This past weekend was iffy weather wise, but we managed to make the most of it. Late Friday afternoon we decided to go to the FOAM museum. It is close to home, so if the rain started we didn't have far to go either way. This is a photographic museum and had 5 shows going on. One was very good, one was good and the others not so hot. The very good one was old photos from albums blown up extra large...some huge, like 6 feet x 6 feet. Some of the pictures were crinkled, written on, ripped...just like some we all have. There was one picture that looked like me holding Rae as an infant. Had the usual first communion pictures, family reunions etc. I liked it. Ray tolerated. The other good one was photos of celebrities. The not so hot ones were too artsy for our taste. Later in the evening the weather was promising, so we took off for dinner. I scanned my favorite internet tool, Trip Advisor, and found a great place. La Festa is in the Jordaan which is a very nice residential area with lots of restaurants. Kind of like Lakeview in Chicago. The place is small with only one waitress and one beer on tap, but it is Heineken, so it is all good. Started out with some crunchy olives and moved on to a wonderful salad. Got the pizza with spicy sausage, peppers, onions and anchovies. It was wonderful. Topped off the meal with gelato and whipped cream. Saturday was rainy again, but we ventured off to the market. Got some yummy stuff and came home and just spent the day reading and watching TV. Sunday was wet too. Went to church. This week the Filipino choir provided the singing. Like I said before, everybody sings loud in this parish. I wonder what it sounds like outside the church. After we came home decided to go to the Rembrandt House. Ray has tons of pictures that he will post along with a little bit of history about the house. Walking home we decided to go to a bar I had read about on Trip Advisor. Cafe Belgique is tiny..about 6 barstools and 2 tables on either side of the bar with seats for about 12-15 total. All Belgian beer. 6 on tap and about 30 bottles. All of the beers have the glasses to match which is commonplace with the Belgian bars. Decided to sit outside because for this minute the sun was out. As we were sitting there a young couple walked by and the gal was madly taking photos of us and all the surroundings. They stopped and I asked a million questions. They came from the Ukraine, but the fella, Adam, is originally from Nashville. Had gone to the Ukrane in the Peace Corps 10 years ago and stayed. Anna is a youngster at age 24 and is a photographer and she is here in Amsterdam for Fashion Week. She continued to take pictures and the rest of us drank the wonderful beer. Ray tried 3 different ones. One was Kwak which is served in a round bottom glass and sits in a wooden holder. Ray took a picture of the three of us. Adam is quite good looking. His brother teaches at the U of Chicago Divinity School, so Adam has been to Chicago a few times. It was a great afternoon. As we sat there more people showed up. A guy with a dog appeared and of course Ray had to take a photo. The bar is on a tiny alley way, so not real touristy. Some of the cliental was, shall I say, a bit rough. Another weekend in Paradise. The photos are from the Rembrandt house museum. It is the original building that Rembrandt lived in for 17 years. He went bankrupt in 1656 and creditors took the house and all of the contents. The creditors made a complete list of all the contents. This list, that still exists combined with the many sketches Rembrandt made of the house interior has enabled the museum to put the house back together much like it was when Rembrandt lived here.

July 15-16, 2012 Rembrandt's House