Trying to catch up

Trying to catch up from not having a computer yesterday. So, Here goes. We woke up early and took in the breakfast at the hotel. A nice continental while on the continent. Then we made our way to the Van Gogh museum. I have never been a huge Van Gogh fan but was nonetheless impressed with the diversity and range which was on display. We all know the paintings from our text books, but did you know Van Gogh painted in the style of Japanese block prints. Put your hand down Connie, I know you knew. I also discovered how identify nationality from museum viewing habits. The Italians are going the wrong way and bumping into everyone, the French are standing in the middle of the room not really paying attention, and the Germans and Americans are walking in lock step to each painting with the difference being that the Germans keep a safe distance and the Americans get nose to it. Oh, and the Spaniards are walking with the Americans and Germans but not paying any attention and talking with wild gesticulation about the meal they had. Three hours later we stumble out for a hot dog with curry sauce on the park and then head toward the Vondlepark. Vondelpark is basically Central Park only Dutch. It made for a beautiful walk on a beautiful day. We took it down back to the museum district and noticed the line at The Rijks was pretty short and we had plenty of time, so we slid in. The Rijks is under construction, along with the rest of Amsterdam, for that reason, all they have is the highlights of the museum on display. This still took a good two hours. It is a phenomenal look at the Dutch people and their history, through the lens of art. The highlight was, of coarse, The Vermeer's and the Rembrandt's, culminating in Rembrandt's "Night Watch", which is enormous. You also get a feel for how deep in talent the Dutch catalog is. After our visit to The Rijks we took some time at the hotel to recover and consider dining options. We found a couple and headed toward The Dam and Wynand Fockink. WF is a distillery and public house off of The Dam square. The Dam square is a squalid hell hole akin to Bourbon street. So we slipped into the tiny, very tiny, WF waited in line grabbed a bit of floor and watched as the mass of people ebbed and flowed in and out. It was great people watching and outstanding Genever, Including a Rye Genever called the Superior. It lived up to the name. Much better than Bols. With warmness in our bellies we wadded through the marauding hordes of tourists and yahoos looking for one of two restaurants we had picked. We kinda took the long way. Oops. And found that both were full to capacity. In desperation we wondered in to the Heineken bar. Mistake. We had a drink and then kept searching for food. Although, Heineken Galaxy is not bad on draft. Further down the road we found The Corner Pancake House. It was run buy a nice middle eastern man and the food was really good. I had Kip Bombay which was curried chicken with apples and raisins in a pancake. The Mrs. had a pancake covered and baked with a clove spiced cheese. The only real drawback to this place was no alcohol, but my liver might disagree with me. Then some sleep.