Thursday, June 23rd:
The Rijksmuseum:
Today was a super exciting day for me because Jen and I went to the Van Gogh Museum and got to see original works by my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. We began our day by (finally) waking up early enough for the breakfast in the Renaissance Club Lounge, however they ended it earlier and all that was left was coffee and muffins. We ate about three each before we left on a tram for the first time to the museum district. The ride was about ten or fifteen minutes for 2.60 Euros each and we were let out in front of a big park spanning the distance between the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, and the Concertgebouw (Concert Theatre). We had purchased tickets to the Rijksmuseum from our Concierge at the hotel, so we went there first. Unfortunately (blah) the museum was having major renovations, but the main attractions were still open for public viewing. This museum contains a lot of works from the Dutch Golden Age, including many by Vermeer, Jan Steen, and Rembrandt. The most famous painting in the museum is The Night Watch by Rembrandt. I stood in this room for probably forty minutes looking at the detail of the massive work before leaving. The intricate detail is stunning, and it was only a precursor to the stuff I would see in the afternoon.
A Rembrandt Painting Inside the Rijksmuseum:
We walked around for a bit between visiting the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, passing the big block “I Amsterdam” letters, and we grabbed a hotdog to hold us off until an early dinner. We had purchased our Van Gogh tickets online, so we got to skip the line and walk right in to get our audioguides. A note, the audioguides for 5 Euro are worth it, but I wish there were more paintings that had commentary, and that the ones that had it weren’t so long. Anyways, the museum is arranged in 4 floors displaying over 200 Van Gogh works in chronological order across his life. The visitor learns a lot about Van Gogh’s life, and one can really see the inner feelings of Vincent change and influence his paintings as you progress through his life towards his suicide in 1890. Among my favorites were Wheatfield With Crows, The Harvest, The Yellow House, and Almond Blossoms. I could have spent days in there, admiring the seemingly three-dimensional quality that his oil paintings have, but we stayed for a couple of hours and moved on with our day.
The Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw (Concert Theatre):
We were starving at this point, so we decided to try an early dinner at an Indonesian restaurant near our hotel called Dragon Corner. There are many of these restaurants in the city, and the main dish that the Dutch seem to love is the rijsttafel, or “rice table.” This dish is basically a collection of fifteen to twenty dishes of different levels of spice served in tiny bowls, meant to be enjoyed with some rice. We had one with beef, peanut chicken, honey pork, tofu, peanuts, different salads, and more. It was a delicious and very filling meal! Again we were stuffed and in need of a nap, so we made our way home and slept for a while. When we woke up it was already almost midnight, but we wanted to check out the nightlife some more anyways, so we rallied.
Houseboats in the Amsterdam Canals:
Tonight we walked into the heart of the Old City, right in the middle of the Red Light District. It seemed particularly lively that night, as most of the bars were full and smoke was billowing out of the crowds in the coffeeshops. We hopped around between bars while walking along the canals, taking in the night life. A couple of the bars we enjoyed that I would recommend are the Emmelot Bar and Café Pleinzicht. We stayed out until the bars closed, grabbed some (amazing) French fries, and walked back to the hotel. Tomorrow is our last day in Amsterdam and Jen’s last day in Europe with me. Our travels have been fun and exciting for the last three weeks, and I will be sad to see her go home! She has not been home since February though, so I am sure she will be excited to see her family again. Good night!
Myself at the "I Amsterdam" Block Letters:
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