Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:54:15 -0800 (PST)
Subject: The last 48 hours... (with some mention of the next 48...)
Hallo,
I'm still not over my jetlag yet -- which is unusual after 3 days of being
here! On the "day-trips" I have no problems at all... But right now I'm falling
asleep in the evening and waking up at night.
Monday was such a day. After coming back to the motel, I fell asleep, and woke
up in the middle of the night. After that, I was awake until 7am Christmas
morning (no sightings of Santa), then decided it's best to just go to sleep
rather than going out!
BAD idea -- I was asleep until 4:30pm!
Since then, I've been awake until now (9:45pm on Wednesday -- a straight 29
hours so far.) I'm trying to keep awake until tonight, HOPEFULLY I'll be back
to normal tomorrow morning! A lot of pastries and cappuccinos today! I still
have an "appeldol" left in a bag right in front of my eyes on that desk -- I'm
looking at it as I'm typing this and wondering when I'm going to eat that.
So anyway, yesterday -- Christmas day -- was a "do nothing day". Last night was
a "stay up in bed all night trying desperately to fall asleep night". Today was
a sightseeing day, the 2nd such full day of this trip :-)
I started off going to the Rijksmuseum - the largest and most famous museum in
Holland. And a place whose reputation (and hype) is well deserved! This is the
first museum in Amsterdam that I loved! I've never claimed to be an art expert
but I still know good paintings! A lot of works by Rembrandt and Vermeer (a
couple of paintings that I remember from photographs in my 10th World History
book). And a lot of delftware and pottery, plus some beautiful woodwork
cabinets, with all sorts of very detailed designs on it! I read the information
boards on those looking for any mention of Sorrento but couldn't find any.
Apparantly this was made right here!
Anyway, much of the museum was closed -- the building itself is massive -- and
I only must have seen about 1/10th of it. The rest is all closed. Also no
photographs allowed inside here either -- thats been a trend everywhere in this
city. They just want you to buy the picture books at the end.
I didn't.
Next was the Van Gogh museum, which I didn't like as much. Maybe my expectation
was too high. But it was still interesting to see a lot of famous portraits,
including the sunflowers and his self-portraits.. Also a lot of works by Paul
Gaugin.
After that, it was time for lunch followed by a so-so canal ride around the
city, then another walk. I'm finding myself walking more to places instead of
taking the metro or the trams, even though I dont have to pay any fare for
those, but really the only other cities that I've done that before are Rome and
Paris! Its a beautiful city to walk in, and today even the weather was great --
I actually saw the sun today! The walk lasted well into evening, roaming
around... stopping inside cafes to have some snacks ("my kind" of snacks)...
then roaming some more.
I think I've seen everything in Amsterdam that I want to see. There is a
diamond museum (several actually) that I may still go to, but now I'm looking
to go out of town for the next two days that I'm here.
One good thing about staying in the motel all day yesterday was I did some
research on the windmills at Kinderdijk online, seeing how to get there using
public transport. (It's the train to Rotterdam station, metro to Zuidplein
stop, and Bus #90 to Molenkade bus stop in Kinderdijk, then about a 1km walk to
the windmills). I even investigated renting a car but that is really not
necessary, and too costly anyway! So I have Thursday and Friday remaining in
Holland, and den Haag and Kinderdijk/Rotterdam on my wish list, with one day
good and one day bad weather forecast. All in all, still pretty good with time!
I started this email 2 hours ago. Its 11:45 now, and there have been a few
times in between typing the sentences above that I've dozed off.... so I'm not
sure how long it'll take me to fall asleep again, but wishing for the best :)
Rembrandplein square is perfect to use as a base while visiting Amsterdam --
lot of different tram line stops, along with restaurants and cafes that are
open well into the wee hours of the morning! Even on Christmas day! It's been
completely by accident but I couldn't have chosen a better location for my
motel! :D
Tchus,
Ik.
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| Dec 24 | Contents | Dec 27 |