Amsterdam -- Our Final Destination

Riding the train in First Class is very nice!  Leg room, big window, and we had the whole compartment to ourselves!  The train moves very fast, and both Ed and I nodded on and off.  It was a seven hour journey because we needed to switch trains, but overall, the trip went quickly.

Now we are in territory that Ed has been in before.  He has visited Amsterdam during business trips three times in recent years.  He had an idea about the trams, where to go and what to do.  We bought a 48-hour tram pass that would get us back and forth from our hotel to just about anything.

What I noticed VERY quickly is that Amsterdam can be a dangerous city!  There is a transportation pecking order (my term), and it goes like this -- Tram/Bus, BIKES, Pedestrian.  This means "get out of the way of the tram/bus/bikes" if you value your life!  Pedestrians are low on the totem pole!  Watch the lines painted on the street to know if you are in the pedestrian lane.  So once I figured this out, I was more aware.  But many times I would pull Ed or he would pull me to get out of the way of on-coming traffic!  Stressful!!  Let's go shopping...

A mirror inside a store -- our reflection

One terrible thing we learned when we were in Prague at the Jazz Fest was that the Malaysian Airline Flight MH17 was "blown out of the sky" over Ukraine.  We heard this from the performing group The Ploctones, who are from The Netherlands.  When we turned on the BBC news in our hotel room we confirmed this terrible news.  We observed in Amsterdam today the flags at half mast:

It is not easy orienting in this city.  Canals and amazing architecture everywhere!  We decided to go on an evening boat ride with Amsterdam Canal Cruises!  Now this was much different than the Berlin boat tour because we were going when it was getting dark.  It was a beautiful night for a boat ride!  Notice the low bridges -- just enough clearance for these boats!

  

  

  

 

The next full day was spent going to museums.  The Rijks Museum first.  Our hotel was able to purchase tickets for us, but we still had to go through the line to get official tickets.  We especially LOVED seeing Rembrandt's and Vermeer's, and those can all be accessed by the Rijks Museum link.

The Toilet Mirror - Joseph-Germain Dutalis, Louis Royer, 1828 - 1829

There was also a Calder exhibit outside the museum, so we walked all around:

 

 

This was really neat, but I got stung by a bee!  There were all kinds of flowers nearby, but I did not notice the bees.  Time to get some ice on it, so maybe it's also time for lunch!


We had a GREAT lunch at the Museum Café:

Then we went to the Van Gogh Museum.  All I can say is “AMAZING!!!”  So many pictures I have never seen.  They did not allow pictures inside, so this is all we were able to do:

Not the real thing!! It is only wallpaper...

We then walked all over the city but were on a mission.  Ed wanted to find his favorite restaurant he has visited on each of his prior three visits, Lucius.

We had the best seafood dinner we have had on this trip!

First, the appetizers

Ed's Meal

Martie's meal

Don't forget the amazing dessert:

 

And now we can work off some of this fabulous meal on our beautiful walk back to the hotel… 

 

Our wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime vacation is coming to a close.  There is not one favorite place or moment.  The ENTIRE trip has been fantastic.  Lots of memories, and I hope this blog conveys even a sliver of how much we have enjoyed our time together...

Last time up in the hotel elevator