Hup Holland!
Today is our last full day in Amsterdam. The city is covered in orange, as Holland plays Brazil today in the World Cup. Ian is appropriately garbed in his new Holland jersey, and the hostel gave us free orange leis to support the orange players.
Ben’s birthday was Wednesday, the 30th, so we went to the Heineken Brewery experience to check it out. It was very impressive. Music video to follow relatively soon. Afterwards, we went to one of the million Argentinean steakhouses (in Amsterdam?). We explored Amsterdam a little more than we wanted to after becoming briefly lost, but we eventually found our way to a delicious pizzeria in Leidsplein and the Bourbon street blues club we went to the night before. There, Ben (and Ian and Emily) were treated to some excellent blues by a trio of young, talented musicians for free! Good stuff.
Yesterday was our day at the beach. We took the Fast Flying (and cheap) Ferry to IJmuiden beach. IJmuiden was beautiful. This is one of the widest, prettiest, least-crowded, least polluted beaches in Europe. It was a little overcast at times, which occasionally made the weather chilly, but the water of the North Sea was surprisingly not freezing. Actually, it was pretty warm after you got used to it. Emily had a particularly great time splashing around in the admittedly small waves. However, there were crabs in the surf, and she will tell you that was not ok. We saw some cool kite-flyers and sail-dune-buggy drivers. We also got to see some of Europe’s famed topless beach babes, most of which were large old ladies. Still, we had some delicious ice cream at one of the pavilions and headed off after a great afternoon. When we got back to Amsterdam Centraal, we had a nice walk back to Leidsplein for dinner. Then, we joined the nightly party in Vondelpark. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people every night, go to Vondelpark to cookout, play football, Frisbee, a little American football, and swing dance? It was a lot of fun.
Today we checked out the Van Gogh museum. It was very impressive. Vinnie was a very insightful, talented painter, and the inclusion of works by his peers and influences was both helpful and interesting. We especially enjoyed the museum because it was air conditioned, as it was a sweltering 37 degrees. Emily mentioned the fact that it was hot and awful several times. Many times.
After a frozen margarita each at the Hard Rock Café- Amsterdam to cool us off, it was back to the hostel to nap/chill out/ watch the game. We plan to take an evening canal cruise tonight, as a goodbye to Amsterdam before we leave for London tomorrow. As I have been writing this, the men in orange have just beaten Brazil. Hup Holland!
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