Parting is such sweet sorrow.
(Daddy recounts)
Our FINAL day in Amsterdam.
Since our flight was in the night, we had most part of the day to explore some more. And we did - we headed down to Rijksmuseum once we had checked out of our hotel and stowed away our luggage.
The Rijksmuseum - literally, 'national museum' - features one of Europe's top collections of art and historical items and the world's largest group of Dutch Master paintings.
Besides paintings, there were lots of artifacts on display too.
But the true reason as to why people flock to the Rijksmuseum is THIS.
Rembrandt's The Night Watch, one of the world's most famous paintings in the world.
The painting is renowned for three elements: its colossal size, the effective use of light and shadow and the perception of motion: a group of militiamen have just moved into action and are about to march off.
The boys were rather fascinated with the painting as they pored over the detailed guides, which gave them more insights into the painting... while Ale, erm, didn't have a clue what was going on. Haha.
We only managed to visit two museums during our time in Amsterdam - the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum. Of the two, I think the boys enjoyed Van Gogh Museum more, possibly because the nature of the exhibits was more focused and it was more intriguing for them to follow Vincent van Gogh's works of art throughout his life.
There was still time to spare after our museum visit, so we trooped down to the adjacent Vondelpark for some fresh air.
Vondelpark is central Amsterdam's biggest park. And it is essentially is a combination of large, grassy fields; landscaped gardens; ponds and canals; miles of paved paths and wooded trails; children's wading pool and playgrounds.
Much like our Botanical Gardens, but larger. Much much larger in fact!
And in a nod to the fact that Summer has truly arrived, there were lots of people suntanning on the open grass fields. On a weekday. Don't these people have to work?
Ditto for the wading pools. They were teeming with children as well!
I think the playground would make a better choice of leisure for the boys.
And they did revel in the entire play structures.
When they were sick of climbing structures, they turned to trees.
All those climbing definitely made tummies rumble at a faster rate, so we went searching for lunch next. There were no shortage of meal options within Vondelpark, but we made one incredible find just outside the park. It was this quaint little cafe for kids called Kinderkookkafé.
Kinderkookkafé means 'Children's Cook Cafe', and it is exactly what its name implies.
Kids suit up in aprons and chef hats to whip up all sorts of creations, from pizzas and sandwiches to chocolate croissants and cookies. And they get to serve their parents too after the food is done!
The boys chose to make their own pizza, and so they had to look for the correct ingredients from the chiller.
Once they gathered the required ingredients, it was off to their cook table!
The dough was already prepared beforehand, so all they had to do was to flatten it into a circular shape.
After the dough was done, it was time to smear the tomato paste and pile on the toppings.
TA-DAH! All done!
The lady boss assisted by placing the pizzas into the oven.
And while the pizzas were in the oven, there were other distractions for the boys.
The oven went 'DING' soon enough, and the pizzas were ready to be eaten!
Not too shabby an effort eh?
And with that, it marked the end of our Amsterdam Adventures as we headed to the airport after this. We definitely enjoyed the entire trip, more so for the boys I think especially since they had skipped school for this! :p
Once again, we would like to thank Friso Singapore for this awesome opportunity and hopefully, we would be able to pay a visit to Amsterdam again next time. :)
Read our entire Amsterdam Travelogue here: http://www.cheekiemonkie.net/search/label/Amsterdam
See MORE photos of our Day 7 Adventures in our Awesome Amsterdam album on our Cheekiemonkies' Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.349364561810486.80573.110845722329039&type=1
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