Wet...Yet Still Fun

Hey all,

We had a great weekend!  Even though it was wet and miserable, we've traveled enough to know you have to deal with the weather when it doesn't fit your expectations.  You just put on a condom (rain poncho) or use an umbrella and adapt your plans accordingly.

Because it rained, we decided to do some museums.  We'd already started on some of them, so we just kept on going.  On Monday we hit the rest of the Maritime Museum.  We'd already done one wing the week before, so we finished it off.  It's a brand new and beautiful museum with some great art and some of the most intricate ship models I've ever seen.  I could spend hours just going through the historical photo albums they have available.

We'd gotten a late start that day--slept in after a VERY nice Sunday night.  *smile*  Actually, I've got some news.  I'm working part time now with Cirque du Soleil as a Backstage Manager.  I'm only doing fill ins, which is fine.  That's all I wanted.  My writing comes first.  But I started learning the job on Sunday.  So, we celebrated with a little wine and little music and a little of each other.

So, because it was such a late start, once we were done with the Maritime Museum, it was around 2:30.  We grabbed a lunch at a wonderful Chinese Restaurant called the Sea Palace.  It sits in the harbor on stilts and have a delicious Dim Sum menu.  We picked four treats and every one of them was beyond awesome.  I'm recommending this place.  Probably the best Asian restaurant we've been to out of Asia proper.

Most all the museums close early here--at 5:00.  So we were running out of time.  Had enough time to run to the Bijbels Museum which was small enough to pretty much finish.  It was in the home of a local minister who built these amazing models of tabernacles and Jonathon was curious about them.  We plan to go back when it's warmer and have a cuppa in the cute little garden they have there.

And yesterday, we hit two museums.  After a great English breakfast (why do you people eat baked beans with breakfast?  Seriously, what's that about?  *grin*)  The first was the Nemo Science Museum, and it was a lot of fun.  I'll be doing a blog on a specific part of this museum next week, but know I was VERY impressed with it.  

Then we visited the Dutch Resistance Museum.  As you may remember, Jonathon is very interested in WWI and WWII, so he was really looking forward to this.  And it was quite interesting.  I learned a lot  about not just the resistance, but life in general during the 1940s.  And when they showed the insidious ways Hitler slowly made the Jews disappear, I was in tears.  It broke my heart.  I can't imagine what I'm going to do once we go to Anne Frank's house or later, Auschwitz.  That's going to be disturbing in ways I can't imagine.  But I have to go.  It's important.

We topped off our weekend by a great meal at a place called The Waang.  It's a restaurant located in what used to be the city gate.  Then later it was a guild hall for several different organizations.  It's very old... and the food was outstanding.  A bit spendy, but worth it.

Anyway, there's a little about Amsterdam and it's museums.  We've got a bunch more to see and who knows how many other things will pop up as the weeks go by.  We won't run out of things to do, that's for sure!!!

Hugs and see you on Friday with another look at the Lighter Side of Life.

CJ England  

Follow Your Dreams

http://cjengland.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CJsaysFollowYourDreams/