Day 11: Amsterdam

Day 11:  Amsterdam

DB spotted this oddly colored
bird

Our girls also had large doll houses made by their grandfather, now 95

QOTD1:  You don’t need to water the plants if it rains (phew, done!)

QOTD2:  You aren’t going to make me go to all the Olympic Stadiums (said in the form of a statement, not a question?)

#9

Weather: Rain, hard at times, starting just before we plan to head out, so we wait a bit. It stops, back to hot and humid if the sun is out, pleasant in shade with a breeze

Breakfast of toast, cereal, strawberries, and coffee.

First chance to use our OV Chipkaart (remember to tap in and tap out). They work fine, we give them quite a workout today.

On Day 11, blogspot stops rotating the pics on its own, again

Two cars, narrow seats, electric stopp notifications

Tram to find the Iguana Park, so unknown that a guy working 10 meters away has never heard of it (maybe it was my Dutch accent that threw him off).

Our first museum of the day is the new Van Gogh (the new entrance is still under construction). Our home exchangers have generously left us their museum membership cards, so get to cut in front of the line AND get in for free (to something like 340 museums). THB thinks the work isn’t all that good, Vinnie’s best must be somewhere else. This visit lasts around 35 minutes. Mildly crowded.

The Rijksmuseum: we don't go here today

The architect of the new Van Gogh

A big seller today: VG poncho

The new entrance, not completed yet

Our second museum of the day is the Stedelijk, containing modern and contemporary art and design, and also with a new entrance and wing., designed by a Dutch firm: Benthem Crouwel Architects. In a word, this museum is marvelous: a great combo of form and function. The art looks great and the building is very functional and the new “front” is terrific.

There's also a special exhibit of Gijs and wife Tiny jewelry paired with apparel

We eat lunch in the café: egg salad and ham sandwich with fries for THB and DB has a large salad with walnuts, fried cheese, and cherry tomatoes, each have a lime-ginger ice tea, total $45. The manager of the restaurant is from S. Africa and so we get a list of restaurant tips in Cape Town.

Ginger-lime ice tea from S Africa

Pop quiz: what is this instrument? Answer below...

THB's comes open faced necessitating knife and fork

The design section includes art jewelry (THB considers that a big plus in a museum):

Another pop quiz:: which door do you open? There are no uninals...Is THB in the womens? Uni-sex?

The big surprise: the museum is the proud owner of Barney’s Beanery by Ed Kienholz. The Kienholz exhibit at LA County Museum in the mid 60s caused a huge uproar. He’s very talented, used found objects and had a lot to say about the culture at the time. Nice to see he’s on permanent display here. His work isn't often seen.

More artists/works from the collection:

Many of Wall's  photographs are displayed with light boxes: great for THB

DB caught mid-measurement of an indoor Serra

We saw a big (and terrific) show of Munoz at the Tate, the work below is from a private collection, hung high on the wall

Lots of of other good to great work, and all given the space to shine (and the light to be seen, a huge issue for THB in museums, including the underlighting of the accompanying text (which is not gonna fade to oblivion).

Large (outdoor) Serra work

With lunch, this stop takes almost three hours. Well deserved! And, thus THB guys himself a present:

It's a cup made especially for those with essential tremors

And, up next, a bonus fan for those of you keep score at home: THB, via the tram, visits his 9^th Olympic Stadium, 3 of which overlap with his 49 baseball parks. That leaves 15 left to visit (assuming some of the early ones are still there). And, some are in great spots: Paris, Helsinki, Stockholm, a couple each in Athens and London…time to plan that trip!

And, we meet a budding Olympian, a young woman, Leah Heckman, who is a thrower, which implies javelin, discus, hammer and/or shot put. She’s heading to U of Cincinnati in the fall, and her mom and aunt were helping her live her dream. DB was too, since THB added the visit to our Amsterdam stay somewhat ex officio.

The O flame, seen from outside the stadium (London O's missed this step)

Leah Heckman and nephew

DB had heard about Sunday in Vondel Park, the Golden Gate Park of Amsterdam, so ad lib we get off the tram and stroll the park, picking up art pieces as we went. Unlike GGP, you gotta be on your toes since the bikers are not strolling, they are flocking to and through the park in huge numbers.

Tulip island

Back on the tram to our last stop of the day, FOAM Photography Museum.  We also manage to find a museum that won’t take our Museum Sponsor cards, so it costs $13pp to get in (of course they don’t take AMEX). Only one register is working, which gives us a chance to chat up the other front desk person. She explains that no pictures are allowed (you could take pics of anything at Stedelijk as long as you didn’t use flash; no pics allowed at Vinnie's place though we saw people taking i-phone pics), somewhat ironic here. And, the elevator wasn’t working (along with one of the registers). The big show was two sets of Larry Clark’s older work (druggies, teens glowing with sexual drive, video of heroin users); there was a second show in the dark where you had to outlast periodic light explosions. THB didn’t make it long enough to see a single work, blinding flashes too reminiscent of visits to the retina doc. Some of the rooms were so hot we thought they might be converted saunas.

On the way back to the apartment (after one last tram ride), THB buys two Orangina and two Heinecken’s. Orangina is more expensive! DB pointed out that the beer spot also sold marijuana. THB missed that...a photo op lost (well, not for long, there are tons of places here selling dope, they call the coffee shops).

Dinner of ravioli and mushrooms, arugula with avocado and artichoke hearts, a few rolls (some saved from lunch) and a bit of white wine. Licorice for dessert.Ex post propter hoc great. 

And, for those of you who made it this far:

A swizzle stick lemon crusher, not a spoon