Things I think I'll miss

I was walking back from the Museumplein on the weekend, and thinking about where I was, and realised that there were several things I'm gonna miss when I'm back in North America so I started making a list.  I'm going to miss Amsterdam, quite a bit.  It's the major European city that I've come to know the best at this point, and I enjoy it.  It's old, it's got a fun vibe, it's easy to wander around in, and there's awesome museums.  I'm going to miss M.  He's quite the character, and he's fun.  The rest has to do with being in Europe specifically.  I'm going to miss the knowledge that if I have enough time and money I could just pop over to visit my cousins in Germany for a few days, or spend a week in Italy.  I'm going to miss the sheer number of cultures within easy travel distance, and wealth of history and ideas you can stumble across.  I'm going to miss my morning dose of NPR, 'cause I have a feeling I'm not going to listen to it as frequently as I do now once I get home.  And I'm going to miss having the BBC on my television.

On another note, I spent most of last weekend in the van Gogh museum.  I've seen pictures of his paintings before but I didn't really like the ones that get shown most frequently.  A weekend surrounded by his work has changed my opinion quite a bit.  You don't get the full impact of the colours and brushwork from a copy, especially if it's not actual size.  And in many of the prints I've seen it hasn't shown the separation of the colours properly.  His early work is good, but all the works I love are from after he went to Paris.  The colours explode, and the subjects get more varied.  I particularly like his Asian phase.  Two of my favourites are from that period, and a couple from the last few months of his life.  All in all, a very well spent weekend.

And this weekend was much slower, though I did manage to fit two museum/exhibitions in one day.  The EYE film institutes current exhibit and the Rembrandthuis.  That was pretty cool.

 Seven weeks to go.  Bye.

Counting down

So I'm in the final two months now.  Still feeling in a state of limbo.  And all my lovely plans for day trips took a hit over this weekend due to Amsterdam.  Just Amsterdam.  I went to the Van Gogh museum on Friday and discovered it was definitely a two day thing.  I've been wandering around the city often enough over the last year, so now I've got a few areas where I pay less attention to the route and more to what's around me.  The route to Museumplein is one of those.  And because it's the Museumplein there's a bunch of museums and similar things in the area.  So I kept seeing something else I hadn't visited yet but wanted to check out.  And it's looking like a pretty long list, so now I have to figure out what to do with my remaining weekends.

On another note, I've found the absolute best burgers in Amsterdam.  Better than a bunch of places in Vancouver too.  Not quiet as good as Red Mill, but that's to be expected.  It's a tiny little place called Lombardo's, and they have burgers, sandwiches, salads, and fresh juices.  The burgers are cooked to your specification, and the flavour combos of the meat and toppings is a mouthwatering thing.  Tasty, tasty burgers......

And I think I must be allergic to something.  Either a plant that grows here but not at home, or a mold that could be anywhere in the cottage.  I'm fine when I'm out for the day, but as soon as I get back my nose stuffs right up, and my head starts hurting.  It's annoying as heck and very uncomfortable.

That's all form me.  Ttfn.