Hier Ve Be, Karen, Gary and my son, who prefers not to be specifically mentioned, so we'll call him Hans Cross de Barkoonter.
We are staying in a marvelous little house boat on the Prinsengracht Canal. I'm spending my time hacking away at the pronunciation of the Dutch language. Of course, they do have a gift of looking at you with a confused look no matter what you say. "We are going to Prinsengracht". "What?" "Prinsengracht." "What?" "Prinsengracht." "Oh, Prinsengracht." "Yes, Prinsengracht, how do you pronounce it?" "Prinsengracht."
When we first arrived, we met the owner, who is kind of a slightly, but not too, seedy version of Adonis who was cleaning up the house boat with his shirt off (Karen approved) and dropped our bags. It is a very nice, though small, location with a kitchen and a clean newly tiled shower and bathroom (once again, Karen approved).
Hans and I then ventured to the destination resort of Amsterdam (I know what you're thinking, but it's not), called P. C. G. Hajenius, a wonderful place dedicated to cigars (with a nod to pipes). It has a walk-in huge humidor, an open-two story floor plan which would make Henry Higgins marvel, and it's motto is "thank you, for smoking". I had taken Hans' brother to the same place on his eighteenth birthday five years ago and Hans told me at the time, "when I'm eighteen, I want to come back here". Here we are!!
P. C. G. Hajenius
Amsterdam is a wonderful city to just stroll around. You can't throw a rock without hitting an outdoor cafe. Karen and I walked about yesterday basically going from cafe to cafe kind of like stepping stones across the city. Our breakfast consisted of apple pie with whipped cream which was wonderful. Unfortunately, I ordered coffee with cream for the two of us as well. When they brought it to us it was two cups of coffee that would have fit in well with any ice cream parlor, each with a pile of whipped cream. We have since learned that we're supposed to order a "cafe au lait", of course, I think they're just messing with us.
We then toured the Rijks Museum (as in, "We are going to the Ricks". "What?" "Ricks." "What?" "Ricks." "Oh, Ricks." "Yes, Ricks, how do you pronounce it?" "Ricks.") This is famous for all of the paintings by Rembrandt (Rick Rembrandt), his students and other painters who either liked Rembrandt, painted like him or knew how to pronounce Ricks. Some of the paintings by Rick and by Vermeer were pretty spectacular. As I recall, the important thing about these early 17th century painters was their use of perspective ("This painting will go for $2 million!" "Wow! That really puts the cost of my trip in perspective!!")
We had booked a canal dinner cruise for the three of us. We were told that the boat left from "across the Central train station" - we found the location, we were early and there was a cafe near by, so we stopped in. When I was in Spain, 35 years ago, I had this great little eggy liqueur drink called "Advokaat" that came from Holland and I thought, why not order it here? So I ordered an Advokaat on ice. The waitress gave me one of those looks like I'd just ordered the nether parts of an endangered species - "could I have those lightly braised?". She came back with all of the drinks other than the Advokaat and asked me if I really wanted it with ice, I assured her I did. A few minutes later, she brought me a cup of what looked like pudding with a dollop of whipped cream on it and a glass of ice on the side. I have since found out that, while Advokaat can be a drink outside of Holland, here it is served as a pudding. The waitress, concerned, obviously had no idea of what I intended with the ice and that is why she put it on the side.
I'm considering ordering all of my desserts from now on "with ice".
We came out of the cafe, a few minutes early, and walked to the place which was labeled, "departures at 7 p.m.", the name of our tour boat operator and a large kiosk, which continued to be closed. We then asked about and found out that this was not the right place. After a true "WTF" moment, we located the place and then I had to deal with their ticket agent. Fortunately, I don't know the Dutch word for "moron", so I managed to ultimately get the tickets from that particular ticket agent without spending time in any Dutch jail. Karen reminded me to be patient and have fun. He was a moron.
The boat trip was a lot of fun. We had multiple courses, a variety of wines, a lovely pudding dessert in a pretty Dutch pottery bowl that we could keep, coffee and liqueur and a very nice captain. The sun set as we were winding our way on the canals back to the dock.
Before going to bed, Karen and I enjoyed a brandy at the cafe which is across the street from our house boat (all of about 20 yards away).
Sunset on Thursday evening.
We are staying in a marvelous little house boat on the Prinsengracht Canal. I'm spending my time hacking away at the pronunciation of the Dutch language. Of course, they do have a gift of looking at you with a confused look no matter what you say. "We are going to Prinsengracht". "What?" "Prinsengracht." "What?" "Prinsengracht." "Oh, Prinsengracht." "Yes, Prinsengracht, how do you pronounce it?" "Prinsengracht."
When we first arrived, we met the owner, who is kind of a slightly, but not too, seedy version of Adonis who was cleaning up the house boat with his shirt off (Karen approved) and dropped our bags. It is a very nice, though small, location with a kitchen and a clean newly tiled shower and bathroom (once again, Karen approved).
Inside the Houseboat and the Prinsengracht Canal view from the kitchen.
The Prinsengracht Canal
Hans and I then ventured to the destination resort of Amsterdam (I know what you're thinking, but it's not), called P. C. G. Hajenius, a wonderful place dedicated to cigars (with a nod to pipes). It has a walk-in huge humidor, an open-two story floor plan which would make Henry Higgins marvel, and it's motto is "thank you, for smoking". I had taken Hans' brother to the same place on his eighteenth birthday five years ago and Hans told me at the time, "when I'm eighteen, I want to come back here". Here we are!!
We then toured the Rijks Museum (as in, "We are going to the Ricks". "What?" "Ricks." "What?" "Ricks." "Oh, Ricks." "Yes, Ricks, how do you pronounce it?" "Ricks.") This is famous for all of the paintings by Rembrandt (Rick Rembrandt), his students and other painters who either liked Rembrandt, painted like him or knew how to pronounce Ricks. Some of the paintings by Rick and by Vermeer were pretty spectacular. As I recall, the important thing about these early 17th century painters was their use of perspective ("This painting will go for $2 million!" "Wow! That really puts the cost of my trip in perspective!!")
The Rijks Museum
We got back to the house boat around 4 p.m. and Hans had already arose, showered and then fell back to sleep. The nice thing about traveling with a teenager is that you don't have to worry where they are during the morning and early afternoon, it's just the evenings that can be a trial.We had booked a canal dinner cruise for the three of us. We were told that the boat left from "across the Central train station" - we found the location, we were early and there was a cafe near by, so we stopped in. When I was in Spain, 35 years ago, I had this great little eggy liqueur drink called "Advokaat" that came from Holland and I thought, why not order it here? So I ordered an Advokaat on ice. The waitress gave me one of those looks like I'd just ordered the nether parts of an endangered species - "could I have those lightly braised?". She came back with all of the drinks other than the Advokaat and asked me if I really wanted it with ice, I assured her I did. A few minutes later, she brought me a cup of what looked like pudding with a dollop of whipped cream on it and a glass of ice on the side. I have since found out that, while Advokaat can be a drink outside of Holland, here it is served as a pudding. The waitress, concerned, obviously had no idea of what I intended with the ice and that is why she put it on the side.
I'm considering ordering all of my desserts from now on "with ice".
We came out of the cafe, a few minutes early, and walked to the place which was labeled, "departures at 7 p.m.", the name of our tour boat operator and a large kiosk, which continued to be closed. We then asked about and found out that this was not the right place. After a true "WTF" moment, we located the place and then I had to deal with their ticket agent. Fortunately, I don't know the Dutch word for "moron", so I managed to ultimately get the tickets from that particular ticket agent without spending time in any Dutch jail. Karen reminded me to be patient and have fun. He was a moron.
The boat trip was a lot of fun. We had multiple courses, a variety of wines, a lovely pudding dessert in a pretty Dutch pottery bowl that we could keep, coffee and liqueur and a very nice captain. The sun set as we were winding our way on the canals back to the dock.
Keepsake Dessert and our Captain.
Karen and Gary on the canal dinner cruise!
Before going to bed, Karen and I enjoyed a brandy at the cafe which is across the street from our house boat (all of about 20 yards away).
A very lovely location!
Sunset on Thursday evening.
2 comments:
my mom just came back from a business trip and brought me back some p.g.c. hajenius cigars in a wonderful box. as a real cigar lover, i can't wait to try one along with the bottle of johnny walker blue she brought me. wonderful, isn't she
The combination of a box from the most wonderful cigar store in the world and a premium scotch (admittedly, blended and I tend towards single malts, but hey!). I would say your Mom is a keeper!!!
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