Amsterdam - Day Three

Having spent yesterday enjoying ourselves somewhat aimlessly, today was going to be our museum day. Fortified with a crappy breakfast at an overpriced tourist pancake house, we headed off to our first stop, the Rijksmuseum. The national museum of the Netherlands, it has a diverse collection of historical artefacts and art. Large parts of the museum were closed for renovations, but we enjoyed the exquisite doll’s houses, and the Vermeer and Rembrandt galleries.

Second stop, Van Gogh Museum. A rather unusual gallery – its design doesn’t match the subject at all, and the layout was completely schizophrenic, jumping to and from various time periods. Taken in toto, and with a bit of interpretation, it provides a fascinating overview of Van Gogh’s work and development. Interestingly, I now realise how modern he was before the so-called modern art movement really began.


The Stedelijk museum, next door, was closed, so we went on another canal cruise (we had free tickets).


Anna was a bit snuffly, so she went back to the hostel for a snooze while I checked out the Jew Museum. This, too, was under renovation (argh!) and largely closed.


We found a decent pancake house for dinner (yum) then went for a big walk through the Jordaan suburb, before meeting Bruce for another beer drinking session. The Dutch do good beer.