Day 660, 24 Mar '16, Van Gogh, Tassen Museum, Willet-Holthuysen.
This morning I kept Luca company outside while James feasted his eyes on the masterpieces at the Van Gogh Museum. There is a coffee table book in the house that showcases the masterpieces - so nice to have a look and learn more about them after the visit. We jumped back on the tram and off again at Leidseplein in order to walk back through a busy shopping street back to Konigsplein, just near home. We nipped in to the local Albert Heijn supermarket and I discovered the hard way the Dutch aversion to credit cards. Cash or debit only at the supermarket! Almost as amazing as the dope and the red light windows (actually - probably more amazing). Having done a bit of research, apparently hotels, restaurants, touristy things... no problem - but general spending is done with cash or debit. In fact a great many Dutch don't even get a credit card until they travel abroad. Still amazed. Actually had to stick groceries behind the counter, trot home, get cash and go back. Apparently I'm not the first and won't be the last (to my mind, that is probably is an indication they need to start taking cards... but hey). Lunch at home then it was out to the Bags & Purses Museum (Tassenmuseum). This is my second visit and it is still fascinating - love looking at the famous handbags the museum has acquired over the years - one from Imelda Marcos and also Margaret Thatcher's gray Asprey bag. A short walk along the canal brought us to the Willet-Holthuysen museum which is a stunning and luxurious canal house containing the art and objets collected by this couple (Abraham Willet and Louisa Holthuysen). They passed away in 1895 and left their extensive collections to the city of Amsterdam (they were childless). Stunning collection. The museums kept us going for almost 2 hours then it was home for coffee before nipping down to M&S and splurging on a couple of curries for dinner. €10 wouldn't go anywhere in a restaurant, but a Tikka Masala and a Lamb Roganjosh with home-steamed rice were utter luxury for the price. We had a bit of energy left and headed out with Luca at about 8.30 pm for two hours strolling about the Red Light district and the infamous sex windows. Incredibly busy out and about in that neighbourhood but also felt very, very safe. The thing with the red light neighbourhood is one minute you're in it and then you step over an invisible boundary and you're in another neighbourhood. It started drizzling as we headed home and the lights on the canals were stunning. Good Friday tomorrow which seems to be code for Good Day to Go to Museums... very little seems to be shut for Easter which is great. Who knows what the day will bring.