Our last day in Amsterdam

I think that we have completed our Amsterdam visits now. 

This morning we met with Baz and Carmen for an introduction 

to Luka, their sweet baby boy.

Considering that he is not quite 4 months old, he had a lot of stories to tell me!

Mum...I am starving!

Dad...I am almost asleep!

Time for a walk!

Dorothea joined us for a coffee and visit. She hadn't seen Baz for many years and had not met Carmen or Luka yet. It was special to share stories about the people that we all know and the adventures that we have had over the years.

Carmen, Baz and Luka joined us for a tour of the Stedelijk Museum which houses modern and contemporary art exhibitions. The Museum was closed for 10 years while a new addition (known colloquially as The Bathtub) was constructed. The old and the new are very different from the outside but blend nicely inside. The most interesting exhibit was "The Beanery", a walk-in and life sized creation by American artist Edward Kienholz in 1965 that represents the interior of a Los Angeles bar, Barney's Beanery.

Modelled at two-thirds the size of the original Beanery, it features the smells and sounds of the bar, and models of customers, all of whom have clocks for faces with the time set at 10:10. Only the model of Barney, the owner, has a real face. Kienholz is quoted as saying "The entire work symbolizes the switch from real time (symbolized by a newspaper) to the surrealist time inside the bar, where people waste time, kill time, forget time, and ignore time".

Around 5:00pm we hugged goodbye to our friends and hopped on the No. 2 Tram to our hotel. It was another great day with special people. The weather has cooperated the entire time!!!