is in a quiet little area just off Jordaan area. We texted Eric, who was at Ann Frank house. We were to meet in a sandwich shop I’d found in my research. After about an hour wondering the streets, most of the time not having a clue as to where we were, we found the shop. Unfortunately, it had started to rain and the shop had no indoor seating. A quick, or not so quick regrouping, hard to do with text messaging only, we met Candy and Eric at their hotel. It was a beautiful hotel and elegant room! We left there to find a lunch spot.

We ate lunch at a marketplace, in a restaurant that had been a castle at one point in history. We ate outside, may not have been the best choice since it was very damp although there was a canopy cover. We went in after we were finished and the inside was beautiful, old and nicely restored.

We walked the streets briefly to a wine bar Candy and Eric had found the night before. We had a very nice glass of wine and conversation. Wayne and I were ready to head back to our apartment. It had been a long day. On the way home we bought tram tickets for 7 days.

After an hour nap, it was only 6:00 pm so we got up and walked to the Jordaan area and discovered a grocery store, cheese store and wine store in the area. Great find. A couple bottles of wine, 4 types of cheese and crackers, plus croissants for the morning, we were set. Home to wine and cheese and preparations for the new day!

Monday May 4, 2015 - We have Van Gough Museum on the schedule. Our tickets were for 9am, the same time the museum opens. Since our body time clocks are not yet adjusted, we woke up very early. Wayne found the proper tram #5 starting at the Central Station to get us to Museumplein where the three largest museums are located. We decided to go on past the museum and see some of the city. We ended up going to the end of the line, the southern part of Amsterdam, beyond Station Zuid. We were amazed at the number of people on bikes everywhere. In the city it made sense, small streets with no parking or heavy traffic. Even in the suburbs, people took bikes. The trams here have no provision for taking a bike like Portland. Consequently, we were also impressed with the fitness level of everyone! It made me reconsider how I get to work. We got back to the museum with time for a cappuccino. The lines at the museum were long but with our timed entry we got in very quickly.

The Museum itself was beautiful. It was light and airy. It explained Van Gough’s life very well. The progression of his life, his art, his friendships or lack thereof with other artists and his mental disease were all part of his lonely life. There were several hands-on exhibits. These discussed his technique for using colors. He used many colors and left it to the eye to perceive the overall color. At that time there were limited pigments and they were expensive. I did not know Theo, his brother was an art dealer. After Van Gough had tried other fields and failed, he returned to his parent’s home to become an artist. He trained himself, observing the works of other artists. Theo died just weeks after Van Gough, he died of syphilis. It was Theo’s wife who had the belief in Van Gough’s talent and sold his pictures and promoted him to the world after his death.

We came home via tram line #3. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some lunch supplies, (I bought the best cheese ever! Gouda with truffles!). We went back to our apartment briefly and then set out to try to find Candy and Eric. We had decided we would try a canal ride together in the afternoon. Again, texting seemed to be a problem. We suggested they have lunch while we walked to the Centraal Station. We were not able to contact them again for 2 hours. Wayne and I by then had chosen a boat and unable to contact them, we went ahead and did our canal trip. We were half done and finally our texts were exchanged. We met after the ride. We came back to our apt. Wayne and Eric had stopped at a wine shop on the way back to our place.

The canal ride was nice. The sun was warm and I got sleepy. It was interesting seeing another view of the city. It began in the waterways north of Centraal Station, the former harbor. We saw NEMO, the science museum and the entrance to the tunnel under the waterway. We then looped through central Amsterdam, ending up in Prinsengracht Canal. We had not spent much time in that part of the city. We went past Anomaly (the ad agency where Geoff worked) and thought of Geoff.

Candy and Eric left to walk back to their hotel. The Holland King was in town for May 5 Liberation Day. They hung out with the crowds for a while. We missed that!

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