After Saturday dinner we went to this sports bar venue to watch what was left of the Ireland-England rugby game. It was completely packed, forcing us and many others to sit on a flight of stairs, and everyone in there was Irish or English save a small group at the end of the bar. As England were getting their asses handed to them on a plate, I quickly realized that this group was much more entertaining to watch than the game. The cast of characters included a middle-aged (aka, well-over 50) blonde man that I'm guessing was the owner and was groping every single person he knew there (male and female), his bald friend, the woman working behind the bar (who was literally doing all of the work), a guy working behind the bar who was seemingly dating the woman behind the bar but was also spending a lot of time hugging the owner, a few random women, and this other guy who randomly started throwing up at the end of the bar while owner guy seemed to cheer him before he was finally shown out. However, he came back about ten minutes later and they gave him plenty of cigarettes and red bull. This may not all come across as bizarre, but I assure you it was. Oh, this was about 8 pm. After the game we went to a few other places, including two Irish bars and the Hard Rock, which was actually really neat because it was right on a canal. I believe the hood was called Leidsplein. But that may not be it at all.
On Sunday we made our way to the Anne Frank Huis, which was pretty intense. You actually get to step through the secret staircase. And you can see the stuff up on the walls. And you get to see the diary. You look out the windows and see what they all saw while they were in hiding. It's all very touching. After this we went to the Van Gogh Museum and saw famous art. I was actually really excited to see two Klimt paintings of forest scenes similar to the neat one we saw in MOMA (you guys know the one of which I speak). And of course there were oodles of Van Goghs (over 200 of his 900 paintings they claim), including another one of the five or so Sunflowers. In the evening time we went to Rembrandtplein or something like that and ended eating dinner at an Australian place, which was oddly similar to American food as I had a burger. We had to call it a night a bit on the early side because first thing Monday morning it would be time to head to the US consulate. We'll leave joyous Monday until tomorrow.
By the way, Adrian and Mark are not gay (aka, the guys in the photo). They just like to stand under quasi-gay signs, giggle, and have their photos taken to amuse Chris (not in photo). (Hi Chris, if you are reading this again on the sly).
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7 comments:
were the klimt forest scenes the ones that look kinda like birch trees? i like those paintings.
nothing like spending a good chuck of your holiday at the police station and us consulate...
I'm glad you got the age for middle-aged correct--over 50, and not in the 40s! Not that I'm sensitive about that or anything...
So what was the homo monument?
The average life expectancy is in the mid-70s, so middle-aged SHOULD be late-30s.
the police station was good times!!! (think margo quite liked the young blonde police officer) though the US consulate should be in the Lonely Planet Guide book - very interesting experience think i went through about 10 metal decectors!!!! however the amusing part was the difference in security between the US Consulate and the British one...the US one had what can only be described as tank proof iron fencing whereas the brits had 'rent a fence' surrounding the building. Though in our defence its home ground and in a nicer part of town.
Not much nicer! Maybe a little more out of the way. Perhaps closer to a really large park. But not superior.
I don't know if Klimt was birch trees. They were very green and dotty. Forest like. Perhaps birch. Now I can't recall.
Apparently homo-monument is made of 3 triangles scattered around by Anne Frank, sort of a gay memorial it seems, each triangle pointing to different things. It's all very deep.
Of course I'm reading, though not very slyly... :)
Glad to hear that Homeland Security dollars at least went to beefing up security at the consulate. Here it goes to bulletproof vests for police and fire dogs, clown and puppet shows, customized trailers to be used at a mushroom festival,lawn mower "drag races" and for security cameras to protect a remote Alaska fishing village.
BTW, middde age is more of a state of mind, and doesn't relate to life expectancy at all.
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