Touring Amsterdam

This morning Avalon arranged for anyone who wanted to go on a tour of the Amsterdam canals.  We boarded buses to go to where the canal tour boats docked, then took a scenic ride around the city, past many houseboats, the Anne Frank house, churches and museums.  The architecture here is interesting.  Most homes are narrow because years ago people has to pay taxes based on the width of their house.  Since the staircases in these homes are also narrow, there is a hoist on the roof to allow furniture to be lifted to upper floors through the large windows.  Our guide said Ikea furniture is usually an easier alternative.

Amsterdam Canal

One other thing a visitor to Amsterdam can't fail to notice is the number of bicycles in the city.  There are more bicycles than cars and despite the rules, they seem to feel they have right of way over everything else.  Walking around the city, you have to be very, Very careful to look both ways twice and be aware of the bicycle lanes along the roads.  They look similar to sidewalks, but if you don't recognize them as bicycle lanes you will surely get run over!

Bike Parking

Some people stayed in town to tour a diamond factory or walk around, but we opted for the shuttle bus back to the ship.  Ray is not feeling his best, probably still the effects of jet lag, so he got to rest before our afternoon tour.

After a short rest and a light lunch we joined the afternoon tour to the Rijks Museum.  This Amsterdam art museum has been closed for the past 10 years while undergoing a complete renovation and art restoration.  It just reopened in April of this year, so we are very lucky to be able to see it. The entrance hall has lovely stained glass windows showing some of the great Dutch artists as well as windows representing members of the principle craft guilds. The walls around this have murals which were once painted over with whitewash at the time when the Dutch were rejecting Catholicism. These have been restored to their former glory. 

Rijks Museum

Our guide took us to see the best representatives of still life, portrait, and landscape art, giving us an excellent explanation of the symbolism and what to look for in each type of art.  Then she took us to see the work that the Dutch are most proud of, Rembrandt's Night Watch.  This painting is easily 10 ft wide, and has actually been cropped from it's original size. 

After the formal tour we had free time to go explore other art in the museum.  In addition to the paintings we found a beautiful large model of a ship and some wonderful inlaid and carved cabinetry.  This is a great museum, well worth the time.

Some of the Rijks Stained Glass

Back at the ship we finally set out from the Amsterdam docks during happy hour.  We met 2 couples from Australia the first day on board and we have been enjoying their company for drinks, dinners, and casual meetings ever since.   Tonight was billed as the gala dinner so we got a little dressed up and enjoyed a special menu while the ship went through the first of around 60 locks we will are scheduled to go through on this trip.

Ship Model in the Rijks

Rembrandt's Night Watch