Earth Hour

Today was an exceptionally full day. Full details will have to come in subsequent blogs (to carry us through the week and ensure there are no pictures of my computer as the most interesting thing I can think of!!) but it went something like this:

Wake up, have breakfast on the lovely executive floor, take the tram to Centraal Station. Take a 1 hour canal cruise. Take the Metro to the Hermitage which has two exhibits right now: "Peter the Great, an inspired Tsar" and "Vincent" (van Gogh). I found both a bit boring, although Peter seems like a pretty inspiring (as well as inspired) Tsar. More to come on him. I then had a quick lunch, and walked around the corner to Museum Willet-Holthuysen which was the only museum the hotel concierge did not recommend but the only one that looked interesting to me. It is a historical canal house that you can walk through with a great audio tour. Similar to the Breakers Mansions in Newport.

Then I hopped on another tram to the Amsterdam Museum and saw what I could of it in the hour before it closed. Around the corner was a nails place so I treated my at this point very tired feet to a pedicure. Also got a manicure so my hands wouldn't feel left out (they do their work typing on my computer for 14 hours a day during the week).

(Note: I was trying to squish this all in because I bought a really cool tourist card called "I Amsterdam" which gives you unlimited public transport and access to almost all of the city's museums in a 24 or 48 hour period. I got the 48 hour one because it was only 10 euros more, so tomorrow promises to be equally exhausting!)

Then I wanted to explore Chinatown for dinner, but the two very famous restaurants had very long lines and I was far too tired and it was way too cold out to wait outside for a table (especially considering it was just me, and really how many dishes can one person try). So I went to a "no name" place that was decent.

A tram ride home, and I was back at the hotel. (It took about 30 minutes to find the right tram stop to come home. I was cold and irritated.) I got back during "Earth Hour" - they lobby was all lit with candles and they were offering wine to all the hotel guests. It was really quite a beautiful display - take a look!