Our friend, Scott, continued on with Jeff and I to the Netherlands to visit Amsterdam. We got in a little later than expected on Friday, and decided to check out the Van Gogh Museum first, as it is open late on Fridays. Although, I was not allowed to take any pictures...it was amazing inside. Many of his most famous paintings that I studied in high school and college were located here, like his famous self portraits. This leads us to "What Would Vinny Do?" as we stared at the paintings for so long...we thought Scott started to look like him! I wish I would have taken a close-up of Scott not smiling so you could compare it to this. It probably isn't as funny to you all, especially if you've never met Scott...but it had us laughing for quite some time. So after this, when deciding what to do we used Scott...I mean Vincent Van Gogh as our inspiration and the next thing you know, collectively we would all say, "What would Vinny do?" Is this funny to anyone but us? Too much of an inside joke to share? Oh well.
Near the Van Gogh Museum.
We woke up on Saturday to grab some yummy pastries, although Jeff accidentally got one with jelly in the middle, so he was pretty disappointed. We walked through a little bit of the Red Light District, which was pretty interesting to say the least. Without going into too much detail for those that do not want to read about this type of area, it was pretty tame in the daytime and only saw specialty shops and "coffee" shops. At night was a different story though...{Research at your own risk}
We enjoyed walking around the city, as it was a very liveable city. Although the transportation hazards were a different story. It was pretty comical walking around at first avoiding the trams, cars, and especially the bikes. It seemed like the bikes ruled the streets in Amsterdam. As I was complaining about them, in mid-sentence I almost got smashed by one of them. Insane.
Just a few of the bikes of Amsterdam
The canals were awesome, and reminded us of Venice...although definitely not as warm! We got lost around the city, as all the buildings and canals look alike. I finally got my bearings, and became the Momma Duck navigating the two guys around the city. We made it to the Anne Frank House, although the line was insane...so we thought we would try it later in the night (since it was open late on Saturdays). So fail #1...
Canals!
Humoring me with a photo...can you tell it is chilly?
I think this was one of the most European city "feels" that we've been besides Prague.
We grabbed some lunch at a fantastic burger shop and then grabbed a pint at a great little pub on the canal. It had great views, and you could tell the place would be really busy as it was basically in/on the canal.
Somehow this is the only picture of the three of us.
The little pub had a little lean to it...kind of like the tea shop we visited in Windsor.
We rushed back towards the hotel to go to Vondel Park before the sun started to set, as it does around 4:00. We were able to hang out there for a while before heading to another museum, the Rijksmuesum which was a modern art museum. Fail #2 came when closed in 20 minutes. So needless to say, we didn't visit that museum.
Next on the list was the Museum of Bags and Purses. And before you start thinking poorly of me for dragging two "grown" men through this museum, all I wanted was a picture outside of it. If you know me, you know my LOVE for bags and purses. Ahhh.... Anyway, it was almost comical as they were shutting their door right when we were taking our pictures, so you could call this Fail #3.
Now, we decided to go back through the Red Light District at night, which was quite the sight. Enough said about that, as I'll keep it PG. We went towards the Anne Frank House/Museum, as the last entry was at 8:30. Well, we got there at 8:26, and they didn't let us in...Fail #4. So we headed to a restaurant to have a nice meal and a few pints. We wandered around the city a little more, trying to soak up as much Amsterdam as we could. We ended our night shortly after, as Scott was flying out fairly early the next morning.
We got a lot of views of the canals at night since it gets dark so early
One of my goals was to put my feet in these giant wooden shoes...I found one better, one big enough to put my whole body in!
Jeff and I had a few extra hours in Amsterdam before we flew back to Nottingham, so we woke up early to get in line for the Anne Frank House/Museum. Note to those reading this in hopes to travel to Amsterdam...moral of the story, get tickets ahead of time to save yourself the hassle. We only stood in line for ~20 minutes. No pictures inside! It was amazing, and really moving. The museum was done nicely as there were videos of those that knew Anne, like her father and a friend in the concentration camps. We were able to walk through their hiding places, and see the rooms, just as they were left when the Nazis raided the house. The stairs were extremely steep, and reminded me of The Fault in our Stars, if anyone has read/saw that will know what I'm talking about. One thing about the experience in the house was that no one was talking. Everyone was taking in the story, memorabilia, experience of being in such a powerful place in history. When we visit churches, they are never that quite. Pretty intense.
Anne Frank's House
Close Up!
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to checkout, then head to the Heineken Experience, which was awesome. We visited the Guiness Storehouse back in February of this year, which was a completely different experience. Not only did I prefer the taste of Heineken better, but the "experience" was much more entertaining. We were able to learn about the history of the company, how it was made, and my favorite a virtual ride on the process of how their beer is made. It moved us through as if we were the ingredients and we experienced: bubbles, water, heat, and of course "pop" in the bottling experience. Very cool. We had a tasting experience, and were given two "free" pints at the end of our tour. Jeff was wearing his St. Louis, Cardinals hat, and a man came up to him from St. Louis (Living in England for about a month), and ended up knowing one of his uncles (Mark, that's you!). Pretty small world!
Photo props!
Inside the factory...lovin' the Christmas decor!
You can't see the horses, but there were a few in there!
Taste testing! Once the foam at the top is gone...the beer is flat & done. Good fact to know!
I end, with a selfie
Jeff and I hustled to the train station so we could get to the airport in time. We were cutting it close, but made it safely. Never thought I'd say this, but we were glad to be back in the UK weather.
Onto the next adventure...
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