The first week of September flew by with Greg traveling to Zurich and Milan. Sadly, he didn't take the camera, so no photos from his travels. Although, he was so busy, I'm not sure he got much time to sightsee.
Ben and I had an exciting, eventful few days...
Monday: playdate at the Melkhuis with friends Alison and Ellie. It was Alison's due date, so we were a bit preoccupied with baby talk. :) I felt like a hero at lunch time, getting Ben to eat raw carrots by giving him a spoonful of cream cheese to dip them in. We'd tried ranch dressing and other things, but this did the trick! I was so proud of myself and laughed hysterically when he said, "yum, these taste like bunny!". We don't really eat rabbit at the Zabikow house, but I would pretend to eat carrots like a bunny in hopes of him thinking it was fun and playing along. I guess that's what he was referring to??
Tuesday: errands, park time, worked on details for Luxembourg trip
Wednesday: hung around the house in the morning to wait for the movers to come take inventory. Apparently, the moving company hired by Aon is from Brussels, so this poor woman drove almost 3 hours each way - and was only in our apartment for about 10 minutes! I hope she had other things to do in Amsterdam, or at least stayed for a nice lunch!
Thursday: Ben and I left for errands in the rain (this is Amsterdam, remember? There is no waiting until it stops...you just get out and go!). I was wearing cheap flip flops and stepped onto a slippery part of the sidewalk. I fell, banging my knee quite badly on the hard, uneven brick. Took Ben down with me, but was able to brace his fall with my impact. He was quite shaken up, but physically fine. We turned right around and headed for home. As I was opening our gate, Ben cries, "keep going, keep going!". At this point, I'm feeling a bit faint and sick to my stomach, so I tell him that we cannot keep going. Instead we make it inside, I let him loose from the stroller, and lay down on the floor. Ben watched Thomas while I drank some juice and bandaged up my wounds. Ugh! I have quite a bruised and cut-up knee and it hurts a lot, but thankful that it wasn't more serious, especially with Greg out of town. Needless to say, we did not make it back out that day and had eggs and toast for dinner....
I was so glad when Greg returned late on Thursday night. Friday was rainy again, as was Saturday, September 5th. But, we persevered, and ventured out for another round of exploring Amsterdam. We had never gotten photos yet of the Museumplein area, so that is where we went. Hopped off the tram, and our first photo was of the Concertgebouw (Concert Building). It opened its doors in 1888 and is home to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. It is said to be one of the world's most acoustically perfect concert halls, and it happens to be quite a pretty building on the outside as well. I was reading that there are free lunchtime rehearsal concerts at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesdays from October through June. Do you think Ben would be interested in doing this one day at lunchtime? Yeah, me neither...bummer.
Museumplein is the main cultural center of the city, with the Concertgebouw and the three major museums - Rijks, Van Gogh, and Stedelijk in close proximity. There is so much green space to relax and run, too bad it was all soggy from the rain. And, can you see that I'm just a tad bit late in getting my photos of the Rijks? The cranes and scaffolding had just appeared recently...I guess that is what I deserve for having lived in this city for nearly 18 months and not yet taking a proper photo of the country's premier museum.
We walked up closer to the Rijks and let Ben out for a run. Well, with water and rocks nearby, the run quickly turned into a game of tossing little stones into the water. He was having a great time splashing about in his boots and raincoat. Shall I explain the "I amsterdam" sign? This is basically the slogan of the Amsterdam Tourist Board, and we've seen this huge display move around the city. In fact, I'm convinced there are at least a few, because I swear I just saw another one the other day while on a tram. Anyways, we love the "double meaning" that our pastor, Gerard, gave us. People say that God is not in Amsterdam, but when Gerard first arrived in Amsterdam, he saw this sign that says, "I am". :) I love it!!
That night after dinner, we went for a walk as the rain had finally stopped. We just strolled around the Jordaan and made sure we had some photos of "our" canal and "our" building. We still find it so funny that we ended up in such a popular part of the city, considering we had no idea what we were looking at in February 2008. We've read many things about our building, De Blauwe Burgt, in regards to how modern it is in contrast to the rest of the canalhouses on Brouwersgracht. I'm having a hard time finding history about our building, but on the facade is this plaque with the dates 1710 and 1919. Assuming it was torn down in 1919, but can't find any info on when it was rebuilt. All we know is that it has been our home away from home for 18 months, and we love it!
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