When away on holidays, I find I am so much more likely to get up and go out when presented with the opportunity. Part of this is the mindset of travelling, realising it might be the only time you get to experience something in this place, not being dragged down by the well worn tracks of everyday life that we let ourselves fall into. When we first moved to Amsterdam, every day was like being on holidays even though I was at work. Inevitably, and even necessarily, tracks do form, even on the other side of the world. We've had family stay with us over the last few weeks, and seeing Amsterdam and the Netherlands through the eyes of tourists again reminded us that there is so much to do and see, even just around the corner from our house.
With this in mind, on Friday night we visited the Van Gogh museum for the first time since its reopening last month. There was a great relaxed atmosphere in the gallery with a live acoustic jazz band playing, and there was not so many people there so there was actually some space to move and time to enjoy the artworks.
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| Van Gogh house |
Further down the same street is the House of Bols, an interactive museum/bar that is a tribute the 500 year old Dutch distillery company. The 'museum' was like a self guided distillery tour with some interesting interactive displays of different tastes and smells, and of course the night finished with a cocktail each of our choosing.
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| Collection of annually issued Delft Blue houses full of jenever |
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| 23 different liquors to smell |
On Saturday we revisited the Amsterdamse Bos and went for a walk along the lake which was busy with rowers. The end point of our walk was thecharming pancake house Boerderij Meerzicht. Aside from the delicious pancakes (the bacon, cheese and maple syrup pancake was incredible!) the highlight was the wandering peacock that was trying its best to pinch food from our plates.
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| Farmland at Amsterdamse Bos |
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| Peacocks and Pancakes |
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