Last seen
wandering
around Van Baerlestraat and Paulus Potterstraat,
“OK” was the response.
Sooooo standing
around the tram stop, Chucky meticulously scans each arriving tram for TE4 and
sees… Nothing.
Time to text Lenny who
responds:
“We’re outside Small Talk, where r u?”
How they
got past him is up for discussion as the two Wacko’s hustle back to the
corner.
Now
everyone is hungry, except of course, Chucky and DL as TE6 moves inside to be seated, the Greenhouse patio being too warm for them all. Jonas {pronounced "yo-nus"}, the jovial
host/waiter/busboy... Whatevah ushers them to a line of side-by-side tables and
proceeds to take food orders.
The usual banter
ensues with Barb trying to help Lenny related the UBER debacle previously reported along with
various other tales of the morning as the lovely Dutch Pancakes and Fizzy Tea
arrive.
Now these
Dutch Pancakes, really overstuffed crepes are BIG and Donna can’t really eat a
lot [another story for another time] so she pushes her plate toward Lenny who
pushes it back, too much syrup for him.
Not so
fast grumbles Jonas, {probably a product of the food shortages of WWII}, who will
have none of that –
“Waste
not-Want not”
seems to
be what he’s mumbling... as she protests vigorously. Jonas persists and decides
that if Donna can’t eat them by herself, he'll help by beginning to feed her
till she finished it all. Everyone was laughing so hard that nobody had the
presence of mind to snap a pic, hence this reporting lacks proof, but there
WERE witness’ Donna…
Now it
was time to trudge up the block to the Van
Gogh Museum and since we had bought tickets online, we beat the long queue
and hurried to the entrance… waaaayyy over there, across the street from the
actual Museum. Which of course led you
down stairs to the tchotchke shop, audio rentals etc, and back under the plaza and across the street via long escalators to the museum to begin the trek through the confusing 3 floor layout
of Vincent’s works. Follow the links for an in-depth review of
his legacy, and how the museum finally came to be thanks to his sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger and his
name-sake nephew’s dedication to preserving and curating the vast amount of this
Mad Genius’ work and lettes now exhibited in the 2nd most visited museum in the
Netherlands.
2.5 hours
later TE6 found themselves back in the underground tchotchke shop, looking for
the way out, which after stopping at the doors to decide
“What’s Next?”
they
discovered the the Dragon Chic was nowhere to be found.
Now Chucky’s panic sets in…
“But
she was at the head of the line…
“No she’s not here…
“Did we
leave her downstairs…”
etc… etc…
etc. Until…
Somebody
spots her, standing outside, waiving back at the rest of {now} TE5.
“Uh…
just had to see what was over
there…”
She giggles,
As she swears
she thought everyone was right behind her thorough the exit.
Now Lenny
is looking for a deli or sumpthin' to grab some sandwiches to take back to the hotel, the restaurant there apparently isn't that great. The security guard has no idea about a "deli?!?" so she directs them down the block to the Gay Pride Festival where there should be food booths… or sumpthin’.
Chuck’
hustles ahead, and discovers a couple of possibilities as the rest catch up and
decide… Naw… lets just head back to the Central Station. If we see something interesting we'll jump
off the Tram.
Once on
the crowded Tram, that idea quickly evaporated as some dozed off most of the
way back to the beginning of the line.
Arriving at Centaal Station, Chucky is fading fast for some reason and the rest think its time to head back to their hotel.
Warm Hugs and fond farewells - they all had different flights out - and TE6 quickly dissolved towards their respective transports.
Now all of a sudden, DL spots St Nicholas Church and remembers they were shut out the last time here and JUST HAD TO pop on over and look inside. While a bit of a hike across Sationsplien and the canal, Chucky acquiesces and off they go. Only to find out... It's Sunday and not open to the public until mass at 6PM.
Now he's awake so they look for a spot to relax with a local beer when he remembers a cute little cafe around the corner from the AirB&B they stayed at last year, overlooking the main square and Stationsplien..
After sitting for 10 minutes without any service, he wanders inside, grabs a couple of brews and they chill a bit before heading across Stationsplien to grab the train back to the Sheraton.
Once back in the very comfortable room overlooking the runway and
The next post will try to finish up and recap what has been a most interesting trip.
Pictures will be up soon... there is just a bit more sorting to do and an album to create for the Google Picture site that is way more complicated and restrictive than the old PicassaWeb thingy of the past.
Ciao 4 Now
Uncle
Chuck & The Nonny-Nonny bound,
Dragon
Lady
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