2 nights of Amsterdam

Amsterdam, good food, music, shopping and expositions.

Ambiance shot

Music
Our city trip started with marvelous concert by tUnE YarDs. Their lead singer, Merill Garbus is an amazing artist.
The line of fluorescent paint on her face, and a giant feather earring made her look like a sweet little bird.
But looks are deceptive, because when she started singing, she turned into a genuine indian warrior (and not the sweet Pocahontas kind :)). But enough about her appearance, I loved her so much for other reasons. The sampling she does for example: she samples her own voice and the drums, so she can sing and play a small guitar while the drums keep playing.

The songs made me long for sun and freshly cut gras. The cheery tunes got everyone dancing and wanting more.

In short, a very nice performance, hope to see her again during a festival in the summer. 

Never heard of them? Listen to some tunes and look at a performence here.

Food

Love for my tummy and a delicious Foodgasm are the things that I got on my plate in Amsterdam.

At De Goudfazant,a huge restaurant in a building that used to be some kind of pilot, you get a simple menu with fancy words (read a lot of French, which according to me 70% of their customers do not understand) and some humor. You won't stop smiling when your food arrives. Nice portions, not too big, not too small of perfectly cooked food, served by an extremely friendly staff.

Heavenly mud by Hans Bormans

One little disadvantage: it's in the middle of nowhere, so get enough money for a cab, or make sure you have a gps.

That foodgasm I was talking about was given to me by the chef of Pont 13. A wonderful restaurant on a boat. Yes, a boat! The man who cooks in that gorgeous kitchen (you can see how everything is prepared) is my new hero. Their dishes are an instant way to happines. No need to say more: Yum!

Shopping

I can brief the whole experience by saying this: if my boyfriend buys: two pairs of shoes, a sweater AND gets a lovely (and cheap) haircut, I can assure you this is a great shopping city.

The fact that I bought a dress and three pairs of earrings isn't really a miracle I suppose :) 

second hand treasures

Foam

Foam stands for Fotomuseum Amsterdam, where Joel Sternfeld, a pioneer in color photography, was exposing an overview of his work. Without beating around the bush: I love him. His mission is to capture the American landscape, and I must say, he's doing a good job.

Here's one of my favourit shots:

The man has made very interesting series. Like On This Site where he fotographs places that seem random, and not interessing. But then you read subtext and learn that someone has been killed or society failed.

He's also capable of photographing people in a very particular way. Some explames can be found here.

Even though the weather was kind of grey and it was only two nights, I must say I had been a long time since I had felt so rested and ready for monday.

Tulips anyone?

Special thanks must go to our wonderful and uber fancy hotel Citizen M

I must apoligize for the lack of photos. I was VERY lazy, shame on me!

Love, I