notsovanityfair

Went to the National Portrait Gallery in London with my friend Diane to see the Vanity Fair Exhibit. The older stuff was great fun because there were plenty of people I had seen very little of, but overall the exhibit was small. Both Diane and I had expected to see many more photographs.

We did have lunch at the Portrait Restaurant. Not the best service or food, but the view was spectacular, so it's worth trying to make a reservation. I noticed that they serve tea, so that might be a better bet than lunch. Plan on staying awhile as service is very slow, which might be a good thing if you have the time.

eindhovenreturns

Joe got called back to Eindhoven for a week of work and I came along to work from the hotel and then we headed off to Amsterdam for the weekend. We had dinner in Veldhoven one night at the Admiral where Joe had a fresh, perfectly cooked, whole North Sea Sole that was deboned at the table. An incredible fish, worthy of the trip.

I took a day and wandered around Veldhoven and did a little shopping. Took a bunch of pictures of the houses and downtown. I also made it downtown during the day on Thursday and visited the Van Abbemuseum again.















































Valentine's dinner was on the train to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we stayed at the NH Amsterdam Centre and had a HUGE room with a very deep bathtub.

We spent most of our time museuming. We visited the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh and the Stedelijk. At the Stedelijk we saw a really great photo exhibit celebrating 60 years of Magnum photography.

We had a wonderful and fun dinner at Trattoria Toto, which we'd recommend. Reservations are suggested. We weren't able to get in before 10p the first night we tried, but when we showed up for our 8:30p reservation the following evening there were plenty of tables.

Last time we had been to Amsterdam, Joe had wanted to take a canal tour so we finally did it this time, but we got it wrong. we ended up on more of a bus...so much of the 2-hour tour was spent hanging out at one of the 7 stops. I'd recommend a little research to make sure you end up with the right tour.

back2thestates

In late January, I headed back to the states for work, but made time to spend the weekend with Jeff, Fernando, Alban and the cats at the Inn at Cochecton. It was a beautifully perfect visit, with quiet except for the wind, a bit of snow to keep everything white, but not trap us in the house. As always, I felt like I'd been on vacation for weeks not days by the time I got on the train to DC.

Though it was a work filled week, I did manage to get out to dinner with Sammy and Janine at Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant, the Source. The food was great, the service impeccable and I ran into an old DC buddy, Tibor which made it even more fun. Then to top the evening off, Scott Drewno, the executive chef, stopped by the table to see what we thought of the meal.