Amsterdam June 2019

October 21, 2019

Amsterdam June 2019

The Netherlands! To be more precise, Maarssen. A lovely three floor bnb with a garden on a canal. If we had had more time, I would've taken photos of it. Alas, we didn't. I would stay there again. The woman was charming and the room spacious.

Up, up, up the stairs we went. Three floors to be precise! A tiny winding staircase that led to our spacious top floor room:

Oooh, a horizontal surface! Let's immediately cover it! We unpacked. I wanted to do some art journaling but we were exhausted and hungry after our long drive. I think we ate snacks and fell asleep.

In the morning, we were greeted by our hostess with a fully cooked breakfast. It was the most generous breakfast of our entire trip and quite delicious! She asked where we were headed and helped to make suggestions.

This is where our lovely Airbnb hostess suggested we park. While, it was confusing for us as we don't read Dutch, we followed other tourists and just tried to pay attention to where we were and where we wanted to go. It worked out!

There were a lot of bicycles in Amsterdam. A lot.

We walked and kept our eyes open.

Incredible sculpture by Mark Manders. See the water?

The photo I missed: a gentleman on a bicycle carrying a full size framed painting.

Louise!

FINALLY! I was SO excited to be here! As was Vincent! We were there when it opened so the line was small. By the time we left, it was immense and wrapped around the side of the building. Definitely, get your tickets in advance!

A small handful of my favorite paintings from the Van Gogh Museum (alas, no photos allowed. I wrote down everything that we saw. I'm going to try to eventually do a blog post of the work that was exhibited that day.) I had two complaints about the museum: No photos allowed but the audio devices encourage people to stand in front of the paintings for far longer than a photo would. Speaking of people, the museum allows far too many people inside at one time to actually see the paintings. There were several times when you couldn't even move in front of the paintings!)

They had his palette on display in a room filled with self portraits. People snuck photos. I took notes (sigh, too many years of rule following embedded in my brain.) But, his palette:

(Photo by Matthias Schalle.)

Bringing home the goods from the Van Gogh Museum:

Outside the Rijksmuseum. We didn't have time for a second museum (not to mention that we were truly overwhelmed after the Van Gogh museum by the amount of people in a space) so we decided to save it for next time!

It was sweltering. We were hot and hungry... Hot churros and a milkshake. Why not? We walked for more than twelve hours that day. He got the churros. I got a chocolate covered waffle. A chocolate milkshake for me. Vanilla for him. More walking... food in each hand.

I had my turn at the art museum so off we go in search of film books!

I squealed when David unrolled this HUGE film poster of a favorite film. We spent a minute plotting how to safely transport it home. Alas, it was a reproduction, so we passed.

Looking..looking...so much looking. I loved it!

Traffic on land and by sea!

There is a (paraphrased) quote from Picasso where he asked, "Why do the Dutch mourn Rembrandt so much? They had Van Gogh!"

Rembrandt!

Definitely, a pedestrian/bike/train oriented city. Very few cars! Considering the amount of bodies, this was a GOOD thing.

Is it really a coffee shop?

Bookstore!

Nutella, anyone? These jars were more like barrels.

We took the train back to the Arena, bidding Amsterdam, adieu.

We made our way back to the parking area where David found new wheels.

When we left the parking structure, I couldn't figure out how to pay. I drove up to the gate and put the ticket in. A voice told me to go to the pay station. I expected to pay at least 25 Euros for all day parking. I was SHOCKED when it said that I owed, 1 Euro. 1 Euro for more than 12 hours of parking! Absolutely wonderful but, alas, unheard of in the United States!

Adieu, Amsterdam, until next time.

Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Previous Adventures Found Here:

Germany

Saint Remy, France