Two Restless Wanderers: McDonald's

Tuesday, 26 July 2016

July 26, 2016- Stedelijk Museum and Wandering Around Amsterdam Some More

Today we woke up earlier, but spent the morning writing the blog (April) or resting (Bill). We had a breakfast at the hotel in our room of fruit, cheese, yogurt, and some croissants we had picked up at the grocery store the day before. The fruit here is unbelievable. The berries are so delicious they could almost be an ambassador to get new immigration if the country wanted it. The blueberries are so firm that they practically pop in your mouth. And the flavour is so strong and delicious. What happened to our produce in North America?

We walked from the hotel towards the museums, stopping at the Belgian bakery, Le Pain Quotidien, in our neighbourhood for lunch. It was delicious.

Cobb salad, bread, fruit salad, soft boiled eggs, Belgian waffle, and tea.

Near the museums, we stopped and withdrew some more cash (drugstores and grocery stores generally don't take credit cards here). We looked for a pharmacy to get some more painkillers because April's neck and upper back are still tense, though improving. We only found a sort of compounding pharmacy that had some really complex system of obtaining items that we couldn't figure out, so we left.

We went to the Stedelijk Museum. This museum was purpose built, but looks kind of like it wasn't. It houses modern art and design pieces, many being temporary exhibits. There were the usual suspects, canvases painted just green or just red that you suspect you could also do yourself (but somehow the artist sold it to someone, so they have some kind of skill that we lack), super sexual neon signs and paintings and photos, weird videos by some Canadian guy that were like being trapped in the middle of someone's psychotic break or acid trip, and some furniture and old spoons. We looked around and then left after a couple of hours.

I wonder if the Romans would agree that this has just been 2000 wasted years?

Bill took a trip, swinging on this swing watching a bizarre video by a Canadian artist.

Mmmmm snake eating itself. This acid trip just went bad.

Why don't they sell lamps like this?

Warhol photos.

Ok, ok I'll admit it. I'm less than perfect.

From the inside of the museum, you can see the old exterior of the museum which is now enveloped by the new exterior after the extensive renovations to bring it up to code several years ago.

You forgot to kiss my soul.

I promise to love you.

We walked to the hip De Pijp neighbourhood which we had visited days earlier. We found a pharmacy and loaded up on some painkillers and blister band-aids and of course had to buy a bag because we hadn't brought our new canvas bag from the day earlier with us.

We went to McDonald's for dinner, just to compare it to Morocco, France, and Japan from past travels. We thought that the Dutch would have this one locked down because they have such great meat, dairy, and produce, not to mention bread, but we were wrong. The big tasty chicken and big tasty beef were not very tasty. The fries were average and you have to buy either ketchup or weird fry sauce which is like dill flavoured tartar sauce if you want anything with them. The Coke was average. We don't know how they stay in business here when there's so much else to eat that's superb.

We walked home through De Pijp and followed a green belt that led to the shopping area of Beethovenstraat. We wandered down it a few blocks (everything was closed except restaurants because it was the evening). We stopped in a grocery store and bought individual sundae containers to try back at the hotel, since we have two spoons in the room from the tea.

We walked back to the hotel arriving home a little earlier than usual. The ice cream (one caramel, the other strawberry) was pretty good, but not on the level of France or Italy (not that we're complaining, it's still way better than back home). We worked on the blog, April worked on her haiku blog, and we rested.

The Bilderberg Garden Hotel is in the perfect location for us. It's quiet, safe, and comfortable, close enough to museums and Vodel Park without being in the midst of chaos. The only complaint we have so far is the cleaning. It's been spotty at best and last night we came back to our room to find our electric toothbrush in a somewhat full glass of water. It still worked, but we were chagrined that the cleaning person would have risked our toothbrush and couldn't understand why this was done to begin with (the front desk woman was just as confused, but then asked if I had actually done it- no! why would I call you if I had?).

Our marble bathroom.

We're on a beautiful tree lined street.

The bed is pretty comfortable. We've been sleeping well.

Saturday, 11 July 2015

June 25, 2015- Around Paris, The Louvre, The Top of L'Arc de Triomphe

We are Run Down from the "Relaxing" Cruise, We Eat a Delicious French Breakfast at Home, A Walk Down to the Louvre, Lunch at the Louvre, the Louvre, After the Cruise, McDonald's- I'm Lovin' It, Champs-Elysees, L'Arc de Triomphe, the Metro

This morning we were exhausted and chose to sleep past our alarm. Bill went to the neighbourhood bakery and obtained baguette, croissants, and pain au chocolat. They were excellent and such a treat after the "food" we endured on that cruise. We have never felt such relief in our lives over the end of a portion of our vacation as we have with the end of that cruise. We were determined to salvage what was left of our long awaited European vacation.

We walked down from our place in the north of the 9th arrondissement to Place de Concorde where an ancient Egyptian obelisk stands in the middle of traffic and one can view many other landmarks of Paris in the distance. We walked through the Tuilleries Garden and ended up at the Louvre. We had the Paris Museum Pass (we chose the Six Day Pass so we would have plenty of flexibility and time to view the many sights of Paris which Bill had never been to before, we bought this at the CDG airport when we first flew into Paris) and were able to walk by the giant lineup of people and right up to the entrance (there were some dirty stares). We obtained a map and had lunch in a restaurant in the Louvre. It was an indifferent Cesar salad and some fries that we shared, but still better than anything we received on the cruise (ice cream excluded).

We went to the Dutch section first and April realized that she would have to return to Amsterdam to enjoy the best of the Dutch Masters again. We walked around the Renaissance section and for a giggle viewed the Rococo section with its myriad of gilt, chubby cherubs, and frolicking couples. We looked through the Middle Ages section for a bit and then did the mandatory walk by the Mona Lisa. Bill had never been to the Louvre before and was more interested in the hoards of people jostling to get a picture of or with the Mona Lisa or a selfie in front of it than the actual Mona Lisa itself. We also swung by the statute "Winged Victory" which was also a mob scene. We saw a lot of antiquities in the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sections. We admired the beautiful tiles and wood carvings in the new Islamic Art section. We looked for the Mesopotamia section, but even after asking for directions were unable to find it. The map provided was more confusing than illuminating. We ended up seeing Venus de Milo and then we staggered from the Louvre, spent.

We sat on the steps and had our leftover half a baguette from breakfast and some water, watching idiot tourists posing on posts in front of the pyramid at the Louvre, trying to get their hand placement just right to look as if they were touching the top of the glass pyramid or pinching it in the photo being taken of them. It's amazing how being a tourist can steal your brain and make you behave in a way you never would at home. We just hoped we weren't appearing that way to everyone around us. But we probably were . . .

Since it was close by, had bathrooms, and we hoped free Wi-Fi, we went to McDonald's for an early dinner. We couldn't find Wi-Fi, but we did eat, drink, go to the bathroom. The menu had no regional specialties like it had when we were in Japan so Bill had McNuggets and April had the McChicken Burger. Everything was pretty mediocre, but it was still a nice change from the frozen and boxed pasta and meat aboard that cruise.

We left refreshed enough to walk to L'Arc de Triomphe. We walked up the Champs-Elysees and watched the tourists blowing their money in the posh stores. We used the bathrooms at the Westin and looked in Sephora briefly, but April determined that there were really no deals to be had. We arrived at L'Arc de Triomphe and bypassed the line again with our museum passes. We climbed to the top on old worn stairs (near heart attack in the summer heat of Paris after a day of sightseeing!).

The view from the top was breathtaking. There are no tall buildings nearby, so you can easily see all over Paris and since it's in the middle of a star-like flare of roads, you can see down all the boulevards. The panoramic shots were amazing. We could clearly see Sacre-Coeur high on Montmartre where we had been standing the previous evening. We used our "selfie stick" (yes, we bought one for the trip, how embarrassing) to capture ourselves kissing with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Shameless.

Bill was exhausted, so we took the metro home. We stopped by the grocery store and then returned home to sleep exhausted.

16.58 km walked today.