Day 171: Van Gogh Museum — Beatrixpark Splash Pad — Cool Dinner at Jansz
I kept my rental bike overnight and did a 45 minute ride around Wester Park this morning. Getting back I was part of the rush hour madness which was a bit harrowing but still really fun.
I extended the rental for another 24 hours.
Margaret had bought tickets for the Van Gogh museum for our fam plus Brandi and Ava. It was lucky timing since today was going to be the hottest of our time in Amsterdam and unseasonably hot for that city.
We happened to see on the internet that they have a kids scavenger hunt workbook so we picked up three of those and set off to explore the three floors of Van Gogh’s work.
The workbooks kept the kids super engaged. I separated James from the other four. He definitely needed a lot of my help finding stuff but he was pretty locked in for about two hours. It would have been two minutes if not for the book.
At one point he was seated and writing in an answer and a South African woman from Jo’burg approached him and told him she was impressed with his writing. She was so nice.
After two hours we met Margaret, Brandi, Willa and Ava in the cafe for lunch. They still had to get through the special exhibit on the Sunflowers masterpieces so James and I got on our bike and headed south for the Beatrixpark splash pool.
We didn’t have bathing suits but that didn’t stop Willa and James. (Well, actually it did stop James for a while but finally he gave in.)
We met Nate and Julia there, got some ice cream for the kids, and also hit the playground Nextdoor.
It was quite a scene at the splash pool. There were tons of young families who all arrived on their bikes with big seats in the front for kids.
Pools like that kinda gross you out but it was surprisingly clean and we learned why: while the kids were swimming a guy with a motorized chlorine machine on a push cart started driving through the pool.
After Beatrix we rode about five minutes to The Roast Room for kid dinner and grownup drinks.
We had 6 people on two bicycles. Willa rode in the front seat of mine and Margaret jumped on back. James rode with Ava in the bucket of Brandi’s bike… finally getting some one on one time with Ava that he had been desperately craving. Poor guy was itching for attention from her and struggling with the two older girl / one younger brother dynamic.
We said goodbye to Ava and Brandi then headed back to the hotel for a second night in a row with a babysitter!
I had Margaret take both kids. We were pretty far from the hotel and it was now rush how and I just wasn’t comfortable taking one of them (helmetless) on the front of my bike.
I made it back safe and sweaty, dropping off the bike for a final time.
In the meantime Margaret had an Uber driver who was about to take a Morocco-to-Cape Town roadtrip and had a million questions about long travel. A memorable chat.
We met Nate and Julia at Hoppe once again. On my way there I passed d’Vijff Vlieghen, the restaurant where we were going to eat, and saw people sweating in the window. They had no AC and it was still really, really warm.
Margaret remembered that she had actually gotten a reservation at this place Jansz based on a recommendation from my friend Dan Rosenberg. So we hustled over to the restaurant, grabbed a drink at the Pulitzer Bar and then got one of the two tables near the AC vent. Perfect outcome!
The venue was very cool and the food delicious. It was a memorable ending to a special visit from Julia and Nate.
After dinner Stephan and his wife Diana, also a former colleague of Margaret, joined us back at the Pulitzer for one more drink. But I ran home before ordering to relieve the sitter who was only booked until midnight.
Amsterdam showed verrry well. What a beautiful and cool city.
Meeting my parents in Copenhagen tomorrow.
