Alan is doing much better, so much so that he cancelled the acupuncture treatment that was scheduled for yesterday morning.  We went to the Rembrandthuis Museum instead, had a nice lunch out and got back after a full day for yet another great home cooked meal. Since we had a visit from our friends Mark and Judy and Alan brought up that it had devolved that he does "all" of the cooking, we have had made a good compromise in that we alternate cooking responsibilities. This is one great thing about a long and successful marriage, we're still learning how to live with one another. That divergence was prompted by my thoughts about the great food we've had here. Both that which we've prepared for ourselves in this great apartment, and meals outside. We continue to benchmark against the $300 fiasco in the restaurant with no stove in Stockholm. I don't think we've spent that in the supermarket yet.

Anyway, back to Alan. His knee was much better the morning after the last treatment and he was willing to walk for a mile or so. We have been keeping a routine of going to a small museum in the morning (not too early) then having lunch and doing a good walk in a new area of Amsterdam. Alan is a very good pathfinder and now with his bum knee, he's not so inclined to just start walking just by looking at the sun. So that makes it better from my perspective. He's got really good wayfinding abilities, but I'm always nervous that, particularly in these old cities, the path turns and becomes blocked by centuries old terraced houses. There are definitely secret pathways, but even when you go searching for them, as we did yesterday, you can't figure out how to get in unless someone tells you.

The windows to the back of the apartment where we are staying view a very quiet and private courtyard. In contrast, the building front faces Vijelstraat a busy trolly stop (Westerkirk). We also face the church, also Westerkirk, the first one in Amsterdam built for protestants during the reformation. The buildings on the street are the western wall protecting this little courtyard within from the busy world out front. There are lots of trees and birds sing throughout the day. Our walk adventure yesterday was to try and figure out how to get in. There has to be a way because there are at least a dozen roofs to be seen from our fourth floor (5th floor) aerie. The courtyard is not big, but like so many Dutch things, it is very well laid out. We had a little luck in one of the small hotels that is within the warren of roofs we see from our window. They had a cafe in their tiny part of the courtyard and we (well Alan) could get bearings. I'm still a little confused, but I do see the church (the one behind, not Westerkirk) so I know there's a way. Alan wants our walking exploration today to be a reattempt to get inside.

I thought we would be doing more adventuring around Holland, but we've been here 12 days today and have not ventured too far afield. I must say, Alan is being a good sport about his knee. Of course early in his convalescence he was free to play computer games all afternoon without me nagging him, so he got his fix. Plus it was only a few days of complete lay-up.  During those two days I went to the Rijks Museum and bought us Museumpass cards that are good for a full year. They were expensive, 54.90/each, but we are resolved to go to a museum a day and I think they have really already paid for themselves. We will give them to friends when we return to Ireland because they will continue to be good for months afterward.

That first day, I stayed in the Rijks and did the first floor rooms, from 1100 to the 16th century. I went through it pretty quickly because it's heavily religious in subject and I don't find that particularly interesting. My plan is to do the Rijks in stages, and this pass really facilitates that plan. Alan says he will go back for the next section (1700-1800). This should be the most interesting in the whole collection, I think, and I want to be fresh for it. If we can, we will push on to 1900 the next time. I just don't see how I will be able to get the whole way through that museum alone.

We've been to three smaller museums included in the Museumpass on our daily forays since Alan has been feeling up to walking. Mostly my favorites, house museums. I'm especially excited to see a lot of them because of our impending move. It's so interesting to see people's old stuff!

The first one was the van Loon house. As we were walking through I was just overwhelmed with the wealth everywhere on display. It seemed so pretentious and over the top. Still, I could see how one could get used to living that way, if you didn't think at all. All the way through the house I had a feeling of unease and when we got to the basement kitchen, I saw the "family crest" predominently
displayed on every piece of china: two black men in chains facing one another. All this wealth was a result of the slave trade. It was creepy. We capped that morning off with a good walk around the Rembrantplein area. 

The next day we did the Willet-Holthuysen House, a really nice house with interesting furnishings, history and owners. The last owner, Louisa H. gave the house to the city of Amsterdam in 1894 to be run as a museum and it has ever since. The must have been a good endowment with that house. She was the owner through her father, she married Abraham W. late. They seemed to have an interesting relationship and I think in these times, both sounded like they would have been happier living openly but I think they did OK. He was known then as a bon vivant and they both were called collectors. I don't think either did much, but they lived well.

Yesterday we went to the Rembrandthuis. It was interesting, but as I reflect on what I saw, I realize that I can't call to mind a single painting. In fact, I think most of the collection on display in the house was not authentic. I was much interested in the house, and saw that it was the type of lifestyle Alan and I might live today. It was very like our house on Lake Drive in Milwaukee in ambiance. Poor Rembrandt met a sad end though, still he wasn't tortured for years like Van Gogh, but it sounds like no picnic.