Amsterdam, Day 3

The Hermitage

After a lovely breakfast of cheesy pastries, we started the day with a trip to the Amsterdam branch of the Hermitage. On the way, we saw this cool houseboat.



The Hermitage is huge. However, it's pretty new and still fairly empty. They have only a couple of permanent exhibits. One is on the Hermitage (greatly expanded by Catherine the Great who, when she heard of the death of a collector, would send someone to buy the entire collection). The other permanent collection has things like a copy of a kitchen from the 1700s, only Robin felt there were clear anachronisms.

And there was one exhibit on loan, however, on Alexander the Great. (Had I known, I might have read up a bit on him first.) When he was my age, he'd been dead for 14 years. We didn't stay long--Robin had no interest. It occurred to me, though, that whenever Alexander the Great wanted to visit an interesting new place, he would conquer it. And there I was whining about how my money wouldn't work.

Buildings and food

So then we wandered around a couple of squares that were recommended for tourists. We saw this over-the-top gothic post office I'd read about in the tour books.



Then we saw this building:



I thought it was pretty and didn't even notice the words. They probably mean "Cleve Port" (the port of Cleve), not, "Die! Port van Cleve."

Here's a torture museum. I've been in too many torture museums already--I don't need any more horrible pictures etched into my brain forever. But the outside is cool looking.



You can walk through this building:



(Something tells me this was not all original--there may have been some adding on.)

Here's an example of one of those buildings that's not quite as upright as it once was.



No one will notice it's leaning over if we just fill in the extra part with bricks. And push the sign over so that it's leaning even more.

Here's some interesting building decoration:



Walking down one interesting narrow street, I noticed the Van Dobben, which is where I'd read that you should go for croquets. (And it says right on the sign, "Prima Croquetten"!) So we did.



I'd forgotten what croquets were, though, other than some kind of fried something. After getting one, I still didn't know. Here's what one looks like:



The goo inside tasted like chicken soup. Dipping it in mustard is a pretty good idea.

Turns out it's fried mashed potatoes (with flavorings). We decided we could totally sell this at the State Fair as Fried Chicken Soup, though.

Look at this very interesting building. I really like all the real shutters.



But some of them don't really open all the way. And some of the windows don't let in as much light as one might hope. Oops. (I assume the building on the right is the newer building. Surely.)

Then we came back to the hotel. As you can see, we had the sign of the triple X keeping us safe at night over our bed.



Also on our wardrobe. So our clothes (and groceries) were safe, too.



See how it looks like two beds pushed together?



Really it's two half-comforters. Turns out we like that. Also, that window, which looks like a perfectly reasonable size, is actually quite small (picture later).

We went in search of the local grocery store, which we eventually found. On the way, we saw this pretty bird:



And some pretty modern buildings:



We saw this thingy that lets you decide which year had the cooler-looking trains:



We didn't find any fabulous bargains (you never know what's going to be cheap in another place), but we found plenty of tasty things. I got very delicious bread. And a soft garlic-flavored cheese. And a nutpack with cashews on one side and chocolate-covered peanuts on the other.

Library

I'd read and heard in lots of places that, bizarre as it seems, one simply must visit the new library. And so we did. There was a lot of construction, and I didn't know exactly where it was, but by this point, I was pretty sure we were going to be able to find it:



Notice that oddly boat-looking thing near it? Turns out that's the science museum. And it has a real boat in front of it.



(Sadly, that real boat reminds me of the boats in front of Treasure Island in Las Vegas.)

Here's what the library looks like from the front:



There are computers with internet access everywhere.



Here's an interesting staircase:



That counter on the left has a bunch of brochures on current happenings. (Too bad I forgot to go back and take a closer look; got distracted.)

There are all kinds of seating.

Here's a private area:



I decided this might be Di's favorite:



And this might be my favorite:



There's a whole floor for kids.



I like these characters on the children's floor:



There are art and video displays and what looks to me like a dance floor.



This display of yellow and orange thingies really grabbed my eye.



The escalators are well-labeled.



And there's a practice piano--no uptightness about not making noise, but they do want you to actually already know how to play the piano.



(Reflected in the piano is a guy who is just about to sit down at the piano. I snapped that picture in the nick of time!)

In summary, I'd have to agree. Cool library.

Another houseboat

We started with a houseboat, and we'll end with a striking houseboat we saw on the way back.



I think they might not enjoy solicitors. Or maybe they just don't like ordinary doorbells.