Today we went to the museum and did some shopping and strolling around. We were very lucky with a picture perfect day for this time of year in Amsterdam. Fairly clear skies with sun off and on and high 50’s, low 60’s. Perfect walking around weather, in my opinion.
We decided to take the tram out to the museumplein (museum area) to save our feet for the walking to come later and it was so easy and convenient. The trams leave from the other side of the central train station which is where our ferry lands so we bought a day pass so we could hop on and off as we liked. Once we got there, we realized we needed coffee and a little something to eat so we found an Irish pub of all things, but they had croissants and jam and butter and some good coffee so feeling well-fueled we set off to see some art.
We have both been to the most famous (and huge) Rijksmuseum before, so we opted to go to the Stedelijk instead. It is a modern art museum and we felt ready to see something a little more current after being soaked in ancient Roman art for the last 8 days. The Stedelijk is a manageable size so it feels accessible and un-intimidating.
We happened upon an exhibition by Edward Krasinski, an Eastern European artist whose media was mainly sculpture and photography. He produced much of his work in the 1960’s. 
This is an example of his work. This piece is about 6′ long. It is suspended from the ceiling by wire. I really liked the display since the shadow gave an added dimension to the work. Interestingly, he displayed much of his sculpture in the outdoors so it would not have that effect.
Enjoying the art.
This is another Krasinski piece that we really liked. It had numerous panels suspended in rows from the ceiling. All panels are black with blue horizontal stripes (blue painter tape type stripes are present in much of his work). The opposite side of all the panels are mirrors. Obviously, we have no legs in this shot so we are mirror images, but you can also see the work reflecting itself in the black panel images. The picture doesn’t do it justice, I’m afraid.
Another artist that was interesting was Jean Dubuffet, a frenchman who lived in Holland and did much of his work there. Also a 60’s era guy, I thought his work was pretty striking.
We spent the rest of the day strolling through an area known as the “nine streets”, where there too many uber-cute boutiques to count. The place is so great due to the diverse nature of the stores, the quality of the merchandise, and the unique design of the items. I especially love Hester Van Eeghan bags and shoes, Jack was very patient while I lovingly fondled and lusted after everything in the store.
We decided to go for a nice meal tonight and Jack said Indonesian is a big thing here so we found a great place and walked back into town after resting a bit but we made the mistake of thinking reservations would not be needed on a Thursday night and we couldn’t get a table. Luckily, about two doors down was another restaurant that looked good so we took a chance and it turned out to be one of the best meals that we have had on the trip. It is called Seasons, an eclectic menu, Jack had an Asian inspired Salmon dish and I got vegetable Risotto with Fired Zucchini flowers stuffed with goat cheese. All quite yummy. We made a reservation for tomorrow night at the Indonesian place.
After dinner we walked back to the ferry and saw one boarding so we jumped on and after we were on it, it turned left instead of going straight and we realized we got on the wrong ferry! Oops! 26 minutes total of a very nice free ride to a different part of the wharf area on a beautiful night to be on the water so it wasn’t too bad of an error I guess. 🙂
Adventures after Retirement 