Look at that Van Go! moe., Madurodam and more…
Yesterday marked the end of our first international moe. tour. The shows were amazing and the Melkweg is certainly a great venue to see a show. Hopefully they will be returning next year so I have an excuse to go back as well. 
Before the show, Susan and I walked to the Van Gogh museum. There were certainly some incredible pieces of work and some bizarre ones. After going through the museum Susan and I decided that we prefer photography as an art form over paintings. I think the recommendation of visiting a coffee shop first might have helped us enjoy this a little more.
Today Freek (pronounced Frick), a friend of the family, drove us around Holland to see a few sites. Our first stop was Madurodam, which contains scale models of several important sites throughout Holland. The detail of the models is amazing. From the flying buttresses of the churches to the ladies in the windows in the Red Light District, not a single detail was overlooked. This is actually the
only place you would be able to take a picture in the Red Light District and get away with it. :) The airport has planes that move, the canals have channel locks that open and close to let boats pass through, and even a fire fighting boat that extinguishes a burning barge. This is definitely a must see if you are in the Amsterdam area.
After Madurodam, we went to Museum De Cruquius which is an old steam driven pumping station. It was here that we learned that the 
windmills used in the Netherlands were to pump water into various channels to prevent flooding. The museum was closed for the winter, but Freek had a friend at the museum that arranged a private tour for us. From the pumping station we made a stop at one of the channel locks to watch boats pass through. The Panama Canal is on my list of things to see so this was quite interesting.
Thanks Freek for a great day!
I received an e-mail from a friend from work, Michael Piar, that he was going to be in Amsterdam visiting his sister. We will be meeting up with him later tonight to check out the nightlife in Amsterdam!
-Allen
