The long road to the Melkweg…

So another lazy morning, basically because Pete still poorly and my arm/shoulder still hurting.

We went to the museum area with the intents of going to Stedelijk Museum – Museum of Modern Art but got sidetracked by a hipster looking cafe. So we had breakfast there, with the requisite sourdough toast and avocado. It would have been a lovely transcendental experience, lovely location, tasty food and tasteful decor. But our peace was pierced by a loud American couple who seemed intent on not only us knowing every detail of their lives but also everyone pretty much in a 3 metre vicinity.

He was something to do with voice overs. It was a really odd conversation because he gave a huge monologue, whether she was listening or not. Then she responded with her own monologue. He was saying things like, he was not paid to put commas in, that he had high standards and you had to draw a line somewhere, blah blah. Then she was really upset with a recent blood test that showed her cholesterol was up, but I’m vegan she wailed, I walk, I exercise. He pricked up his ears, suddenly channeling the soul of a dead doctor, it will be congenital. Tears averted, she agreed and carried on eating. I like to eavesdrop sometimes but only there are interesting tidbits.

The museum had headsets. So need to try to interpret the work, it was being done for me. Damien Hirst is concerned about waste, our perception of trash that me made this box with ‘rubbish’, but is it really rubbish? Look deeper into the box, it’s a metaphysical statement on life and the cosmos. No doubt the museum paid millions for the said pieces.

It was good and much better once I had taken the headphones off.

Stopped at coffeshops and pottered about the rest of the day, getting a handle of the trams. The trams are great as each one has someone in a little open office type thing, so you can’t go wrong.

I needed a toilet break, again so went to the top floor of Primark. My happy Post pee pee look, sitting by a window in the shop with Amsterdam skyline in the background. As Pete pointed out it is made more pleasant with the lack of high rise blocks.

I feel like a super model when I am with Pete, albeit a super model who is very old and down on their luck. The reason is Pete wants to take my photograph all the time. Sometimes I don’t think his intentions are entirely honourable.

Later that day we went to the Melkweg, meaning Milky Way, housed in an old milk factory. This like the Paridiso is part of the music folklore in Amsterdam. So it is pretty amazing that we managed to get tickets to both places. This time round we went to see Hot 8 Brass Band.

The Hot 8 Brass Band is a New Orleans based brass band that blends hip-hop, jazz and funk styles with traditional New Orleans brass sounds. But not only that they incorporated bits of New Order etc.

They were really big on audience participation. One thing I have noticed about both gigs is that the audience’s seem much more livelier.

In the above picture they got the audience to Bob down. I didn’t. Given my current medical predicaments I probably wouldn’t get up again. Pete helpfully pointed out that even when he bobbed down he was still taller than me.

A great last night in Amsterdam. Reflecting on the bad reviews of the hotel they seem really harsh. We found it clean, friendly and really easy to walk to places from. Although despite the fact the Melkweg was supposed to be 3 minutes walk away it took us over 20 minutes. I do wonder about Pete’s map reading skills sometimes……