Day 17: Museum Market, Bloemenmarkt, Science Center, Red Light District

It was Sunday. We had our usual quick breakfast in our room and was off to our tram stop.

This time we decided to buy a 2 day tram/bus ticket for 12.50 Euros.

Once again, we caught the tram to Museumplein. The Van Gogh Museum is right next to the Rijksmuseum where we'd been the day before.

Would you believe that just like the canal ride, we were told that you had to buy your tickets ONLINE?!? All the tickets for that day were sold out. There was a long line of people being told the same thing.

Arrrghhhh!

I stood there for about 15 minutes with my cellphone, ordering tickets for the following day's earliest time slot which was 11:30.

Finishing that chore, we walked over to the Rijksmuseum, used the bathroom and then went to the restaurant to grab a quick snack.

It's strange, but I have really lovely memories of that time.  I don't know why it struck me exactly. We were just taking a lovely breather... relaxing... with delicious, fresh croissants and perfect hot chocolate.... with no real time table. I loved it. I really loved it.

When we stepped outside we saw that we'd managed to walk right into the monthly Museum Market. The entire field was full of booths selling different kinds of delicious food, crafts, artwork and other fun souvenirs. We had to buy a cute bib for our grandson from this woman who said her last name was rooster in Dutch so she took the name Kukeleku for her handsewn items. Kukeleku is Cock-a-Doodle-Doo in Dutch.

I just had to throw in another tulip photo because the raindrops looked so pretty on the blooms.

We took the #5 tram to the Bloemenmarkt at the Koningsplein stop. There's a TON of souvenir and flower shops there, mixed in with a lot of cannabis seeds, cookies, candies, etc.

And then it was time to find a place to have lunch.

We saw several people holding containers from this shop so we had to try it.

Craig and Terry liked their selection very much. We were OK with ours.

We'd read that the NEMO Science Museum (16.50 Euros) was a great place to visit so we decided to try it. It was such a cloudy, rainy day that we thought it would be a good place to while away some time.

It was fun being a kid again.

It was raining hard when the museum was closing. They passed out free raincoats to everyone which was really nice.

OK...

I admit it.

Amsterdam is famous for the Red Light District and on the way there we passed this ummm... museum. As Terry said, "If it weren't only 5 Euros we wouldn't have gone in."

Art and I had been there 10 years ago and I was so shocked that I kept my eyes down or shaded almost the entire time.

This time... being older... most of it was rather repetitive and redundant.

Dinner was at a Kabob House where we had Schwarma wraps.

There were tons of tourists flocking around the Red Light District. We saw ladies of the night in front of red curtained windows plying their trade. A few girls were standing in their windows with slinky clothing tapping away at their cellphones. It was rather funny actually.

We walked through Dam Square and headed back to our hotel on the tram.

It was a very fun day. It may not have gone exactly as planned, but was perhaps even better for the unexpected enjoyment.

MESSAGE TO BLOGGER FRIENDS:

Sometimes your life can take crazy turns. I have a couple more weeks of blog posts already scheduled about our trip and return.

However, soon after I wrote those posts, we got the horrible news that our dearest friend in Japan had died. Art had known "Sam" for over 50 years and felt he had to go to the funeral to say goodbye.

We returned this past Friday and would you believe on Saturday, I fell going up the stairs? I have managed to fracture my left humerus (long bone from shoulder to elbow) in two places (or was it 3?). Art is the BEST caregiver around but the pain when I move a certain way is excruciating.

Depending on how quickly I heal, I'll be sure to tell you all about it.