Amsterdam

01 June to 05 June 2025

Julie and Anthony got the train from Antwerp to Amsterdam. We stayed at the Rooms25 on a peninsula about a 20 minute walk from the train station. We had wonderful views on our walk into town.

Julie did not expect to love Amsterdam so much. Sure, the cyclists are lethal, but the canals more than make up for it.

Julie booked a canal cruise as soon as we got in. We arrived a few minutes early, and got a beer before we got on the boat. There were not very many people on our tour, which made it nice and intimate. A great way to get introduced to the city.

Locals call it The Boat, which angered the architect. It turns out that the architect took the tunnel that connects the museum to the mainland, and inverted it. Doesn’t matter, locals still call it The Boat.

7 Bridges, one photo.

Once upon a time, and obstetrician lived here

The skinny bridge

Open air facilities on the way back to our Hotel. Anthony may have taken advantage of this.

Monday Morning, Julie and Anthony walked to the Rijksmuseum. We got timed tickets, so it was a bit of a forced march to make it on time.

Plaque in front of the hotel where Chet Baker played music and past away.

Julie and Anthony made it to the Rjksmuseum in plenty of time. We took a lot of pictures of pictures, so we have created a blog entry for museums.

The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer circa 1660 - Not the most famous painting at the Rijksmuseum, but probably Anthony’s favorite one we saw there.

Komodo Dragons, in a small park in Amsterdam. Why?

Ann Frank’s house.

Door for skinny people

As in the UK and Ireland, Europeans are just letting stuff grow. It is better for the insects and birds, produces fewer emissions from lawn tools. Anthony wants to do this back home, luckily there is no HOA in our Raleigh neighborhood.

On Wednesday, we took the train to Leiden, a charming little town 20 minutes from Amsterdam.

Filming a Prisoner remake in Leiden?

Julie and Anthony continued down to the Hague for the afternoon. Anthony wanted to see the Escher museum, just down the block from the US Embassy.

Hand with Reflecting Sphere, Escher, 1935

Of course, we got a lot of photographs, which will be (un)ceremoniously dumped into the Museum blog entry for Amsterdam.

There were art installments in the park in front of the Escher Museum

Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of the Peace Palace in The Hague in the early 20th century, with its construction completed around 1913.

Julie and Anthony took a bus to the International Criminal Court. This imposing enclave is a bit out of the way.

We chatted with a group of 5 young lawyers, working on interships at the International court. They were a diverse group with different disciplines, from all over the world.

Tower at the Train Station, back in Amsterdam. It shows the direction of the wind, rather than the time.

AirBnB mini houses, on the way back to our hotel. They were on the water, so we could not afford to stay there.

Julie and Anthony’s last full day in Amsterdam started out with a visit to the MOCO museum, located conveniently behind the Rijksmuseum. You know the drill, we have moved the photos from MOCO to the Amsterdam museum page.

Girl with Balloon (Red), Banksy, 2004

This guys had a sign, “Come talk to me”, so Anthony did. What could go wrong? What started as a reasonable conversation ended with Anthony being the moral equivalent to Jeffrey Dahmer because he eats meat.

Famous Leaning Houses

You may recognise this bridge and house boat from an episode of Ted Lasso.

Cinnamon and Apple Crepe, it was HUGE!

Police Harassment?

We went to see Boom Chicago! an American improv act that Julie also learned about from the Myers Brothers. The guy in the middle had the same Panda shirt as Anthony.

01 June to 05 June 2025

Efteling