2013_05_10 Rijksmuseum

Great day at museum!  All images from camera.  Will try to do more later tonight.

Awesome!  

We got up early so we could be in the line when the museum opened at 9:00.  About 40 people in front of us so we got in just about right away. Got to where they were checking tickets and we had to check our backpack.  Then back in the line and off we went.

5 hours later we came out and saw our friends waiting in line.  They were in the line outside for a little more than an hour.  I think we chose wisely.  

I'll post some images from the Rijksmuseum here:

Had to do it!  Connie was inside in line - I had some others take this one.  Cold and windy today - pretty blustery!

Great hall with special stain glassed windows depicting great Dutch artists.  Hall and windows designed by Pierre Cuypers.

Night Watch by Rembrandt.  Most famous painting in the museum.

Library of architect Pierre Cuypers inside Rijksmuseum.

Delft flower vase

Connie looking

Javanese officials.  Incredible detail!

Waterloo.  Biggest painting in Rijksmuseum.  Huge!

Connie said this guy looks like George Washington.

Asian wing - Shiva

Temple guardians

William of Orange. "Father" of The Netherlands

This looked like 3D! Artist made him seem to come out of the window.

incredible detail on this ruffle.

Looking at the previous image.

The treaty of Muenster.  End of 80 years war between Spain and The Netherlands.

Rembrandt

Back side of Rijksmuseum as we were leaving.

This evening 28 of 29 of us met for diner for a Rijstaffel (Rice Table) dinner.  Lost and lots of different Indonesian dishes!  Tasted pretty good to us as we had eaten little earlier.  The restaurant was in Rembrandt Square.  A fitting end to a great day as we were looking at Rembrandt paintings all day.

Statues from Night Watch by Rembrandt in Rembrandt Square.  Right across street from our restaurant tonight.

We ate here.  Awesome dinner

Ajax Soccer team store on next corner.  No shirts here either!

Rembrandt statue in Square.

Rich Rediker shot this of our group in front of the Rembrandt statues this evening after dinner.

Walked to Red Light District.  Dave and Carol Tivoli rented a flat in the district.  We had "our" girls look out their window.  Work it ladies!

We board our barge tomorrow morning to begin our bio adventure for the next week.  Getting a bit colder and windier - I hope it dies down so the biking will be a bit easier.  Pretty cold here today!

Good day to be indoors at the museum! 

2013_05_09 Keukenhof Gardens Day Trip

As I said before - I got up tho morning around 5 - 6 hours sleep was fine for me.  Tried to go for some free WIFI at the near by McDonalds.  Sadly, not open until 8:00.

Got Connie up around 7:00 and we headed for Amsterdam Centraal Station via the local tram.  Quick and convenient - picks us up across the street from out hotel and drops us off right at the train station.  We got there 15 minutes earlier than planned.  However, Dave and Carol Tivoli were already waiting at the appointed spot.  There was some mixup between ten and 2 others that were supposed to join us.  A fellow named Fred and a woman named Ronnie (who we've never met) were not waiting where the Tivoli's were supposed to meet.  Carol tried texting them both but they never showed.

We said we would meet under the C in Centraal.  Pretty close!

Rich and Gayle arrived at about 9:20 and we headed for the train to Leiden.  We bought the tickets to Leiden and then back from Haarlem when we arrived on Wednesday.  Trains were running about every 10 minutes and one arrived JUST after we got to the track.  Fast, quiet and efficient.  What more could you ask for?

Here's the inside of the train station

Along he way we passed MANY fields of tulips.  As far as the eye could see. Awesome to see and a hint of what was to be ahead at the Keukenhof Gardens.  But more about that later…..

Departed the train at Leiden Centraal and what a nice clean station it was. Outside there were more bikes parked than you could imagine.  I mean China has nothing on this!  Bikes were actually stacked two high on the racks.  We walked around the town for a while - Leiden is a university town. Most everything was closed for Ascension Thursday - a National Holiday in Holland.  

Connie and Ann on a bridge over canal with windmill in background.

View from the fort.

Connie on guard duty from the top of the fort?

The highlight of the town was a fort called The Bourse that was built in the 12th century and offers scenic views of the town from it's highest point.  The church bells were peeling for a long time in celebration of the holy day.  

Lunch here

Another view of where we had lunch.

We had some lunch at a floating restaurant that is just between where 2 branches of the Rhine RIver converge.  Great salad of greens, chicken and smoked salmon.  Then a short turn past the University of Leiden and back to the station. Our bus to the gardens was sitting there waiting for us and we were off.

About 15 minutes later we joined a long line of people trying to visit the garden.  The bus dropped us off and we went right in.  Hard to explain how many tulips are in the place!  Suffice it to say it was just spectacular.  So many different combinations of colors and flowers in huge swatches of color.  Short version - we walked around for about 3 hours - Connie just said "I love those gardens".  "Just beautiful".   I would have to agree. Rich got a call/text from Gayle's brother Cary was going to be at Keukenhof Gardens so we waited for him to find us.  He and his wife Lisa joined us and a few minutes Lisa's sister Sharon as well.  Her husband was out shooting some images and never joined us. So, 6 more people have appeared and we have met three of them.  Tomorrow, a few more get to Amsterdam and we will meet a bunch more at dinner. 

3 beautiful "flowers"

One of millions of tulip gardens.  Ok, maybe not a million, but a lot!

More tulips

Leaving the gardens at the end of the day.  Amazing!

Connie outside with a "few" orange tulips.

We walked into a near by town Lisse to catch out bus to Haarlem.  Not sure exactly why that bus doesn't come right to the Garden.  We walked about a mile to the bus stop.  About 20 minutes later we exited in downtown Haarlem.  Walked a bit more and we had a great Thai dinner.  Back to the train station for a 7 minute ride back to Amsterdam.  Found the tram and back to the hotel we went.

Connie and I will be up early tomorrow to get in line at the Rijkmuseum when it opens at 9:00.  Let's see how crowded it will be early. 

2013_05_08 Amsterdam

Got to Amsterdam after a 8.5 hour flight, made a bit worse by a mechanical delay leaving O'Hare.  A mechanic had to try and fix a leak in one of the kitchen galleys!  So we sat at the gate and then on the runway for an additional 45 minutes. Once we got airborne it was a pretty good flight.  The 2 seats directly in front of us were broken so no one could sit in them.  This was great because obviously no one could then recline back into our knees.  

The arrivals area at Schiphol International was huge but we figured out how to get some Euros and we were off to our hotel.  A little bit more about that.  Everybody in Europe uses credit cards that have an  embedded C-Chip.  Everybody but us that is!  This chip allows for the entry of a security code to prevent fraud.  So, basically our credit card is useless except at our hotel.  Marriott will allow us to use it to pay hotel incidentals, etc.  

Ok, back to the day.  After we collected our bags and cleared customs we purchased train tickets in advance for out Thursday trip to Leiden and Keukenhof Gardens.  Think tulips!  With that out of the way we found the bus stop and got right on board and got to our hotel.  This took about 30 minutes (8 Euros paid onboard) and dropped us off right across the street from out hotel for the next 3 nights in Amsterdam.

Checked in and Connie really wanted to take a nap!  So, I went out and explored for a while and got us some ham and cheese from a little supermarket for our "lunch".  Walked around and started dodging the bicycles!  This is as close to China from a bike standpoint as I have ever seen.  You have to look both ways all the time!  It seems every person in Amsterdam is blasting around on a bike.  And not a helmet in sight!  Bike lanes, tram lines (think streetcars) and pretty much organized chaos reigns!  Connie rested 3 hours and I got the general lay of the land down.  

During these 3 hours I walked over to where RIch and Gayle are staying and left them a note to say were were here, etc. They and 4 others were off on a day trip.  We were all to meet for dinner later at 8:00 and I tried to make some arrangements as to where to meet.  Tried is the optimum word.

There are a million cafes that offer free WIFI so I was sitting and checking emails and trying to connect with Mackenzie and Sarah at an appropriate hour.  We were able to do a quick Face Time with them while we sat having coffee and hot chocolate before dinner.  It was good to see them!

Everybody has free WIFI but the hotel we are staying at!  Pretty annoying as my phone doesn't work in Europe so I am traveling blind most of the day (at least in my mind).  

Amsterdam has so many canals!  It's pretty easy to get around on foot - and we spent the time from 3 until 8 (dinner time) seeing some of the major sights.  Lots of huge churches, the Royal Palace all in a slight drizzle.  So Connie and I walked pretty much for 5 hours until we met 4 others for dinner.  RIch and Gayle, and David and Carol Tivoli and the two of us met at a Spanish tapas restaurant called Tasca Bellota.  Great food - nice roasted veggies and chicken skewers plus some lamb meatballs for Connie and I.  I ALWAYS get meatballs when offered at a Spanish place because I just like saying ALBONDEGAS!  A beautiful seafood pallella for the other 4.  Delicious.  Back to the hotel and a good nights sleep.  

Typical canal scene.  Boats and bikes!

Bike lanes, tram tracks - Amsterdam!

Connie in front of one of MANY cheese stores.  Gotta get some Gouda!     By the way - it's pronounced like GOWDA with a sort of guttural G at the beginning  And we did.  A nice fellow at a cheese counter in a supermarket explained quite a bit about cheese to us (along with some samples).

A tram car decorated like an opera house! 

Royal Palace - Dam Plaza.  This is where the Queen recently abdicated her throne to the first King (Wilhelm) in Holland for quite a while.  I watched the throngs here on t.v. just last week.  It must have been quite something to have been here!

The National Monument - Across a street from the Royal Palace.

Me in front of the monument

Another canal shot

Connie trying to get her work phone to work.  It never does.  Having some coffee waiting for our friends to appear for dinner.

Dinner!  ALBONDEGAS!

I woke up at 5 (now) to write this so I don't forget too much. Back for a little more sleep (hopefully) and we're off around 7:30 for another adventure!  I went out to try and get some free WIFI only to find that nothing opens until 8.  And it's cold outside (maybe lower 50's?) with a threat of rain and a stiff wind.  Not so good for a tulip garden trip.  Hopefully it will warm up a bit later.  Interesting to see the streets almost completely empty.  Just the ocassional manic bike rider. 

2013_05_07 Word from Amsterdam

We just got an email from Rich and Gayle.  They said they just walked by our hotel on the way to a big park for a picnic!  We had seen this park on the map.  It's just around the corner from the Marriott we are staying at and just down the street from the Museumplatz!  That's where the Rijksmuseum is and we will be heading there shortly after we get off the plane.  Heading for the airport in about 7 hours!  Let the journey begin!

Here is Gayle in front of our hotel.  You can see Rich in the reflection of the window taking the image. See you all soon in The Netherlands!