Neil and Audrey O’Connor were colleagues of ours back during our working days but we have actually gotten much closer to them since our retirement as they have come to visit us in Paris, Mexico City, Madrid, New Orleans, Kyoto and now Amsterdam. Their daughter Kelly arrived one day before they did.
Neil and Audrey arrived at 12:30 after their overnight flight from Boston and they have two museums and a restaurant booked for the rest of the day. These two always hit the ground running literally and physically. We are prepared to share many walking miles with them.First museum is MOCO at 3pm. MOCO is short for modern contemporary and they have museums in Amsterdam, London and Barcelona.The first two pictures are by Robbie Williams. From the museum’s web site, “Robbie Williams is the celebrated singer-songwriter and former member of the iconic English pop group Take That with a distinguished solo career. With a charismatic stage presence and evocative lyrics, he has brought the world together with chart-topping hits. Williams has consistently reinvented himself, solidifying his status as one of the UK’s most enduring and versatile pop icons. Today, he continues to make headway on a journey that began during his first stint in rehab in the ’90s, transforming inner demons into self-loving angels.” Continuing, “His down to earth, vulnerable yet bold visual language illustrates his personal struggle with external pressure, shame, fear, and other inner demons. Through time, resilience and a creative renaissance, he can now proudly say: “the things that destroyed me also made me successful”.Classic Banksy.
On to Van Gogh at 4:30pm.Almond Blossoms by Van Gogh 1888-1890.Of all the museums here most of our guests like the Van Gogh Museum best. Vincent Van Gogh was a troubled soul who was institutionalized several times during his life. He had a very strong bond with his brother Theo who was the one that encouraged him to paint. The exact circumstances of his death at 37 is still mysterious, and various theories have been proposed. however it is widely accepted that he died of a self inflicted gun shot wound to the chest. His brother Theo died just six months later of syphilis at the age of 33. It was Vincent’s sister in law Johanna Van Gogh Bonger, Theo’s wife who promoted Van Gogh’s work posthumously.This is a natural wine bar. It was named after the sound one makes while swilling a glass of particularly light wine. It was on Kelly’s list of things to do but on this particular night we did not have enough time for a sample before making our dinner reservation. Kelly chose to eat at De Kas Restaurant, her second reservation.De Kas is located in a chic 1927 garden conservatory and serves Mediterranean dishes made from organic ingredients grown on site. We browsed the greenhouse while waiting to be seated. Opening in 2001 De Kas became one of the first plant to plate restaurants. The restaurant tagline is “harvest in the morning, on your plate in the afternoon”.Our table was situated overlooking the garden where we were able to watch a stork feeding her young in a nest.DE Kas (dutch word for greenhouse) is ranked #8 among the 23 Michelin Star restaurants in Amsterdam. We had some complimentary chef samplings before our 4 course menu, one sampling was tapioca crackers with celery dip and it was amazing. The food is presented to the table by either waiters or chefs themselves. I believe you need to book this restaurant two to three months in advance. Thank you Kelly for finding this gem.On Sunday Kelly left us to do a bike tour in the north of Holland. We had breakfast with Neil and Audrey at Pluk Restaurant. This was Sandy’s dish of yogurt with chia seeds, nuts and fruit.After breakfast we took a walk to Vondel Park which we have described in previous blogs.Waiting in line to get into Hermès. The glass block building was amazing.While Audrey, Sandy and Neil shopped Jim took a nap on a street bench.Audrey finally purchased the Louis Vuitton carry on size luggage she has been craving for about the past 8 years. It is red with a subtle LV logo. Tres chic.Audrey and Neil booked us for a two hour small group canal cruise with Captain Storm who navigated and narrated as we had drinks and snacks that he provided.We all loved it despite the fact that Audrey looked a bit bored in this snap shot.We asked Captain Storm to go by our apartment and he was delighted to reroute and show everyone on the boat where a local lived. Our bay windows are on the top of the building just to the left of Sandy’s head.This is a photo of the famous 7 bridges in the Amsterdam canal. At this spot the canal is crossed by seven bridges ( #31,39,40,72,73,74 and 81) that line up and all seven can be seen best together from a canal boat. All are single arch bridges and at night they are lit up which adds to their romantic and magical character.Sunset over Oudezijds Voorburgwal Canal (OZ canal) which runs through the very middle of De Gallen, Amsterdam’s red-light district. The Oudekerk (Old Church) is seen on the right side of the photo.Neil is all smiles in the red-light district. We love that they have an AED (circled in photo) available in case of need. We wonder how many times this has gotten used.We had dinner at an Eritrean Restaurant Asmara which has become our most dined place. We just have the chef prepare his choice for us and it has always been very good. This was our fourth time back. We made it back to Glou Glou natural wine bar that was on Kelly’s to do list but Kelly was on her bike tour. We went to The Doubletree Hilton sky lounge for a drink to escape the rain and enjoy the views.This building with the flags is a hotel that we can see from our front windows.We could see our building from here.The wisteria vines are in full bloom now and so fragrant.Neil and Audrey treated us to a delicious meal at Pesca which is an innovative fish restaurant. There is no menu, instead guests choose and create their own meals of fresh fish from the fish market where the catch of the day is displayed at the front of the restaurant. You then go to the wine store and chose your wine then you are assigned a seat and a waiter brings you the prepared fish and side dishes that you have chosen. It was very delicious and a unique dining experience.Audrey planned a nice walk to see some interesting and rare houses. This house on 57 Reguliersgracht was built in 1879 and is done in German medieval style. It has a wooden facade which unites wood, brick and fancy plaster work.At 92 Reguliersgracht is a corner house which dates from 1675. Allegedly a midwife in the 17th century had her business here advertised by the stork. Storks are quite a common symbol in Amsterdam and are displayed in windows of families when a new baby has been born.
Unfortunately the weather never got warm enough for us to do these peddle boats.Part of our walk took us by the Intercontinental Amstel Hotel. The building overlooks the Amstel River. This is a five star luxury hotel with rates starting at 559 euros a day. It has 55 rooms and 24 suites High Tea is served in the Cafe everyday.This is a picture postcard of the hotel in 1906.Our canal boat ride Captain Storm told us to go to this brewery and try the IPA, so of course we had to try it.A toast to Captain Storm.Dinner tonight was at Cafe Restaurant Amsterdam located in Westerpark. It is housed in a former gigantic Machine Pump building. In the early evening it is a favorite family friendly restaurant of the locals. The menu offers classic uncomplicated dishes accompanied with Amsterdam’s famous and delicious french fries.Todays adventure takes us to Gouda pronounced like ghowda.Where we ran into Kelly who was just finishing up her bike tour.This was the fancy hotel Kelly stayed at in Gouda. Weeshuis, a Relais & Châteaux establishment.Fancy BarLovely courtyard Sweet Cafe of the hotel.This just looked like a good place for a photo op.Whimsical roof top in Gouda.Our first tour in Gouda was at Kamphuisen Stroopwafel Factory. This is a very famous family owned cookie factory with a secret recipe from 1810 for this delicious, crispy caramel syrup waffles. After a video regarding its origin we toured the factory and watched the machinery produce the waffle in various stages.
We made a video of the production.This is the original safe that the secret recipe is still kept in.
They offered a slide to get your free stroopwafel. Jim was first to get in the slide.Here goes Sandy with a look of terror on her face.She held on to the sides to go slower.She flew down so fast we could not catch it on video and the photo was a blur. Such a showoff!
Neil was last to slide down.Our next tour was to learn about the makings of Gouda cheese. Neil became a cheese master.After the cookie tour we took a long walk to see the lake and saw so many different birds and many were nesting.
And just like that they were gone😢but we can’t wait for the next time. We walked a total of 57.5 miles with them over 8 days averaging 7.2 miles a day. However that was just us. Their mileage was much more, especially Neil who would run about 5 miles in the morning before we even woke up and Audrey would climb 86 stairs up and down in our building for 20-30 minutes.
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