Day 12 – 7/12/2019 – Amsterdam Day 4

One last lazy day. Only one item on the agenda for the day. (OK, two items, but the second one wasn’t until evening so it doesn’t count.)

We breakfasted at our favorite bakery and headed off to the Rijskmuseum – THE place for Dutch (and other) art with collections spanning from 1100 to 1900. (For the more modern art there’s a separate museum located close by.)

First I want to give a shout-out to Viator for selling us “skip the line” tickets.

The downside is that you’re locked into a specific day. But unless you like waiting in line, it’s worth it.

Next I want to spare you endless shots of great works of art. So I’ve picked just a few of the best. Starting with Rembrant’s most famous work – The Night Watch:

Earlier this week they started a multi-year, multi-million dollar restoration project. At this point they have constructed a glassed-in room around the painting and installed a fancy x-ray camera to map the painting in excruciating detail.

Here you can see the technicians at work.

Here you can see the people watching the technicians at work.

Here’s another of Rembrant’s work that isn’t being restored (yet): Landscape with a Stone Bridge.

And another Rembrandt: Isaac and Rebecca, known as The Jewish Bride.

We Also saw:

Several works by Vermeer including The Milk Maid

Several works by Avercamp including Winter Landscape with Ice Skates

Several works by Jan Steven including The Merry Family

After two hours of exploration we met in the cafeteria for lunch and plotting the afternoon. Strangely neither of us were done yet so we ate and dived back in for another two hours. Here’s some more of what we saw:

This is a dice cup. You roll the die (enclosed in the wire ball) and you have to drain the cup the number of times shown on the die.

This is a hunting horn offered as a prize for the fastest hunter at one of William II’s annual hunts.

This is a wedding portrait of William and Mary. He’s 14, She’s 9

Speaking of children, this 6 foot tall doll house has exquisite detail

In the Oriental wing they displayed Shiva Nataraja from India

Guanyin, savior of people in peril from China

And then we were museumed out!

So we decided that another museum was in order.

On our way our to fate Rijks we stopped (in the pouring rain) to take pictures of two large spiders on the museum grounds.

The we boarded a tram headed for the local anthropology museum. Arriving there we first visited the caffeteria for a little sustenance. Then we sopped by the ticket counter where we discovered that, extensive though this museum is they don’t have a lot to say about Amsterdam in particular and the Netherlands in general. So we boarded a tram and headed back to our hotel to dry out and nap.

On our way back we passed thru the tunnel formed by two halves of the Rijskmuseum. This group was playing to a fairly large crowd. they were excellent and the acoustics of the brick and glass lined tunnel were wonderful.

This little guy was rockin’ out to Vivaldi

After our naps we found the seafood restaurant that our hotel highly recommended and had a pleasant meal. Then it was back to our room yet again to change for the concert. The show was in the jazz club in the basement of the Concert Gebouw.

The group is three friends from an orchestra who all love jazz. This was their first time playing together. They were great! They played original works in a Nuevo-Monk vein.

Then it was back to the hotel to pack, post, read, and now to sleep.

One final comment, The Aalder hotel is on a par with London’s Alhambra hotel. I highly recommend it for anyone who finds themselves in Amsterdam and in need of a comfortable, convenient, friendly place to call home.

The hotel is run by the third generation of Aalders and they really enjoy welcoming their friends, both new and old.

That said, it’s off to sleep.

“And then they went home.” R

Traveling Light

Day 12 – 7/12/2019 – Amsterdam Day 4

2 Comments