Char took me to Amsterdam! No Kids. Amazing. Two trips in a row with no kids! This one was bittersweet though. We went for a weekend, over my Mum’s birthday. This was her first birthday since she died, and Char booked a lovely weekend, to remember Mum. She only had one holiday that I can remember, and it was to here. She went on her own, to see Van Gogh museum amongst others. Mum was doing art, and he was her favourite. She went on her own, and I hope she enjoyed.
I love Amsterdam. It’s a lovely city, loads to see and do, relaxed, and generally a happy place. We have been as a family, but going as a couple let us do some things for us. She had booked a few things to do over the weekend, which was ace. We flew over, from somewhere, got a train in, lost our ticket to swipe out of the station so had to act like the ‘stupid Brit’ and got through. Genuinely bought tickets, but left them on the train! We went to hotel called Citizen M, and it was cool! It’s a chain, modern, with things I have never seen in a hotel before. Like, the shower and toilet are in the room, in like Star Trek type booths. There’s an iPad in there, that controls everything from lights, to the blinds and the tele.
Bike Ride
We ticked a bucket list item off Char’s list. Number 58 –Ride a bike around a park. We hired one from a bike hire place (best place to hire a bike from) and cycled round Vondelpark. We took a book with us, well, one each, and had a read under a tree. We then got a family to video us cycling past, just for a bit of fun.
Van Gogh
One of the main things on the trip was to go to Van Gogh museum.Had a lovely wander round, saw loads of paintings and that. Sunflowers were in there, and his cherry blossoms stuff. It’s a massive place! We also had one of the nicest croissants and jams in there! Café is cool, not that I’d normally recommend a gallery café, but if you did want to go to one, go to this one.
Banksy
Outside, we saw advert for Banksy exhibition. Luckily for us, it was on! It was a Banksy and Liechenstein joint thing, so saw loads of original pieces and that! Was good. I touched a frame on one, and a blinking alarm went off!!
Anne Frank
Another thing we did, which we couldn’t really do with the kids, and was something I’d wanted to do for ages, was see Anne Frank’s house. I have been fascinated with her since I was about 17 (long story short – I played the part of Peter van Daan, one of the other family that lived with the Franks, in a college production of Anne Frank). How she captivated an entire world, with a diary which could well have been lost or burnt, and her legacy would not have been, is quite remarkable.
House is a nice thing to see if that makes sense. You could spend ages in there, with an audio guide. We also went to the café! Wasn’t as good as Vincent’s one.
We went back to the Cat Boat! Still a boat full of cats.
Nice little overnight trip. Crammed a fair bit in, had a relax, remembered Mum.
