Aw, it's our last day in Amsterdam and of vacation (sniffle). For breakfast we had pancakes somewhere not worth mentioning. They weren't good. Should have gone back to The Pancake Bakery.
We went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was fantastic. Besides all the amazing Van Gogh's, there was an exhibit going on called "Picasso in Paris 1900-1907," which helped to make up for the Picasso Museum in Paris being closed for renovations. The exhibit was all about Picasso's works when he was living in Monmartre and some of his blue paintings were there, which I love. My favorite was Poor Couple. Sad but beautiful. Not a drop of cubism in this exhibit.
Two floors were dedicated to Van Gogh. It is his museum after all. My favorite paintings were a very detailed self-portrait that was signed, the Sunflowers, and the Cherry Blossoms. The darkest personality paints the prettiest flowers.
The rest of the museum is filled with Van Gogh's mentors, contemporaries, and other artists working in Monmartre when he lived there. Very cool to see the original posters by Henri Toulouse-Latrec and Steinlen's Chat Noir.
After the museum, we walked to The Pantry for lunch. It's a cozy little restaurant and the traditional Dutch food is great. We started out with goat cheese croquettes that were ooey-gooey on the inside.
Hubs had a meatball with mashed potatoes 3 ways: with sauerkraut, beef and carrot stew, and kale. The sauerkraut ones were the best. One of these days I'm going to try and recreate those.
I had a dish that was like shepherd's pie, but the meat was curried and the potatoes had cauliflower mixed in. So good. My kind of comfort food.
For dessert we shared little pancakes, not like the pancakes at The Pancake Bakery, more like little abelskivers. Little bites of puffy sweetness.
1 set menu with croquettes, shepherd's pie dish, and pancakes + meatball and potatoes + 2 beers = 43 Euros
After lunch we walked over to Vondel Park, a huge park near the museums.
The park was packed on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon and made for great people watching. People sprawled out on the pond lawns, dogs swimming, bicycles coasting by. It was beautiful. Great place to relax, read a book, maybe get some of those pages written.
We strolled over to the quiet Jordaan and walked around the neighborhood. Not a tourist in sight, it feels like a real city. We passed a woman feeding some waterbird standing on the roof of a car. The bird did not belong here. It was bizarre.
Though we weren't starving, we wanted to eat something that could loosely be considered dinner. I don't know where we ate, but it was a little bar on the border of the Jordaan and we sat at a table outside. After a few days in Amsterdam, Amstel starts to grow on you, so we had a couple and split a cheese, sausage, and liverwurst plate and some meatballs (which were actually more like croquettes). The food wasn't spectacular, but it was a fine last meal. Sitting outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, having a cold beer. Ah, vacation.
Back at the hotel, we packed, finished watching Shakespeare in Love, and ate the rest of our Dumon chocolates in bed.
Goodbye, Europe. Until next time.
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