2nd day in Amsterdam

Well, it rained a lot of the day, but that's Amsterdam for you!

We started off our day with the hotel breakfast - a huge buffet with bacon, scrambled eggs, toasts, cheese, etc, etc.  On top of that, the hotel owner asked if we wanted pancakes, and she cooked us up some special Dutch pancakes - they were SO good :)

Then, we went to Anne Frank's house for when they opened at 9 am.  It was good that we went early, as by the time we left, there was a line down the block.  It was quite an experience, and very emotional, to stand in the room where Anne lived and wrote her diary.  The exhibits were very well done, and it's a place well worth seeing.  We were very glad we went.

Then, we shopped for a while on the "9 streets", a section of town with tons of cute boutiques and shops of various kinds (but not the big chains: mostly local places).  We picked up sandwiches for lunch at a cheese shop, and they were amazing: on a fantastic, crusty multigrain baguette, with aged gouda, salami and a homemade artichoke pesto.  Yumm....

In the afternoon we went to the Van Gogh museum.  By the way, his name is not pronounced like the word "go", it's more like "choch" (where the 'ch' is like the hebrew chai).  Anyway, we got audio guides and learned a tremendous amount about him.  He killed himself at the age of 37, but only took up art 10 years before that, and only started paining about 8 years before his death.  It's amazing what he produced in those 8 years.  the museum was one of our highlights of Amsterdam.

Then, another great dinner!  We went to De Kas, a beautiful place inside a greenhouse, in a park in southeast Amsterdam:

there is no menu: it's just a fixed meal, for 50 euros each, where there is a set appetizer, main course and dessert of the day.  (they change the menu once a week)  All the ingredients are local, most grown in the greenhouse right there, or on the farm the restaurant owns just out of town.  We sat down and there was a loaf of super crusty farmhouse type bread on the table, with a bowl of olive oil that had finely chopped basil in it.  they also immediately bring a bowl of cut up cucumbers and huge olives.  That could have been the meal right there!  but then the appetizers came out: we each got a bowl of tomato soup (like a thick gazpacho, with chunks of organic tomatoes)

There were also 2 different plates, that we shared: one with wonderful lamb slices, charred Romaine hearts, roasted tomatoes and Hollandaise sauce; the other had some chorizo sausage, with beets, various greens, rhubarb, and black rice:

yes, it was as good as it looks !  (actually, better: all the ingredients were incredibly fresh and perfect)

Then the main course: a perfectly cooked piece of fish (plaice) on a risotto with asparagus, beans and peas, and a sauce made from shrimps and other stuff I can't remember:

The flower on the fish is an edible flower, from their greenhouse.  but susie's flower had a little visitor inside it - a tiny ant was crawling around ;)   No, she didn't eat it.

Dessert was also fabulous:

On the left is a Fabulous red currant gelato with a 'pipe' made of meringue.  In the middle is a pistachio cookie. On the right is a dark chocolate panna cotta with a sprig of red currants that had been frozen and coated with sugar.  It topped off the evening perfectly :)

so, this may be the last blog, unless we have time to do one tomorrow night - if not, we will be in Toronto sunday afternoon (we land at 1:40 pm - Erin, please pick us up!)

We love Amsterdam!

Arrived in Amsterdam this morning- the high speed trains are amazing here: only 3 and 1/4 hrs from Paris to Amsterdam.
After a bite of lunch, we spent most of the afternoon strolling the streets around the canals.  It is called "Venice of the north" after all :)   It's really a magnificent city!

We met cousin Lauren for dinner (cousin Sari and Fons' daughter, who is living in Amsterdam), and had the best meal yet of our trip, at Visaandeschelde.  We'd researched it, and it's been touted as the best fish restaurant in Holland.  Well, it exceeded expectations! They have a la carte options or else a set menu that can be either 3, 4 or 5 courses.  Susie and Lauren had the 4 courses, but of course Neil had to go for the gusto and have all 5 courses.
Here's Lauren (sorry for the flash in the mirror!):

They started us off with an "amuse" (not counted as one of our courses): it was incredible itself, with a trio on the plate:

The large bowl had fish, some sauces (can't remember the details) and a disc of frozen mustard and cream.  The mug had a gazpacho with small shrimp in it.  The little glass had some kind of mousse (we can't recall what it was) with popcorn on top.  So all this, and amazing bread, before the actual meal started!

The next dish was tuna done 2 ways:

There was a tartare (the pink round disc), and slices sashimi style, but with an interesting coating.  There were also 2 different sauces on the plate - it was all delicious!

Neil's course which the others didn't have was a cold carrot-ginger soup with cooked mackerel:

The white blob was some kind of coconut mixture that was frozen - it all went together wonderfully :)

Then we had a dish of lobster - you can see also on the plate a pea mixture, a kind of foam, a little quinoa, and some caviar:

Finally the last dish before dessert:

This was plaice done 2 ways: a piece oven poached, and a piece grilled, with a wonderful sauce, 2 kinds of potatoes, and a little beef croquette (a typically dutch item).  Yes, it was all as good as it looks.

Finally, dessert:

On the right is a rectangle of bread pudding which was caramelized on top, and had a berry foam on it. there was also a raspberry gelato, raspberry mouse, and these little discs of intensely raspberry flavored jelly.  And there was some mint gelato and mint mousse.  The whole thing was delicious and we all finished every morsel.

Truly a phenomenal meal, and quite reasonable for what you get.  For example, the 4 course dinner was 50 euros, and the 5 course is 60 euros.

We're looking forward to having 2 more days here in Amsterdam!

Sorry for the lack of a blog last couple of days!!  We have been so busy, that by night time, we just crash :)

Today was our last day in Paris.  To catch you up a little, yesterday we tackled the Eiffel tower.  We both felt it was something that, despite all the pictures we've seen, experiencing it in real life is breath-taking.

There are 3 levels you can stop at, with the 3rd being the highest observation deck.  We climbed the stairs up to the 2nd level, and then you can't take the stairs to the 3rd (they are only for workers at the tower), so there is an elevator from level 2 to 3.

The views are magnificent, and it also feels incredible because of the way the structure is - it's not like a building where you are totally indoors.

Today, we started with major shopping at Galleries Lafeyette.  It's a HUGE department store - for both size and quality of goods, etc, it puts Bloomingdale's to shame!

We walked this afternoon around the Marais.  it's a great area, full of boutiques, art galleries, etc.  On Rue des Rosiers you find the centre of the small Jewish district, with a number of kosher bakeries and falafel shops.

dinner tonight consisted of great crepes at a restaurant called "West Country Girl".  Take a look at this beauty:

This place makes the truly authentic crepes from Bretagne (Brittany province of France), with buckwheat flour and local organic ingredients.  the pic on the top is of a dessert crepe with baked apple and homemade caramel sauce,  Yummmm!!!

tomorrow morning, off to Amsterdam!

Lots of Monet

didn't post last night - so here is our summary of Sunday:

We started off our day with the Musee D'Orsay.  It is quite remarakable: if you like impressionists like Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Renoir, etc, then this is paradise.  It's got the biggest collection in the world!  We got the audio guides, but didn't even do all the rooms, and we still spent 4 hours.  You can't take photos inside, so no pics to post here.

After that museum, we went across the river to the Orangerie, another museum, which is connected to Musee D'Orsay, but is smaller.  It also has a great (but smaller) impressionist collection, but is most known for it's huge room with the wall size panels of Monet's waterlillies.

We needed a rest, so then went to Cafe Angelina, known for the best hot chocolate in Paris.  It's hard to put it into words: all I can say is that it's as if a top quality chocolate bar was melted and you are drinking it :)

We rested up at the apartment after that, and went out to a neighbourhood bistro called "Cul de Poule", which was great!

Bonjour from Paris

we are into our 2nd day in Paris - last night, I was too tired to blog, so this will cover yesterday and most of today (it's now about 5 pm saturday here)

The Eurostar train was very comfortable and easy - much quicker for getting from london to paris than flying.  They tell you to arrive at the train station in London 1/2 hour before departure: we had to go through a metal detector, and France immigration, etc.  The train ride was only 2 hrs 15 mins to the Paris train station, which was only a 10 minute walk to our apartment.

The apartment we are renting in Paris is great.  It's in the 9th 'arrondissement' (district), which is walkable to all the main areas of Paris, and close to a subway stop.  It's a small one bedroom apartment, but that still gives us lots more space than a hotel room, and for much less cost.  We find it really interesting to be living in an area with no tourists - it's as if we are locals!

Yesterday (friday) we went to the Pompidou centre, a huge modern art museum, equivalent to the MOMA in New York city.  The building is famous for its unusual architecture: the escalators are in tubes going up on the outside of the building:

This is a view from the rooftop patio of the museum, where there some sculptures (do you recognize the building on the left?):

Here is one of our favourite paintings (by Chagall):

 Around the corner from it is a museum of Jewish art and culture, which we spent some time in.  It had an amazing collection of artifacts, like Ketubot which were hundreds of years old.

After eating out the prior 6 nights, we decided to eat in.  On Rue des Martyrs, a 2 minute walk from the apartment, there are SO many bakeries, grocery stores, cheese shops, wine shops, etc!  It's a foodies' paradise.  Now we know why people rave about Comte cheese so much (it's now Neil's favourite).

Today, we got up fairly early, to get to the Louvre shortly after opening.
The pyramid entrance that you must have seen pictures of, or on TV, really is quite spectacular:

Here is a view of it from inside, near the exit:

and a view of it from the inside of the Louvre, looking out the window:

and one more shot of it, from underneath, as you enter the museum:

The collection of art in the museum is incredible!  Some rooms have so much art, you could spend an hour or more in that room a lone, and there are hundreds of rooms!  Most people make seeing the Mona Lisa their priority, but it's a small painting to begin with, and look how far you are from it (due to the crowds):

this is the second most famous thing to see in the Louvre:

but there is much, much more: we saw so many paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens, Raphael, and others!

After the Louvre, we walked around the Left Bank a bit, and had the most amazing crepes for lunch.  They were being made at a take-out counter of a famous restaurant, and for only 5 euros (about 7 dollars, tax included) they had a crepe filled with a ton of cheese, and egg (spread out and cooked on the griddle), sausage, mushrooms and arugula.

They were so big, Susie couldn't finish hers - but no wonder: it was the size of her head!

Tonight we are having dinner at Cafe Le Dumas, where we are meeting Jeff and Bonnie and friends of theirs.
We are one week in to our trip, so we are at the halfway point!  Time is flying very quickly, but on the other hand, it feels like we have been away a long time, since we have packed so much in.

regards from Paris :)

Last day in London

Well, our 6 days in London has gone by very quickly!

Another great day, and for the first time since we're here, it didn't rain at all :)

We started off with a 2 hour guided walking tour of the Olympic site.  You can't go right in, as it's already all fenced off and patrolled by the army.  But it was interesting and informative, and we got to see another area of London (Stratford - but not the one you know from Shakespeare - this one is a gritty working class suburb that has just been polished up).

After lunch, we hit the British Museum - like the ROM on steroids.  Check out the interior lobby:

We finished off with another great dinner: at a Spanish tapas place called Salt Yard.  (I'm not putting up photos now, as I'm too tired, and we are going to bed) - Up at 630 am tomorrow, as we have an 8 am train to Paris!

A beintot ;)

Susie and Neil, duchess and duke of North York, Lord and Lady of Ridley

Another great day!

Started off at Westminister Abbey - remember the church where Will and Kate got married?  The admission fee is a bit pricey, but we ended up spending 2 hours inside, mainly due to the great audio guide (with Jeremy Irons narrating - think Scar from Lion King!).  They not only do royal weddings and coronations there, but a LOT of famous people are buried there, from Queen Elizabeth (the first of course, since the second is still ruling us!), to Isaac Newton, Shakespeare, and many others.

Had a quick lunch at this cool fast food place - Herman ze German (I'm not kidding).  It was run by a bunch of young Germans who are trying out a new concept - good quality sausages and meatballs, offered on a bun or with a side of fries or spaetzle (look it up), and also a kind of purple cabbage slaw on the side (like purple sauerkraut, but not very sour).  Was quite yummy, although that spaetzle kind of sinks into your stomach like a lead balloon :)  Also had an interesting German cola sweetened with stevia, called Fritz-Kola (again, I'm not kidding: look at the photo)

After lunch, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, which is behind the National Gallery (the main art museum of London).  We thought it would be a quick visit - how many portraits can you look at?  But it was fascinating, with portraits from different eras, giving info on the people, especially the British royalty.  We learned a lot, for example, how a young princess Charlotte was being groomed to be queen, but then died in childbirth, leaving her cousin, the young princess Victoria suddenly in line for the crown.

After resting at the hotel a bit, we went out for dinner at an Indian place called Dishoom.  It's supposed to be modelled after the Bombay street food and small restaurant vendors.  Anyway, the food was really good.  We had a slaw done with grilled chicken and pomegranate seeds, which was very tasty, and then there was a grilled shrimp dish, and a lamb kebab, some garlic naan, and this spicy chicken wrap:

After dinner, we shopped a bit in the Covent garden area (Erin, if you're reading this, you would love that area for shopping), then went to see War Horse.  We had bought the tickets from Toronto a while ago, and got the BEST seats, in the centre, 3 rows from the front.  We both felt it was one of the best plays we'd ever seen.  I won't say anymore, because we're tired and need to go to bed.  Tomorrow will be our last day in London already - time flies when you're on vacation ;)