I Amsterdammed

Dear Dan,

First, I must say, teri hindi badi acchi ho gayi hai! Among a tremendous polyglutinous mixture of sounds today, your sweet hindi stuck out and made me mucho happy!

You asked me for my thoughts on this beautiful, confusing, and charming city. Here they are...

I still can't believe our (not so) little cousin walked us on the most prized walking tour of Den Haag and Amsterdam. 

The endless canals, the red lights above doors, the curious coffee shops, and the trillion tulip bulbs, the delicious Indonesian food and falafels and oorlogged fries, don't compare to standing right in front of van Gogh's Cypresses and Two Women, or Skyping with our giggling masis and probably rolling-his-eyes-at-the-giggling-ladies dear masa in Vondel Park, or slurping the smoothest jenever South Indian coffee style. Everything - from our amazing breakfast spread to talking about identities as we took in the angular and tilted architecture of this charming city - everything has left me thinking...damn, I Amsterdammed.

Our beautiful and yummy breakfast spread by dear Utty!

The yummiest fries with the yummiest toppings!

How else to help that delicious jenever go down?

Oh! Such delicious jenever!

Our sweet photobombing bartender!

My personal ninjas to keep me safe?

Who needs weed when you've got turtle power on your side?

Literally on my side!

Chilling in Vondel Park

I love you,

Suparna

P.S.-

So you never forget all my favorite van Goghs, I made a list especially for you...

I love his sketches and his experiments with color. I loved being reminded of the many self-portraits my kids and I made together. I fell in love with Avenue of Poplars in Autumn instantly. Then Flowerpot with Garlic Chives. I loved the colors he created in his Vase with Chinese Asters and Gladioli and Daubigny's Garden, and of the trio in his triptych, I loved The Pink Orchard. I loved and felt sad by By the Seine. So what if he needed to draw gridlines? It showed his growth and fiesty learning curve as an artist. And I loved seeing Paul Gaunguin's rendition of

Small Pear Tree in Blossom Vincent Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers. I was so deeply saddened by his brilliance and suicide. Especially in Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Garden of the Asylum, the depths of his depression and his inner cocktail of his unparalleled gifts and his toxic self-doubt, bleed through these paintings. I was so sad and so full all at once.

Here are some other ones I spent way too long staring at and imagining him signing his name on them:

• Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background
• Almond Blossom
• Roses
• Entrance to a Quarry
• Farmhouse