Canals, diamonds and red lights an Amsterdam getaway COMPLETED - Page 23 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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What is it with the deconstructed meals? First a mug of cocoa with the whipped cream on a plate, and now melted cheese on a plate with bread on the side! Hope Mark feels better soon.
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What is it with the deconstructed meals? First a mug of cocoa with the whipped cream on a plate, and now melted cheese on a plate with bread on the side! Hope Mark feels better soon.
My thoughts exactly! Apparently, they like to do this in Amsterdam? Interesting stuff in the museum!
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Tanya
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Wonder what made the meatballs taste odd? Was it the combination of meats? Were they not cooked correctly--heated through? Did it make Mark feel even worse?
I know, a lot of questions but anytime I hear the words "tasted odd" and "not feeling well" that close together, i get really worried about food poisoning.
I hope you go back to Amsterdam when it's warmer, I've been freezing just reading this! LOL
Perhaps he can elaborate - I didn't try them (for obvious reasons... ) and that's what he said....
What is it with the deconstructed meals? First a mug of cocoa with the whipped cream on a plate, and now melted cheese on a plate with bread on the side! Hope Mark feels better soon.
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Saturday 11 February part six: if thats the line, forget it....
We saw lots more frozen canals and beautiful canalside houses on the way.
We also encountered an ambulance crew with a net, although we couldnt figure out what they were doing. They left shortly after we took this photo and we couldnt see what theyd done or rescued. It was all very odd.
As you can see, soon we were into the Red Light District, although just like yesterday, there werent many girls to see. A lot of the red curtains were stubbornly closed. Im sure it was too cold for most of them and it was only the diehards who were out today!
Soon we were back by the Oude Kierk, so we got some photos there.
We then walked down one lane where we did see quite a few girls plying their trade. As Mark said and one of them was even quite pretty. I couldnt get any photos, although I did sneek this shot as we walked along.
I was intrigued by the shop we found at the end and yes that is what you think it is!
We found ourselves near to Dam Square and a lovely church....
... and we took the opportunity to walk through the big department store wed admired for the past couple of days. It was chaos in there, absolutely packed with people, although they did have some amazing cakes in there!
As it was so busy, we quickly dived out again and lucked out with public transport at long last. A tram was just arriving as we got to the tram stop, so we grabbed it. We headed back to Museum Square, near our hotel and got out and made our way over to the Van Gogh Museum. you did read that right. Were not art people at all, but a) we were cold and wanted to go somewhere warm, b) we had time to kill before we headed for the airport, c) it was free with our I Amsterdam card and d) heck, we might as well go and experience some culture and this is one of the citys biggest tourist attractions.
We walked across the park, getting some photos of the building as we arrived.
We headed around the front to the entrance and saw an enormous line of people snaking their way out in front of us. This was the line to get into the museum! I think we both had exactly the same thought at the same time if thats the line, forget it! I went to check with a security guard whether we had to get in line, given we had the I Amsterdam card and fortunately we didnt have to. We were inside in just a couple of minutes.
This place is pretty strict on what you can bring in here, so we offloaded the coats, backpacks and cameras, as you cant take photos in here, and headed through security.
Once through that, we headed up to the top floor and made our way back down. Some of it was quite interesting, particularly the section about how Van Gogh ended up reusing a lot of canvases, as he couldnt afford to buy anymore. Of course, he was never recognised during his lifetime, as the museum explained. It was actually his family, after his death, who brought his paintings to a wider audience. Anyway, with some of the paintings he did over others, they had used various technology, including X-rays, to show you what was underneath and how some of it was bleeding through.
In one case, he did put various layers down of both white and black before he started painting again on the canvas, but its thought he may not have left one of the layers long enough to dry, as now its cracking and this portrait is now too delicate to be loaned out ever again, so in Amsterdam it will stay.
The majority of Van Goghs works are on the first floor, which takes you through his short life. He only painted for 10 years, after trying his hand at other things and finding himself unemployed. He only took a couple of art lessons, preferring to teach himself, and as Mark said, thats probably why he was so unique, because he wasnt following any rules. Despite the short amount of time he actually had painting, he was exceptionally industrious, creating literally thousands of paintings and drawings.
Of course, the most famous ones were the ones that we were drawn to see like the sunflowers, which is a beautiful portrait, but there is no way its worth whatever was paid for it (85 million rings a bell to me?), although it does have some vibrant colours in it. We also saw the irises, another lovely floral painting, his self portrait, his wheatfield and crows, which was exceptionally dark and probably shows his state of mind at the time, as by then he wasnt far from death, shooting himself in 1890.
Some of his paintings were a lot lighter. It looked to me as if he started off dark, then became light, before finishing in the dark again. There were lots of beautiful portraits from France, as thats where he spent a lot of his life, which were lovely to see.
It was absolutely packed on the first floor, as obviously this is where everyone comes to see Van Goghs works. By comparison, the upper two floors were deserted, which was a shame, as there was still a lot to see up there. Im glad we visited, although to be honest, we were just there for the famous works and to warm up.
Before we headed out, we visited the cafe and grabbed a hot chocolate each and some biscuits. On the way out, I had a look in the shop and got a new glasses case, as mine is starting to fall to pieces. Then we got all our stuff back and put the layers back on. It was then back outside and over to the hotel, getting a few last photos of the city on the way.
The photos are so crisp and clean you can almost feel the crackle of cold in the air! I love art museums so spend some time in the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum when I was in Amsterdam. I guess that's why I never made it to the other interesting historical museums you went to-- although I'd probably have enjoyed those, too.
You still managed to sneak a photo in the red light district, funny! I wish you could take photos in the museum, that would be amazing to see as he's one of my favorites! Glad you could warm up in there though.
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Tanya
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Okay...first, that hot chocolate with all the whipped cream piled on top...OMG did that look delicous!!! I bet you got a big 'ole nose full of cream though when you tried to drink it. As for the red light "employees"...Mark had me laughing with his statement about there even being a pretty one. I guess they didn't look like Victoria's Secret models.
The photos are so crisp and clean you can almost feel the crackle of cold in the air! I love art museums so spend some time in the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum when I was in Amsterdam. I guess that's why I never made it to the other interesting historical museums you went to-- although I'd probably have enjoyed those, too.
You see, we're just the opposite - we're not usually into art museums, so this was something of a rarity for us.
You still managed to sneak a photo in the red light district, funny! I wish you could take photos in the museum, that would be amazing to see as he's one of my favorites! Glad you could warm up in there though.
I wish we'd sneaked photos, as so many people were in there with their phones taking photos and we didn't see anyone get told off.
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Interesting stuff in the museum!
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) and that's what he said....
They left shortly after we took this photo and we couldnt see what theyd done or rescued. It was all very odd. 
you did read that right. Were not art people at all, but a) we were cold and wanted to go somewhere warm, b) we had time to kill before we headed for the airport, c) it was free with our I Amsterdam card and d) heck, we might as well go and experience some culture and this is one of the citys biggest tourist attractions. 
I think we both had exactly the same thought at the same time if thats the line, forget it! 
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