Amsterdam, Day 3 and the last day

After day 1 in Amsterdam, I decided that we would leave the day after Jessica did.  We got here on Sunday evening and she left Tuesday morning.  Three days is more than needed.  The town is definitely built on tourism.  The rambling streets around the canals are quaint but between a few museums ( I am not the biggest fan of the old Dutch masters but do appreciate it ), the pot trade which is beyond amazing and unique and a few places here or there to check out…there is just not much to do. 

We started our last day at the Tassenmuseum which is a museum of handbags.  Small and kind of interesting.  These bags are from hundreds of years ago.  In the old days men and women wore handbags.

There was a shoe exhibit when we were there.  Pretty cool shoes from 1910.

We walked over to the Rijksmuseum to visit a few of the Dutch masters.  Rembrandt and Vermeer.  We ended up not going to see the Anne Frank house.  I went years and years ago.  I had to buy an hourly ticket when I went on line months back and decided I couldn't commit to that.  Sold out today so we bagged.  Maybe gives us a reason to return.

Josh and I are taking the train to Paris tomorrow.  Fred is flying to Berlin for a board meeting.  We went over to the Albert Cuyp market to pick up a few goodies.  Check out the green cheese.

Fresh fruit drinks for now.

This guy made us some stroopstraat. 

Hot waffles filled with a honey paste.  Tastes like the best hot pop-tart you have ever tasted.

We were making our way somewhere to lunch and stopped in a local shop that sells salads, meats, etc.  Check out this basket of summer truffles.

This store was not only pristine but everything in there looked delicious.  The meats are at room temperature as they should be.  They had a veal roll and roast beef that had been perfectly cooked sitting at room temperature to bring out the flavors.  He told me that it had to be eaten that day otherwise it would discolor. Not good for tomorrows picnic.  Nobody in the states would have told me that but he is absolutely right so we bought prosciutto instead.

Had a hard time finding a place we wanted to go to for lunch.  Gartine and Bar Italiano were closed so we went back to the hotel.  Was like having an uptown business lunch but quite good.  Half a lobster on a caesar salad.  They make their dressing with bouillabaisse as the base instead of garlic.  Really smart.

We have had enough.  Just time to chill and think about Paris.