This is my final post about our recent trip to Amsterdam.
Our third day threatened some rain, but we had booked for the Van Gogh Museum anyway. We managed to walk there without getting too wet. You needed to book as no tickets were on sale for walk-ins.
The museum was founded by Vincent's nephew fifty years ago and has more of his art than anywhere else as well as lots by his friends and contemporaries. There is an exhibition about his life and relatively short art career. The audio guide gives lots of extra information. The art is spread over three floors and is very varied. It was busy, but that was expected. We had lunch in their cafe.
The building is impressive and has a more recent extension.
We knew that there was a big Vermeer exhibition at the nearby Rijksmuseum, but we had not booked and no tickets were available. We decided to see the permanent exhibits anyway.
The Rembrandts are impressive. His Night Watch is being cleaned up and can now be seen to not actually be so dark. There are lots of big paintings of 'worthy' Dutch gentlemen, but more besides. The Dutch could really paint. I do not have photos, but the drawings and paintings of naval battles (against the English) are impressive and could have been the equivalent of an action movie back then.
The museum library could be out of Hogwarts or Discworld. They have far more books in the cellars.
I enjoyed some of the older paintings. This guy died about 500 years ago, but we know exactly what he looked like. The hats may change, but people do not.
We took a tram to find dinner as we had done enough walking by then. We went to Spirit who offer a vegetarian buffet where you pay by weight. They have a good selection of tasty treats and some fine cakes.
I should mention our accommodation. We stayed at b&b einstein was here near the botanical gardens. They offer two rooms in what was the physics department of the university. It has been modernised inside with lots of artworks created by the owner Claartje.
We got a great breakfast each morning whilst chatting with her. She gave us tips on places to go. The other guest was an Italian tailor who was in town to fit someone for a suit.
On our final day we put our luggage in a locker at the station and took the free ferry to the north side. We went to the Eye Film Museum where Hivefest spent a day. They had an exhibition by an artist from Uzbekistan. It had some static pieces as well as several films showing the culture and how it is changing. Downstairs is the actual film museum which is not very big, but interesting. They have a green screen setup where you can act in a short movie. This is mine. I thought it had not come through, but it was in my Gmail spam folder.
We had a last wander to buy more cheese before heading for our train. It is not worth turning up too early for the Eurostar as they do not open the lounge until 90 minutes before departure and there is not much in there apart from a vending machine. The journey back was uneventful. You can see a lot from the train, but it was dark before we got to the tunnel.
We had a great time and may well return to Amsterdam some day. My wife is very taken with the Eurostar. We could travel to a few other places with it.
