There was really only one place the Missus wanted to visit in Amsterdam; the Van Gogh Museum. So on our last day in the city we headed off from the Jordaan, past Leidseplein, making it the museum a bit before opening. So, we had a chance to wander around and take things in. Like the "I Amsterdam" sign……a wonderful example of city "branding".
The skating rink reminded us that it was indeed winter.
The Von Gogh Museum was quite a fascinating visit. It was very visitor friendly; though no photos. Unlike what it seemed everyone else; we obeyed the rules.
The displays went through Van Gogh's life; his influences, and struggles.
My main takeaway from the museum was, that if not for the efforts of his brother Theo….who died of syphilis two years after Van Gogh at the age of 34, and mainly his sister-in-law; Johanna, Von Gogh might not have been the revered artist he is today. You can read more about that in this wonderful excerpt from Smithsonian. We wouldn't have such fascination with the "mad genius" who (might not have) cut his own ear off, whose inner demons eventually had him commit suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound. He died at the age of 37.
Whooo…boy…..
From here we decided to head off to Albert Cuyp Market. It was a nice walk, we passed places like the Royal Concertgebouw ("Concert Hall").
Albert Cuyp Market was established in 1905 and is the largest street market in the Netherlands with 260 or 300 stands depending on what you read.
So; you can imagine it's all here; from flowers, produce, and seafood……
To Vietnamese Springrolls, pickled herring, and various knick-knacks…..need a watch, anyone?
And of course, those Stroopwafels……
Our intent was to grab something to eat there; but for some reason, nothing really called to us and we weren't very hungry.
So, we decided to head on back. The sun had appeared, chasing some of the damp gloom away.
The Westerkerk Church really stood out, its bell tower stretching to the sky.
We meandered through the "Nine Little Streets" and did some light gift shopping and headed back to the Jordaan.
We searched for a couple of places on my "list"but for some reason we couldn't find them. So we just decided to stop at this quiet, sort of funky corner café.
It's one of the those places where you can get anything from coffee to beer to desserts (one woman was having a gigantic "slice" of apple pie). The prices were reasonable, though it really took a while for our food.
Anyway, it took a while but I finally got my Smoked Salmon Sandwich a bargain at 6,5 € (About $7.50/US).
The bread was decent; loved the addition of the boiled egg, the smoked salmon was also fairly good, lightly smoky, not too salty, with no off flavors. Loved the pickles and the tomatoes were ripe? Red onions and capers are the perfect foil for smoked salmon.
The Missus had a Cheese Sandwich which She also enjoyed.
After all that rather rich food over the previous few days this was a nice respite in a sort of diner-ish kind of way. The customers were also quite interesting and diverse.
Café De Blauwe Pan
Westerstraat 200
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Hourse
Sun – Thurs 10am – 1am
Fri – Sat 10am – 2am
We had thoughts of heading to the Anne Frank Museum, but were too tired. We decided to bucket that for our next trip to Amsterdam.
It was nap time.
Thanks for reading!