 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
STILL AROUND AMSTERDAM!
Still April 25
After the museum, I went to another market, the Albert Cuyp Market. This was a really great
market! It was really big, and had a lot of different things to look at! Many of the stalls
opened into full stores behind them, so it was really, really huge! I saw a whole bunch of really
interesting things there.
Here are some of them:
(these appear to be pants covered in paint and dried; I touched the purple one and it did
move a bit, so they are real pants... just obviously decorative now...)
After the market, I went to the Diamond Museum. I don't have any pictures from there, but it
was really neat! They had a great exhibit about how diamonds are processed, and how you
tell a good one from a not good one, and a real one from a fake one, etc., etc. They had a
fairly pretty exhibit of a bunch of different types of diamonds - some nice jewelry, too! They
had a replica of Van Gogh's Starry Night with diamonds swirled into the sky. I'm no Van Gogh
fan, but this was absolutely beautiful!
My favourite part of the whole museum was the temporary exhibit - crowns! There were
dozens and dozens of beautiful crowns from all over the world! There were coronation
crowns, burial crowns, regular crowns, etc. It was just so neat to look at each of them - which
countries had the most ornate ones and which ones are simple and small, which are elegant
and which are over-the-top. I absolutely LOVED this exhibit!
They had a computer set up where you could take your picture, click and drag a crown or
tiara onto your head, and then email it to friends! It was so fortunate that of the four crowns
they had to choose from, one was one of my favourite tiaras from the whole exhibit!
Here's the picture:
At the end, they had a really nice room (like, a small room). The walls and ceiling were all
done with mirrors on angles; it was dark and there were twinkly white lights, so the effect
was like you were inside a diamond. Then, they had videos playing on the mirrors (I don't
know how it worked, but the effect was really nice), of famous people wearing diamonds
and clips from movies about diamonds (such as the Tiffany & Co. scene from Breakfast at
Tiffany's - "you get the feeling nothing could ever go wrong here"...). In the background, the
song Diamonds are Forever was playing. It was a really nice effect, and a beautiful finish to
the exhibit.
After the Diamond Museum, I went back to the hotel and crashed again. I was so exhausted!
And, I wore through another pair of socks. I think I forgot to mention that earlier, but I wore
through a pair of socks every single day of my trip! I had a hole in the bottom of my shoe
before I left, but honestly, buying new shoes when your feet are size 12 is not that easy to do...
Anyway, I kept going right through the bottom of every left foot sock I wore! That will
become an important fact later... :P
We had another evening dinner with everyone else, and it was quite nice! I really enjoyed the
people I met - they were all very friendly and I really enjoyed talking with them!
We took a very long walk around Amsterdam after that. It was so much fun! We found two
carnavals of sorts (not sure if they are there all the time or if there was some event going on...),
and lots of interesting buildings!
Finally, we went home and went straight to bed! This tourist thing is so exhausting! :P
THE LAST DAY IN AMSTERDAM!
April 26
For our final day in Amsterdam, Dad and I started off going on a nice canal cruise. It was
beautiful and it took us all through the canals and around the harbour area, too. It was really
nice out - I mean, it was spitting a bit, but I like rain, and the breeze was nice... Did I mention
any of the weather at all yet? I can't remember... Basically, these days were the nicest once
ever! Even the Dutch people were saying they never had weather in April like these days. It
was sunny, warm, and absolutely perfect outside! This was the only time it even sprinkled!
Here are two pictures from the canal cruise:
Still April 25
After the museum, I went to another market, the Albert Cuyp Market. This was a really great
market! It was really big, and had a lot of different things to look at! Many of the stalls
opened into full stores behind them, so it was really, really huge! I saw a whole bunch of really
interesting things there.
Here are some of them:
(these appear to be pants covered in paint and dried; I touched the purple one and it did
move a bit, so they are real pants... just obviously decorative now...)
After the market, I went to the Diamond Museum. I don't have any pictures from there, but it
was really neat! They had a great exhibit about how diamonds are processed, and how you
tell a good one from a not good one, and a real one from a fake one, etc., etc. They had a
fairly pretty exhibit of a bunch of different types of diamonds - some nice jewelry, too! They
had a replica of Van Gogh's Starry Night with diamonds swirled into the sky. I'm no Van Gogh
fan, but this was absolutely beautiful!
My favourite part of the whole museum was the temporary exhibit - crowns! There were
dozens and dozens of beautiful crowns from all over the world! There were coronation
crowns, burial crowns, regular crowns, etc. It was just so neat to look at each of them - which
countries had the most ornate ones and which ones are simple and small, which are elegant
and which are over-the-top. I absolutely LOVED this exhibit!
They had a computer set up where you could take your picture, click and drag a crown or
tiara onto your head, and then email it to friends! It was so fortunate that of the four crowns
they had to choose from, one was one of my favourite tiaras from the whole exhibit!
Here's the picture:
At the end, they had a really nice room (like, a small room). The walls and ceiling were all
done with mirrors on angles; it was dark and there were twinkly white lights, so the effect
was like you were inside a diamond. Then, they had videos playing on the mirrors (I don't
know how it worked, but the effect was really nice), of famous people wearing diamonds
and clips from movies about diamonds (such as the Tiffany & Co. scene from Breakfast at
Tiffany's - "you get the feeling nothing could ever go wrong here"...). In the background, the
song Diamonds are Forever was playing. It was a really nice effect, and a beautiful finish to
the exhibit.
After the Diamond Museum, I went back to the hotel and crashed again. I was so exhausted!
And, I wore through another pair of socks. I think I forgot to mention that earlier, but I wore
through a pair of socks every single day of my trip! I had a hole in the bottom of my shoe
before I left, but honestly, buying new shoes when your feet are size 12 is not that easy to do...
Anyway, I kept going right through the bottom of every left foot sock I wore! That will
become an important fact later... :P
We had another evening dinner with everyone else, and it was quite nice! I really enjoyed the
people I met - they were all very friendly and I really enjoyed talking with them!
We took a very long walk around Amsterdam after that. It was so much fun! We found two
carnavals of sorts (not sure if they are there all the time or if there was some event going on...),
and lots of interesting buildings!
Finally, we went home and went straight to bed! This tourist thing is so exhausting! :P
THE LAST DAY IN AMSTERDAM!
April 26
For our final day in Amsterdam, Dad and I started off going on a nice canal cruise. It was
beautiful and it took us all through the canals and around the harbour area, too. It was really
nice out - I mean, it was spitting a bit, but I like rain, and the breeze was nice... Did I mention
any of the weather at all yet? I can't remember... Basically, these days were the nicest once
ever! Even the Dutch people were saying they never had weather in April like these days. It
was sunny, warm, and absolutely perfect outside! This was the only time it even sprinkled!
Here are two pictures from the canal cruise:
