halcyon hibiscus: Anne & The King

25 April 2015 (Saturday) to 27 April 2015 (Monday) - Amsterdam. Visited KT over the weekend and celebrated King's Day in the Netherlands! Took an early flight out at 7am via KLM. Sandwiches were provided for breakfast and the flight was extremely smooth!

I was seated near the emergency door so we had a special lesson on how to open the emergency door when necessary. The flight stewardess was cheery and overall it left me with a pleasant experience.

Took the flight just before sunrise.

Breakfast with organic "bio" eggs

Emergency landing briefing

On the train from the airport to Amsterdam Central. Accidentally boarded the first class cabin. The seats were extremely comfy! But noted sadly that the second class cabin windows were vandalised with graffiti...

First class carriage

Amsterdam Centrale Station

Arrived at Anne Frank House to meet KT and queued...and queued... and queued... When we were finally able to enter, we were told that no photography was allowed. Hence, there are no shots posted below, except for a picture of a postcard and a miniature model of the house.

A poignant statement which I remember from watching one of the videos in the museum was that today we have a memorial for Anne Frank, the little girl who has died due to the Holocaust. Yet how many other Anne / Anna Franks were there who have similarly died in the war and are long forgotten since. War is very tragic and we should all play our part to ensure that history will not repeat itself...

Model of the Anne Frank House

She looks really cute in this postcard

Lunch was at The Pancake Bakery which was a superb recommendation from my office director! We shared a chicken with pineapples pancake and an apple cinnamon pancake, which were two of the hot favourites in the store.

Apple & Cinnamon Pancake

Chicken with Pineapples Pancake

The entire day was full of queuing... I think we spent nearly 4 hours of our day queueing for the museums. It was another long wait before we managed to enter the Van Gogh Museum. The pictures you see below are from the postcards which I got from the museum featuring some of Van Gogh's best artworks.

The Potato Eaters (1885)

Van Gogh considered it as one of his most accomplished work as a new artist.

The Yellow House (1888)

The house rented by Van Gogh which he hoped to turn into a
place of congregation for fellow artists but was unsuccessful in doing so.

Almond Blossoms (1890)

The painting reflected Japanese influences which Van Gogh took great interest in.

Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

Many think that this is his last painting before he committed suicide due to the

dark imagery used in this painting. But its a myth because he produced other

more cheerful works after this painting before his death.

Bedroom in Arles (1888)

The painting depicts Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles.

Self-portrait (1888)

His self portraits are often mixed up with paintings of his brother, Theo,
because both of them looked very alike. I think the difference is in their
eyes. Van Gogh's eyes are sadder. Theo's eyes are brighter.

Poppies and butterflies (1890)

Van Gogh did not have money to pay models
so still-life painting became more practical.

Sunflowers (1889)

My favourite painting! Did you know he painted 7 versions of the Sunflowers.
So the one I saw at the Neue Pinakothek could have been one of the many versions.

Walking towards our dinner venue, the sky was clear towards the evening after having rained the entire day. The city sights and river canals were picturesque with many photo opportunities along the way!

Seagulls sunbathing! A sight that you can only see in Amsterdam but not in Munich.

Dinner was at an Italian place, recommended by KT's manager. The food was so awesome that I have been ordered not to release the name of the restaurant until KT has left Amsterdam as she does not wish to have others jostling with her for seats here... As such, I will update this post with the name of the restaurant when she's back in Singapore, hah!

Italian restaurant tucked away in an alley

BBQ grilled black fish

Broiled fish with tomatoes and potatoes

Falling in love with the Tiramisu

Night fall in Amsterdam

On Sunday morning, we headed to Omelegg for breakfast. I had the special for the week "Triple Bacon & Cheese" which was not too bad. However, the problem arose when we had to pay the bill. KT's croissant (which tasted average...) was seriously over-priced (nearly 4 euros!) and she vowed never to go back again.

Our final museum for this trip was the Rijksmuseum. My office director had said that it is impossible to finish visiting the entire museum in one day, so we just tried our best! Here is a sampler of some of the displays that left a more memorable impression during the visit.

Beach at Ebb Tide - Charles Francois Daubigny (1817 - 1878)
The photo exudes a very calm and serene feeling with the kids at the beach.

A Windmill on a Polder Waterway - Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriel (1828 - 1903)
There were many windmill pictures in the Rijksmuseum, again something very unique to the Dutch.

The Battle of Waterloo - Jan Willem Pieneman (1824)

The largest painting in the Rijksmuseum. It was at this battle that Emperor Napoleon was defeated.

Rijksmuseum Research Library

The Library is an art itself painstakingly designed by Pierre Cuypers

Dolls' house of Petronella Dortman

Above is a single room of the doll house. The entire doll house is almost the same height as me. All the original dolls have been lost, with the exception of a baby in the cradle.

Dolls' house of Petronella Dortman - Jacob Appel (1680 - 1751)
This painting shows the above dolls' house as it once was in the past.

Another dolls' house (with the dolls) on display.

Flowers in a glass vase with a butterfly - Herman Henstenburgh (1667 - 1726)

A very vibrant still-life painting which I enjoyed!

9 storey pagoda built with blue porcelain
Its very interesting to see Western designs on porcelain
something which is traditionally associated to Asian / Chinese.

Beautiful guitar (but not meant to be played according to the description)

Lunch was at The Pantry. Personally, I didn't really enjoy lunch here, possibly because I chose the wrong dishes. I think KT rather enjoyed hers, although probably not as spectacular as compared to the other places which we have tried.

The Pantry

Starters: 3 different types of sausages / Potato croquette

Mains: Stewed beef and beetroot / Grilled fish with mashed potatoes

Dessert: Chocolate brownie with ice cream

Dessert: Mini pancake with cream
Probably the best dish here haha!

It was shopping time after lunch and we walked along the streets which were filled with strange and quirky sights.

"The Night Watch" statue
The original "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt (1642) is displayed in the Rijksmuseum.
However, the particular museum hall was flooded with crowds, hence we didn't get a
chance to admire it close-up.

Most of the malls here close by 6pm. So right after shopping, it was almost time for dinner again! Nom nom nom!

Starter: KT's soup which I can't remember the name.

Starter: Mussels cooked in white wine and olive oil!
Mmmm! It's definitely a must-try here! Best dish!

Mains: Lamb chop which was a little tough in my opinion

Mains: Salmon in soya sauce which tasted
like a Chinese dish but was a tad too salty per KT

Dessert was pear pie and we took away their apple pie for breakfast. However, after dinner we also bought chocolates from Ganache which had a wide range of variety from dark to milk / white chocolates!

Time flies and it was almost sunset after the exciting day. However, the night is still young! We walked past the "red light district". Per KT, the words below translates to "Quarters of the Whore". It was an eye-opener for me. An elderly gentleman who walked past kindly reminded me not to take any photos of the ladies as it could mean trouble.

National Monument on Dam Square to commemorate WWII victims
It definitely looks much grander at night. In the day pigeons perch on the
monument making it a rather sad sight unfortunately.

King's Day eve there were parties everywhere along the street! After having some trouble finding the direction, we finally joined KT's manager for drinks at the party near Anne Frank's museum and we were overwhelmed by the immense crowd! It was difficult keeping our balance with the crowd sweeping you away, but the music was just so catchy and awesome! An exhilarating experience ~

In the middle of this picture, a huge poster of the King and Queen decorates the building.

The Queen is said to have the looks of a model and seems like a pretty awesome dancer as well!

Rise and shine, early morning at KT's apartment was chilly but pretty! We walked through a portion of the route that KT's bus would travel when going to work.

Gorgeous tulips growing on the rooftop

Our salmon pink shoes

Strange garden under considerable repairs near KT's place

Nope, this is not Jurassic Park... Its the Zoo! Weird huh...haha

Pool of Flamingoes!! Imagine being greeted by these pink birds every
day on your way to work!! KT is really one lucky girl!!

A pretty backyard garden within a city

And yes, it's King's Day! King's Day is a national holiday that marks the birth of King Williem-Alexander. It is well known for its nationwide Vrijmarkt ("free market"), at which the Dutch sell their used items. It is also an opportunity for orange madness, a kind of frenzy used to describe the Dutch's national colour.

Even the public tram took on a shade of orange!

KT describes it aptly - its like "pasar malam" everywhere!

Seriously.. EVERYWHERE!!

Kids are also entrepreneurs for a day, selling their used toys

Even washing machines are on sale!!

The public cubicles are an interesting sight... when they don't stink...

The canals were also filled with orange boats blasting loud "zumba" music
making it all seem like a procession! Some even blew bubbles and confetti into the air!

The nation's pride

Is that a seagull? is that a plane?

Nope its not superman... Its a plane flying an advertisement for a radio station
getting people to choose their radio station when blasting music on their stereos

We went to Vapiano for lunch as another place which we wanted to go, "Guts & Glory" was closed in view of the holidays. The food at Vapiano's was pretty decent anyway and thankfully the wait was not long as we were already starving by the time we reached the restaurant. The style of Vapiano's is sort of similar to Marche as you watch them cook your meal in front of you (and drool haha...).

My Spaghetti Aglio Olio

KT's meat with tomatoes spaghetti. I'm proud to announce that she finished her fresh tomatoes!

So-so tiramisu and chocolate cake. Not fantastic as the tiramisu
had too much whipped cream and chocolate cake was a little dry.

After lunch it was time to leave the land of many canals... Here's a look at the second class carriage on the train back to the airport from Amsterdam central. I was quite confused when boarding the train back to the airport as I didn't know we had to change trains. Thankfully two kind gentlemen who were the train officers assisted me by telling me where I had to change my train and even letting me ride on the first class carriage (as it was King's Day)! Furthermore, they carried out a conversation between themselves in English instead of Dutch so that I could understand what they were saying and didn't feel foreign, strange of left out. It was extremely awesome of them and left me with a great feeling about Amsterdam!