recent outings

Friday night, Dan and I went to a beer tasting at 't Arendsnest (The Eagle's Nest) bar located in the Jordaan. 't Arendsnest serves only Dutch beer and our beer steward was Marcel Snater. Marcel started as a homebrewer and has morphed into a mobile brewery phenomenon, bringing his mixes to different breweries. He advised that he still maintains a day job, but his true love is brewing. We tried six different beers and, ironically, learned some Belgian beer trivia.
1) The Belgians put sugar in the malt when making the beer. This leads to headaches!
2) Belgians tend to brew sweet beer, while the Dutch are a little sweet.
3) The Delirium Cafe in Brussels has over 2500 beers.
4) Wheat gives beer the taste of clove.
5) more barley = more fermentation = more alcohol
5) The name of the microbrewery that we learned about on our bike tour is called 't Ij, and it closes at 8.

On the way to 't Arendsnest, we saw the following party driving down the street. What you cannot see in the picture is that the middle of this contraption is filled with beer kegs and people are sitting and drinking as they cruise down the street.


Monday, I headed over to Waterlooplein to check out the market there. It had been described to me as swap-meetish and it was indeed. Used things, as well as new. Of course they had the requisite hosiery that seems to proliferate the markets out here. On my way to the market, I spotted another graffito by Laser. I didn't find anything at the market to buy, but it was good to see what they had to offer. Afterwards, I stopped by the Rembrandthuis, which was around the corner.



Rembrandt lived in the house and painted most of his masterpieces inside its studio. He went bankrupt and had to sell most of his belongings, but curators have tried to recreate the interior based on drawings and descriptions of the rooms. Rembrandt's Minerva hung in the salon and radiated the light for which Rembrandt is known. The house was large, but rather cosy. As usual, I was amazed by how small the beds are and where they were located. Rembrandt and his wife Saskia slept in the living room in a "box bed" which closes up to look like a cabinet. Their servant slept in a box bed in the kitchen. The beds were tiny because people used to sleep sitting up. No photos were allowed inside, but if you click on the info button from the Rembrandthuis link above, you can take a virtual tour.

After I got home Monday, I had one more thing on my agenda - a double stroller. I had been looking for one before I left, but many people advised me to buy one once we arrived. To see what the Dutch people use. Until Monday night, I had been toting Amelie in a Baby Bjorn and Liliane in a MacLaren. On Queen's Day I spotted what I wanted among the masses in Vondelpark, but I couldn't ask the owner about it. I spotted another one while shopping a few weeks ago, and got to learn what it was called. It's called Kees (pronounced "case") and it's made by Happy Baby, a Dutch company. I couldn't find any for sale online and I went to a giant baby store called Prenatal and they had never heard of it. Luckily, Holland has something called markplaats.nl, which is a cross between eBay and craigslist. I found one and drove 45 minutes out to the seller out in Flevoland to pick it up. Along the way, I saw hundreds of windmills. The picture I included below does not begin to capture the vast number of mills spread across the plains. This link has a beautiful picture of Flevoland windmills.



So far, the girls love the stroller (knock on wood). Liliane even jumps into it when it's time to leave. It's not quite as long as a conventional tandem, which makes it easier to get on and off the tram, up stairs and to manoeuver in shops.