Van Gogh and refugee Chileans

Yesterday we went to Amsterdam and visited the Van Gogh museum. I have to say I left that museum with a new appreciation for Van Gogh. I read every piece of information available about the collection, and I enjoyed looking at the real paintings from that particular master up close. If you ever go to Amsterdam, the museum is definitely a must see, and that's all I can really say about that.

We also walked around Amsterdam quite a bit, but avoided the red light district as there is a 10 year old involved in the trip. I think the sloppy British football fans stuffing their stoned faces full of frites and talking about peep shows coupled with the trip through the whore boats of Utrecht is enough exposure for this couple of days.

Speaking of football, apparently Emma is now a big fan of something called Holland Beach Soccer. It was set up in the middle of some giant square in Amsterdam, which was no small feat, because these people played in a giant ring of sand. The game worked just like soccer (football) but the players were all barefoot. It was really cool, and the goalie on the team that ended up winning was really, really good. Emma watched a good portion of a game and wouldn't let us leave. It was actually pretty great.

Anyway, after watching Holland Beach Soccer, visiting, then leaving the museum and watching a heated game of chess at Max Euewelsplien, played by two drunk guys. (one of them was making eyes at me, SCORE!) we were really hungry and didn't want to wait the 30 minute train ride to home base, so we stopped off as a gamble at Alberto's Uruguayan Steak house. It was such a good gamble! We got steaks and a great salad, and were able to speak Spanish, which was welcome after so much unintelligible Dutch. Emma, who was feeling adventurous, ordered Alberto's Supreso, or Alberto's surprise for dessert. When she ordered it, the waitress smiled and said, "well, okay!" with a wink. We waited a long time, and eventually, the surprise arrived, complete with a sparkler festively burning away on the top of it, which would violate several fire codes in California. The surprise itself was half of a pineapple cut up and topped with vanilla ice cream and all kinds of exotic fruits and whipped cream. The whole dessert was heavenly. After dessert, we talked for a while with the waitress, who escaped to Holland from Chile 20 years ago when Pinochet was in power, and with all the conversation and good food, it was quite a a lovely evening.

Today we went to Madurodam, the best miniature display in all of Europe. It is a tiny version of Holland itself and contains most of the landmark buildings found in the country. In fact, when a new building is built in Holland now, you can bet they are also making it in miniature at Madurodam. It was actually pretty amazing to see the buildings, which average about 3 to four feet high. It was pretty fun, and I especially liked the model of the Schipol airport complete with big KLM jets taxiing out to the runway.

After miniature heaven, we went to Den Haag (The Hague) and saw houses of the diplomats. It's actually a lovely city, my favorite so far. We also went to the beach/Monte Carlo area of Holland, some town I could never hope to spell, but it had its own Casino complete with dress code. It was pretty cold today, 17 celsius (you do the math, I'm tired!) and super windy, so Rob didn't get to pick up on any topless bathers. Poor him.

The best part of today is that we figured out a way back in to our home base by car that gets us to a good parking place without acting like two pit bulls in a cage, so that's great!

Tomorrow we stay around Utrecht and will probably climb the dome tower to get a great look at Holland. It's a fun trip, I'm glad I came, now that we are reaching the halfway point.

We are learning lots of Dutch via subtitles on Animal Planet. I have found a source of Haribo Happy Cola bottles, Rob is happy with his black licorice drops (disgusting) and there is plenty of inexpensive French wine. Yeah, the trip is improving.