Amsterdam part II

We celebrated MLK day by exploring Amsterdam a second day. Similar to
the first time a few days previous, we encountered typical Dutch
winter weather ( 30s and foggy/cloudy/wet/Seattle). Needless to say it
makes walking around outside very chilly. As soon as we arrived we met
a former soccer coach of Ericas for tea. It is always nice to see
familiar faces and to enjoy a conversation in the native tounge. We
did this for an hour before heading out on our "walking tour."

Our goal was to head in the general direction of the major museums and
end up at the Van Gogh museum. We headed down the Rokin, one of the
major streets in the center of the city, to find and make a quick stop
at a local cigar shop. Luckily we found our target and made a
sucessful purchase. Having just experienced the French fry with mayo
phenomenon in Delft, we were instructed to seek out and give an
opinion on what some call the best fries in the city. It may sound
silly to spend time walking around the old world city of Amsterdam
looking for French fries, but this claim needed verification and it
was on the way. Like Delft, these were very good fries, fresh, thick
and salty. Again I ordered with mayo, as the locals do, and
determined that these fries are no better than Delft's and are simply
good, but not otherworldly.

Post fries we continued down to the museums, where you can also find
the well known "I AMsterdam" sign. We took the obligatory photo. To
escape the cold we ventured into the Van Gogh museum, where you really
learn about the life and influences of one of the world's most
imaginative artists.

We made our way from the museum back toward the Jewish quarter, where
we would first meet Mom and Dan for a chinese dinner followed by a
concert at an old synagogue (converted into concert hall). We didn't
mind arriving early to the restaurant area with time to kill. We found
a coffe shop to warm up, drink tea and use the free Wifi.

Our Dutch style Chinese dinner was good, though with very slow
service. Afterwards we walked to the concert, which deserved the
Ambassadors appearance because an American women, living in the
Netherlands, is a well known musician debuting a new composition.
Another interesting fact about the concert is that the venu is
sponsoring (or with the help of a sponsor) a concert series performing
works of a Dutch Jew whose manuscripts were only recently discovered.
Since he did not survive to publish them, they are now being performed
for all to enjoy. The concert went longer than expected, but we still
enjoyed the break from google, iPhones and frenetic lifestyles to
listen to art and music the way it was originally intended.