Donisl and Amsterdam

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	Friday, July 25, 2008 was Michael's Birthday... for the most part it was a down day for us and we really did not celebrate his birthday as such. We walked around Munich and had lunch at the oldest beer hall in the city, which is Donisl. They date back to 1715. Our lunch was great as was the beer.

	Yes he was enjoying himself and he stole my beer! Late afternoon we hopped a flight back to Amsterdam. We stayed at the Hilton Airport, rather then downtown Amsterdam and decided to stay in rather than take a train into town as we were beat.
	Saturday, July 26, 2008 was the last day in Europe and our only day in Amsterdam. They were predicting rain so we decided to buy "I-Amsterdam" cards and see the sights. We went to the Rijksmuseum which has many works by Rembrandt as well as other exquisite painters. The laces in some of the paintings have so much detail that you would think it was a photograph. The quality of the works from the glassware to the silver and gold jewelry and goblets is unreal. There are pearls that luster and while most of the people were painted in black, you could see amazing details in the cloth. While you can't take pictures inside, this is one of my favorite pictures. It was cut down in size over a century ago and still takes up the entire wall in a very large viewing room.
	After the Rijksmuseum we walked around the corner to the Van Gogh Museum. Like the Rijkmuseum you can get within a arms reach of the paintings. We did not spend a lot of time at the Van Gogh Museum as modern art is not our thing but we enjoyed seeing his works and how they varied throughout his lifetime.
	We were tired of standing so next we took a canal cruise. The day was warm… actually kind of hot, which is rare in Amsterdam, and although they were predicting rain so far it had held off so everyone was on the water. We almost collided with other boats several times during this hour long cruise as you could not see the boats under the tunnels at the cross streets. This was my 4th cruise and the 1st time we ran into any issues with the locals cruising for fun and getting in the way of the canal boats. This was a really neat looking boat that we saw that day with rudders on the sides...

	After the cruise, we visited a small little Catholic Church “Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder” that was in the attic of a 17^th century canal house. The Church was on the 5^th and 6^th floor of the building. It was from the days when you were not allowed to be Catholic. The officials would look the other way if the church was not recognizable on the outside. I just can’t imagine Nana and Grampsy walking up the narrow steep steps to this church.
	After church, we walked through the red-light district. It is odd how you can turn in a circle and see the girls soliciting business, a church (not the hidden Catholic church), a coffee house full of young people getting high, a café full of 70+ year olds having a coffee. We ended the evening with a typical Dutch dinner at the oldest Dutch restaurant in Amsterdam that I had been to the previous week with my co-workers from both the US and the Amsterdam offices. After dinner, it was finally raining so we headed back to the hotel to pack for our morning flight.
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