A couple blocks off the beaten map (and google maps) and we were a bit late for our lunch date with Fabienne and Erik, two colleagues/friends of Mb who work in the US-Netherlands Fulbright Office in Amsterdam. After showering apologies and orange gerber (sp?) daisies on Fabienne, the four of us walked to a GREAT bookstore where we dined on bagel sandwiches and chatted up a storm. Business meetings kept the lunch date to an hour and a half...so we said goodbye to the loverly couple and headed for a leisurely promenade throught the Nine Streets District where little shops, bars, and cafes are located. BEAUTIFUL weather. Sun shining....people wearing orange....watching the Holland-Denmark World Cup game via various methods. Hup hup! Score: 1-0.
A few more metres of walking...then Hup-hup!!! Score 2-0. Holland won this round. :)
Showed Dan the infamous Ann Frank House and Museum.....and stopped on our way back to the hotel in the department store De Beijndorf (sp?) for a wonderful, refreshing strawberry custard tart. YUM!
Took an oh-too-quick nap and go ready for the big event: Verdi's Requiem with the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest at the incredible, enchanting and most superb concert hall acoutics, The Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. Amazing chorus. Strong and vibrant orchestra and a dapper and energetic conductor, Otto Tausk. Next to us was a wonderful Dutch couple who used to live in Rochester, MN. Small world. We spoke of our current Milwaukee Symphony Conductor, Edo de Waart, originally of Rotterdam Philharmonic. :)
Had a late evening dinner at an Italian restaurant near our Hotel...and then we crashed. Mb's puppies are barking up a storm! Dan's eyes were dazed over.
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