2014 EUROPE by Rail 30 - Museum After Museum

We finally arrived at the Rijks Museum. Tickets were about 15 euros each, but it was worth it. There are four stories with untold displays of Dutch art and artifacts that range from the 1600's to present day. And they let you take photos of whatever you wanted!!

Mike had been here on a previous trip through work. He particularly wanted me to see Rembrandt's The Night Watch painted in 1642. It is probably the best known painting in the museum and has a room almost to its own. It is nearly 12 feet by 14-⅓ feet in size and impressive to see.

The only issue was the crowd. When Mike was here before, he shared the space with just a few others. But in this student holiday week, we could not get close at all. This photo was taken with my arms in the air (so not so good). I was just glad to be in the presence of such a fine piece of art, even though it was impossible to study in detail. Back to the U.S., I read up on this painting at: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch

The entire museum was crowded (and noisy), so not particularly pleasurable on this day. And all the "good" stuff was impossible to enjoy up close. But displays were of wide variety and interesting. There was fine Dutch furniture.

Statuary and sculpture of every ilk, including this intricate gold piece.

There was WW I and WW II artifacts, Delftware (blue and white pottery), weaponry, model sailing ships, oh so many beautiful paintings--portraits of the rich and famous, scenes of everyday people, still lifes of food (a fantastic lobster) and flowers, ships at sea, stained glass windows, clothing, and every other topic. The crowds finally overwhelmed us, so we decided to move on to the recently opened Van Gogh Museum.

There was a nice promenade between the two museums. We grabbed a bite (big pretzel and large fresh squeezed OJs), while we rested our feet. There was a huge Amsterdam sign along the way. People were climbing all over it to get there photo taken.

We asked some folks to take our photo with Vincent on this bench.

There was a lovely hill along the way also. The sun was out at that moment and people were sitting or lying with there faces up to take it all in.

As we suspected, when we got to the Van Gogh entrance, there was a long line there, too. Oh, why didn't we buy tickets in advance? The wait was a minimum of 40 minutes (closer to an hour in reality), but we had nothing better to do and I really wanted to go in. Mike NEVER stands in line, but he indulged me today. Thank you very much. xx

I was glad we waited even though it was as, if not more, crowded then the Rijks Museum. Good signage advised what the status of the wait was and offered other interesting facts and information. Another 15 euros per person.

No photos here (although lots of cell phone cameras clicking away), so I was glad I took a shot of a self-portrait of V.G. at the Rijks.

There were two huge reproduced murals of V.G.'s work--another self-portrait with his ear bandaged and one of his famous Sunflowers in a Vase. Not as good as the real thing, but somewhat of a photo opportunity. We felt the wait was worth it, as V.G.'s paintings were lovely to view in person.

As this museum was dedicated to Van Gogh, we got through it fairly quickly as best we could with the crowds. Soon we were ready to return to our hotel--Mike's feet hurting and my knees. We saw many more interesting shops on the way back. One chocolate shop intrigued us, but we fought the feeling.

At one point we also spied the Museum of Bags and Purses. Sounded a little off-the-wall to us and besides we were tired of looking and studying, so we blew passed it.

An aside: After we got back to the U.S., we watched a Burt Wolf travel show where he visited this innocuous little museum. He said it was one of the most fascinating museums he'd visited. It displayed the history of handbags from the 16th century to the present, as well as some unusual and unique one-of-a-kinds. Sorry we missed that one after all.

Our random route took us back through the art and antiques district. Along the way we saw two debonair young guys shooting a Hugo Boss advertisement. I'm sure we miss a lot, but it is fun to run into unexpected situations and places like these when you are your own "tour guide."

Back at the hotel we had a few glasses of wine and beer before heading upstairs to our comfy room. Mike was not about to wander further. Blisters on his feet. In for the evening with reading on the Kindle to pass the time.

But ... we had not eaten much today and I was hungry. I had spotted a pizzeria on the return walk and I thought I remembered where it was, so I ventured out alone to hopefully find it. Success! 

People were in line at the door, so I figured it was good. Plus they had an Italian style stone oven to boot. I ordered a margarita with mushrooms and hurried it back to our room. It was thin crust with quality mozzarella. We gobbled it down and settled in. Me taking blog notes and Mike on the Kindle reading some spoof-on-religion book. We went to sleep with the leaves rustling in the trees outside our window.

Today ties with Berlin Wall Day for "most steps taken" in a day.