IT'S A SMALL WORLD

Yesterday began rather quietly. It was supposed to rain so I had decided it was a good day to stay in and get caught up on some things.  I waited and waited and still no rain. Around 3:00 or so I asked Sharon if she wanted to do the trip advisor city walking tour of our neighborhood. She agreed and off we went. It started down the street from us at the Westerkerk,.  Of course we had walked by it many times but didn't know what it was called or any of its history.  I should explain that we are living in the Jordaan neighborhood which was the permanent residency of the Dutch Master Rembrandt van Rijn who was buried in a paupers' grave here in 1669.  ( I too could follow in his footsteps.  Not the master painter, more like the pauper.). Westerkerk was originally built for the wealthy merchant-class inhabitants of the western canal ring.  After viewing that, it's not open on Saturdays , we walked up the street, past the Anne Frank home. As we had just past the long line of museum goers I heard my name being called. I turned around and there was a friend from my book club group in Davidson.  She and a friend were passing through Amsterdam on their way to a cruise of the Scandinavian countries.  They were waiting to get into the museum but we told them when they were finished to walk up the street and have a drink with us if they had the time.  Our buzzer doesn't work so we told them to just give us a shout, we'd leave the window open. Before too long I heard my name being shouted for the second time that day . (I'm just sooooooooooo popular. By the way my keyboard is fixed.) Donna and Pam came up and we enjoyed a glass of wine and decided to join them on their visit to "The Eye", the Film Institute.  The Institute is the home of the Filmmuseum which was founded in 1952.  It's predecessor was founded in 1946.  In 2012 it was moved to its current location on the bank of Amsterdam's waterfront. A very interesting piece of architecture. 

We took the free ferry over and unfortunately the museum had closed so we just looked around. Sharon and I will go back to see the museum and attend a movie as well.  There is a restaurant and bar with a beautiful view of the water. Lots of people apparently like the view as well!

We left the institute and passed by these rather unusual pieces on our way back to the ferry.

A table for two please. Could you just give me a little boost!  

Just interesting and fun!  

We decided to go back with Donna and Pam and have a look at their hotel and maybe have a glass of wine. They told us the hotel was really fabulous and had one very unusual benefit. The contents of the minibar were free.  I'll repeat that for you travelers, the contents of the minibar were free.  

The hotel is located in the proximity of Central Station and is the only 5 star hotel in Amsterdam.  It is a magnificent building .  The Scheepvaarthuis,(no, that is not misspelled, there may be a lot of misspelled words in this blog and others but this word is absolutely 100% correct) which is Dutch for "House of Shipping" is the most beautiful building from the Amsterdam School period. It has beautiful views of the canal.  We had a look at their room.  Beautiful, with 12 foot ceilings, original woodwork, truly splendid.  We went to the bar and enjoyed a glass of wine then headed home in broad daylight at 8:30 in the evening.  I don't know when the sun sets here.  I don't go to bed early but it is always daylight when I turn my lights out. 

The town was keyed up about the Game ( the World Cup) and everywhere people were gathered to view.  Enjoying the beautiful evening. Sharon and I ran into these young men pedaling away.  I don't know what the nun was doing in the picture. 

It's such a fun city.

Today, Sunday it's supposed to rain.  Again, I've waited and waited.  Not a drop.  I did hear from Erwin and he is going to be looking at his schedule and we will get together with him sometime in the near future. I was a little concerned he might not answer his phone. If someone I didn't know asked for acess to my bank account, I'm not sure what I would do.  I'm practicing putting on my most angelic face when I meet him and his family! Some people would say ,good luck with that but I'm working on it! 

We are going to go out shortly but just a few minutes ago I heard  jazz outside my window  I got up to look out the window and here's what I saw!

IT'S JUST TOO MUCH FUN!  Now were going out to enjoy the most beautiful time of the day.    Lovely, long days!  

The Netherlands were playing Mexico  tonight in the World Cup. The city was alive.  We just walked around and saw people who had moved their TV's outside and were having dinner out there watching the game.  Restaurants set up a TV  and additional  seating on streets, on playgrounds, everywhere.  So much fun to view their enthusiasm .  They won too!

All the bars were filled to capacity,

This is  church yard where the restaurant on the corner has set up a TV and you can see the customers loving the scene!  ( Notice those bikes!)

Just a few decorations.  They are all over the city.

GO BIG ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!

By the way, it's raining out. Good night!