Great Saturdays

Don't you love it when you just have a great weekend, that you have the feeling that you have "done" something nice and perhaps cultural and got to know new friends along the way.
My weekend started out on Friday a little stressed and tired. I had a busy week and a few late nights. But after a nice relaxing evening and some much needed sleep I was fresh and ready to go to Amsterdam with a friend and enjoy a whole day out and about on the town.
Sadly it was not all fantastic because I seemed to have lost my discount rail card and got fined a hefty sum for it. But Anyway we got to Amsterdam and started the cultural experience with Foam. This gallery is mostly photographic exhibits of many diverse subjects. One was the World Press Photos from the beginning of the organization. As you can well imagine many of those photos are harsh and hard to take in as most are dealing with war, famine, strife, cultural clashes and other such harsh subjects, although I did see one about football which I guess when you think about it could also be related to war, strife and cultural clashes. But the other part of the exhibit that was upstairs was actually quite informative and interesting.
The next part of the gallery was Tian An Men square photos, exhibits and multi-media. Actually quite interesting. I like the photo of the guy walking his pet cabbage in the square, because apparently you are not allowed to have pets on the square and so many kids over there are trying to rebel against the system without getting arrested.
The next part of the gallery was connected to the World Press Photos - Things as they were. Also quite a mix of interesting articles, photographs and magazine clippings and covers. I quite liked the article and video about the Kennedy assassination, still very much a conspiracy! I love the use of the space in the building.
After a nice lunch on bagels we walked towards what I thought was the right direction of the Amsterdam History museum, in the end I caused a few detours but we made it. I wanted to go there because of the Seamans Tattoo exhibit I read about. But in those detours we got to window shop and enjoy the fantastic weather that was upon us. In my opinion the Tattoo part was a big disappointment with the exception of the actual tattoos of lost sailors kept in formaldehyde to help identify them if they were ever found dead.
The rest of the museum was quite amazing with many different areas to learn about the history of Amsterdam. I particularly like the areas concerning the people of Amsterdam and the area regarding the second world war and the occupation of Holland.
Dinner at Wagamammas and a couple of Guniness at Tig Bara, more drinks, talk and great company until the wee hours....
A great weekend indeed.