Amsterdam

After my Swiss Adventure, I spent a fun weekend in Amsterdam (Thank you, Europe, for helping to counteract my American sense of the distance between neighboring countries).

We stayed in a hotel in the Leidseplein. Saturday we passed this building, whose name made me laugh, on our way to the Rijksmuseum.

In front of the Rijksmuseum was the one, the only: A REAL AMERICAN HOTDOG stand. I did not indulge. I guess we could call this cultural imperialism.

In wandering at night, we discovered that this bar was right near the hotel (the pictures I took of the huge neon sign didn't come out, I was bummed). The neon sign said, in bright red, "Three Sisters Grand Pub." BAHAHAHAHAHA.

On Sunday we saw a concert at the major concert hall, the Concertgebouw. It's a beautiful concert hall, and in addition to a moderny thing (Manneke) they played Beethoven's Third. Love that one, especially the first movement. After that we went to the Van Gogh museum, and took a boat cruise through the canals (we passed the Anne Frank house, but I can't swear to having seen which one it really was).

Amsterdam Centraal on our way out of town. The weather was beautiful and sunny ... And FRIGID. Or maybe I've just forgotten what it feels like to actually be cold. Might be that.

I really liked Amersterdam, although it was nice to come back to Paris. Not that it has ever been anything but.