Saturday, September 28, 2013

northern holland



local bakery filled with great breads, cakes, cookies etc



pretty house in town

view from outside our window to the local park


pretty Dutch garden

menorah on the local canal, advertising for the current exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the  local museum

happy group in search of cappuccino

cute sign

wonderful dutch cheese with cumin

pretty town of assen

day off from the office, awaiting...

wonderful appel gebak mit slagroom to go with our cappuccini

funny little turkish eggplants in the market

and miniature turkish yellow and red peppers

wonderful breads everywhere you look

the flower to buy were spectacular, everywhere and so affordable

liked these lantern things, saw them in market today in Rome too, some kind of dried flower

lots of lovely architecture

homemade DELICIOUS desserts made by our hostess!
great weekend continued with a lovely visit with friends in the Drenthe province of Holland. Relaxing, fabulous food, fun, wonderful friends- what more could one ask for?- perhaps a bit more sun but it was warm and cloudy- not bad!
the happy and hungry group

an amuse bouche (we were served 3 amuse bouche before dinner)

something on a bed of black sesame seeds

wonderful scallop 

a white fish topped with a shrimp

dessert which was 3 desserts really




and to finish the meal some mini cupcakes

Vlindertuin restaurant where we ate, dinner was wonderful. we had 6 courses, including dessert. I believe it was all fish except for a piece of veal which was one of the courses. great place. would go back

Friday, September 27, 2013

more of amsterdam (Rijks) and Van Gogh Museum -Sept 20, 2013

Rijksmuseum took it to show how neatly arranged things were with good signs and the rooms were all nicely lit and restored

an old 1600's (I think) cabinet I liked

detail of cabinet,  a simple  annunciation

made of stone, scott and I really liked this little guy

Van Gogh's peach blossoms in the Rijks Museum, obviously photo does not do it justice.

Atrium of Rijks, two buildings were connected

St. Christopher, 1520. German.  I always take photos of Sts. Matthew and Christopher

some early Van Gogh's

another early Van Gogh

This was my favorite Van Gogh, as well as his, apparently. He considered this to be a masterpiece. Everything he wanted to do he felt he had done in this photo. The dimensions, colors, light, depth were all really pretty.

One of Van Gogh's many almond blossom paintings

always calming to look at

gardens leading from Rijks to Van Gogh Museum

back of Rijks with some modern dutch sculpture

I loved Van Gogh's pieces of Japanese art

Van Gogh- lovely dutch scene

another Japanese painting he did


interesting tile in a wall on the leidsegraact street

hard to see but all the blue designs were pretty ceramics

having fun

this was the restaurant with our hotel ( we did not eat here)

had to include a dutch windmill. van gogh
Spent Friday first at Rijks, then a quite lunch and over to the Van Gogh museum. While the Van Gogh museum has gorgeous paintings it's design seems out of date and despite the fact they were controlling the numbers of people going in you always had to be waiting in line to see the art. If you go to either museum you really need to book ahead.