Tuesday 9.28.2010


A Better Day in Amsterdam

It is better, but not by much. We wake up to gray skies this morning and while the rain has stopped, there is still a bit of drizzle from time to time. For breakfast this morning Peter is doing New York (New Amsterdam?) so we have bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, sliced tomatoes, onions, Dutch cheeses and the usual supply of bread, cereal, fruit, yogurt, coffee and juice plus homemade apple turnovers. These breakfasts are saving us a lot of money on lunches.

Today we are joined by a fellow from Phoenix who is an international tax expert working with American companies trying to figure out how much they have to pay in overseas taxes. He has taken to B&Bs late in his working career to soften the pain of constant travel. There is also a young couple from Manchester England who are very pleasant. Peter, of course, leads the band. Before we leave we give him the “pink” shirt and he will blast it with bleach while we’re out.


We work our way across town following this canal and then that canal, past Rembrandt’s house, a few brave street entertainers, some art displays and finally to the Dutch Resistance Museum. This very impressive museum tracks the experiences of the Dutch people through the WWII years with documents, films and anecdotes from some of the participants of the resistance. Your life expectancy was shortened dramatically if you were a member of the resistance. We think this will be a quick stop but we wind up spending a few hours here.


On our way back across town we do a bug-eyed, jaw dropping tour of the red light district. It is mid-afternoon and about half of the red lights are on with the working ladies posing suggestively in their display windows. Each window is really a little door that opens for negotiations and it would appear that there is a small bed and sink behind the door. The workers come in all shapes and sizes and colors and ages—something for everyone. John normally has very little patience for shopping but today he seems content to continue browsing. While on this part of our tour we also pass multiple “coffee” shops and develop a bit of a buzz sniffing the fumes wafting through the open doors.

Back to business. We have pre-purchased tickets for a 4:15 entry into the Anne Frank House museum. There is a very long line of folks who don’t have tickets hoping for a chance to get in. We go to the other door and, even though we are 10 minutes early, the fellow there lets us right in. They let people in at half hour intervals so we are 20 minutes behind the group in front of us and 10 minutes ahead of the group behind us. Perfect.


Everyone knows the story, but to poke around the house itself with real pictures and videos of friends and relatives brings it to life. It is the number one tourist attraction in Amsterdam and we find it to be a nice complement to the Resistance Museum that covered the same era. We spend about an hour in the house and are slowed a bit by a small Japanese tour group (about 30) who plow their way past us.


When we get back to our room Peter provides us with a bit of ice (rare in these parts), a dinner recommendation and a newly laundered shirt that is a lot better than it was yesterday. We explain our theory of “No good deed goes unpunished” to him.


Our dinner spot, Cafe Restaurant de Reiger, is about a ten-minute walk across three canals and down some beautiful back streets. We get a small carafe of wine and Mary has a beef filet with bleu cheese sauce and rosti potatoes and John has the local favorite spare ribs with garlic sauce, veggies and fries. Two really good dinners with wine for 52 euros so we are definitely not in Oslo any more.


It is a spectacular walk home with the stars starting to peek through the clouds and all the canal bridges fringed in lights. There is a party in full swing on one of the houseboats in the canal and we make ourselves very visible, but no invitation was forthcoming. Too bad. Still a good night and early to bed.


Today’s weather: Cloudy with occasional drizzle. Low 48, High 53