will WE play in Peoria?

The last two trips we’ve taken, I’ve missed out on going to a museum I wanted to see. I was not going to miss the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.

                        After breakfast, the makeshift team of bikers said our goodbyes and each went off their own way. Bill and Kaitlyn put me in a taxi to drop off our suitcases at our hotel then go to the Van Gogh museum without them. They went to the Nemo. It’s a big hands-on science museum aimed at kids. Perfect for the two of them.

                        I got to my museum 20 minutes before it opened. There was already a line. I thought maybe that was because it is Museum Weekend. We assume that Museum Weekend means free admission to the area museums. Maybe to some of them… but not to the Van Gogh Museum. (And Bill said not to the Nemo, either.) Inside was packed with people. But since I didn’t have to worry about a bored 4 year old or a bored 39 year old, I didn’t let it bother me. I bought the audio guide and took my time. I enjoyed watching the progression of Van Gogh’s paintings as I progressed through the museum. But when I reached the ones from when he was so depressed just before he took his own life… I nearly cried. I was so moved by the darkness on those canvases. When I told Bill that, he thought I was just silly. But it’s true.

                        The three of us met back up for lunch. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Not really one of the world’s greatest eateries. But the idea of American food was too alluring. Kaitlyn ordered mac and cheese. We ordered burgers. And nachos for an appetizer. Service stunk. We spent as long there as we’d have spent eating at a restaurant here in France. But we were determined not to let that bother us. We did our best.

                    We finished off our stop in Amsterdam at the Heineken Brewery tour. We’re model parents – red light district and a brewery. We got in with just under an hour to do the tour, which we thought would be plenty. We were actually a little rushed. Mostly because we couldn’t manage to down our three beers each in that time… since you aren’t allowed to carry your beer around with you! The “ride” where you “become” a bottle of Heineken in the brewery was silly.. but not as silly as the 3-d movie at the Chartreusse tour!

                        We were too tired to do much more. We went back to the hotel and watched Flushed Away then the Dutch version of Dancing with the Stars. That was at least entertaining; it was fun to try to guess which was the star and which was the real dancer. For dinner we ordered room service. Kaitlyn thought that was pretty neat – order your food and they bring it right to your room!

                        All in all, this has been a good trip. I’m ready to go home and get some sleep.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2007 at 9:06 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.