Another Day in Amsterdam....

Well, once again The Weather Channel is wrong, much to our happiness. The weather, predicted to be cold and rainy, has turned out to be just cool and pretty dry, and just partly cloudy. It is really the perfect weather - no heat and no tourists!

Yesterday we went where no tourists go - to the CoBrA Museum of modern art, about a 45 minute tram ride out to the AMS suburbs. It was a very interesting museum in a beautiful setting along a creek with duck and geese floating by, lined with trees with their leaves falling into the still water, the sun and clouds reflecting on the water, etc. Wow!

Then I did what I like doing best on vacations - took a nap! The room was dark and warm, and I snuggled in under the blankets and slept for 2 hours while Mitch did what he likes doing best on vacations - shopping! He found "incredible bargains" (or so he says) at Bally's and Filippa K. To each his own, I guess.

In the evening we went to hear the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the best in the world. It was an amazing concert. The acoustics in the hall are perfect and so are the players. They did Brahms' 1st Piano Concerto, and Dvorak's 9th Symphony. They also have a coffee bar with free coffee and cookies! In true Dutch fashion, even though the plates of cookies are free, everyone just takes one cookie! It was a memorable experience - and not just for the free cookies!

We had dinner at a nice restaurant right next door to the concert hall, which was very good as well.

Afterwards we took the tram back to our hotel area and then walked around and went into a bar for a drink. The prices are so reasonable here : a glass of wine and a sambuca were 7.5 euro - half what they would be in Paris!

Anyway, time to go off to the train station to catch the train to Rotterdam.

More later.....................