Our hotel in Amsterdam is very nice and it’s central to the museums that we want to visit. We’re also right around the block from a very high-end shopping street. Jewelers, designer clothing stores, and the like are all in our back yard. Too bad that is not on our agenda. We have an appointment to visit the Jan Six House tomorrow, it’s a private house museum. They limit the number of visitors to 12 per day, so we were lucky when Deb was able to secure a date and time. It is about a 30 minute walk from our apartment, whereas if we took the tram it would be about a 27 minute trip.
I had forgotten just how appealing a visit to Amsterdam can be. Our last visit was over 20 years ago and we stayed out in a suburb then. In 5 minutes we arrive right in the major canal part of the city, which is the most picturesque area to visit. 
Today was an orientation walk to find the Six house and gauge how long it would actually take. It had to be an estimation because we didn’t seem to be able to walk more than 50 feet before being waylaid by another captivating antique shop or gallery. Tomorrow will be a real splash of cold water for us as we will have to be up, showered, breakfasted, and out the door by around 9:30. Our route takes us right through the road that bisects the Rijksmusem and across the first of several canal bridges. As we walked today the sun shown through in the early afternoon. It was about that time that we found a corner bar and restaurant that looked promising.
Called Myrabelle , it looked to be quite an old place. It had old hand hewn beams and dark stained paneling very quaint. I asked our host if the bar was very old and he replied that the building was 17th century but that the bar had been created around 1970 with repurposed materials. A limited menu and few tables drew us in. Our host, like almost all the Dutch, spoke very good English, and ushered us to a little booth situated under an elevated seating area. We shared the area with two other tables. One of them was occupied by a pair of gentlemen who had been sitting at the bar with beers as they waited for their lunch. At one point a young family from I believe the U.S. came in with their two young boys and sat at the table next to us. The youngsters were like may little ones a little too energetic. After a few minutes they agreed with the server that a table upstairs might be a little better. So it was quiet again except the occasional outburst from above. Deb had fish and chips and I had a hamburger. It wasn’t gourmet but it was still a good meal. After lunch as we walked back to the hotel we 
ventured to go through a Christmas market that sits in the park facing the Rijksmuseum. Fall on the Riviera ended abruptly when we saw the ice rink that had been set up for skaters to dust off their blades. It is certainly colder here than Nice but there are still many plants outside that are still in flower so there has not been a frost yet. Finally it was on to the hotel to rest after a rather short sleep last night.
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