8 a.m., Central Europe Time, and the cabin lights flicked
on. I’d been awake for a little while, having gotten more sleep than normal on
a plane, but still not nearly enough. Toward the end, I just got really
uncomfortable. My arthritic knees really
didn’t like me at all.
I woke my husband K, so that he could be conscious, when
breakfast was delivered. As I’d noticed during the night, he did not sleep
well. That is unusual for him. The breakfast bagel and yogurt helped to perk us
up.
At 9:35, we landed at Schiphol Airport and I was horrified
to hear that it was 48 degrees. I’d planned on cool for today, but not that
cool. We taxied for an incredibly long time. Then, we had to sit for a while,
because our gate wasn’t open yet.
When we finally parked at Gate D3 at about 10, the
temperature had risen to 52 degrees. As we entered the terminal at 10:10, I was
surprised to see so many signs in English. Dutch wasn’t even the first language
on most of them. They must get a lot of tourists. English is usually the go-to
second language for Europeans and other tourists.
The wait to get our passports stamped was really rather
short and we found ourselves at the luggage carousel at 10:35. Once we had our
luggage and headed out of the secure area, I started looking for the Holland
America rep. There were a couple of reps waiting right outside the door and
they divided up the various people they had to transport. We were sent with two
other sets of travelers to our shuttle right away. It was grey and chilly
outside and I was glad to get in the van at 10:53.
The ride to Amsterdam was pleasant, even if the scenery did
not scream Europe, let alone the Netherlands.
I don’t know what I expected, but it was all highway and the buildings
you could see were not terribly distinctive.
We pulled up at the Mövenpick hotel at 11:20. We joined the line for check-in and our
daughter J suddenly appeared from the nearby seating area. She’d arrived
earlier and had already gone out to get our Holland passes that we’d purchased
at home. Her room had not been ready earlier, but she found that now it was. In
checking our room numbers, we discovered, we had the same room. So, back in the
line again to find that the young woman who had dealt with my room-it was in my
name, because I booked the cruise- had confused me with my daughter. It was
corrected to my room being 517 and hers 519.
Our luggage was delivered to the room for us. It was a
large, comfortable room with a big European bed with the accompanying
comforter, a long sofa bed, desk, mini fridge, and a television that was on and
had a welcoming message with my name. The view, we later realized, was over the cruise ship terminal. The bath was large and modern, too. All
in all, a nice room.
I took my now mandatory 20-minute nap or at least laying on
the bed. I find that it is really necessary to allow me to get moving in
Europe. When I got up, we confirmed that
we knew how to get to our first destination, the Rijksmuseum. Having had time
to get around a bit and even eat, our daughter knew all about the public transportation.
So, we picked up 24-hour passes from the concierge for 7,50 Euros each on our
way out.
As we headed for the ramp to the street, we discovered that
the port terminal was just a couple of doors down from the hotel and they were
actually attached. Up on the main road, we walked back past the hotel and the
music hall on the other side of it. We walked along the waterway and soon came
upon the riverboats that are the type used on the Rhine.
We passed this cool
abacus that was less “cool”, when we discovered that it actually was the HIV/Aids
monument. We walked under the railway bridge and to the main building of the
train station, noting the incredible number of parked bicycles everywhere.
At
2:10, we boarded Tram 2 at the Amsterdam Centraal Station. You tap your ticket
on boarding and exiting. If you have no ticket, there is a booth in the back of
each tram manned with someone to sell you one.
It was an 18-minute ride to the Museumplein, during which we
could enjoy the architecture and all of the people bustling about. The stop
turned out to be right next to the Rijksmuseum. I just loved its architecture
and the statues on it.
We checked out the restaurant that was in front of it,
but it was more than we were looking for. Inside, we found a very
modern-looking atrium that had a shop, bag check, restrooms and café above the
shop. We decided that we absolutely had to eat first.
At 2:55, we managed to get seated. We are great fans of
museum food and this did not disappoint. My husband got a coffee for 2,85 Euros
and a cheese platter for 12. J and I decided to order two meals and split them.
I ordered a Coke light for 3 Euros and a delicious Currant Bun with a healthy
serving of Beemster cheese and butter. She ordered a Coke for 3 Euros and a
Brown Bun that came with a delightful assortment of toppings-chocolate
sprinkles, peanut butter (tasted nothing like Jif), jam and farmers butter. We
were quite glad that we’d decided to split them. I couldn’t resist ordering a
slice of cheesecake for 5,25 that had a delicious jam on top and came with
fresh whipped cream. Service was a little slow, but they were quite busy.
At 3:29, we hurried off to see the museum. Our Holland
Passes let us skip the line and go to a special register to get the tickets
that the pass paid for. This famous museum has some wonderful pieces. You could
spend hours in there and we only had 90 minutes until closing. We made sure we
got to the room with the old dollhouses. They were wonderful. I took pictures
on my phone so that I could post them for my mini friends using the hotel’s
free Wi-Fi.
This being Holland, of course there were works by Van Gogh,
including this self-portrait done in oil on cardboard, of all things.
We really liked this model of the William Rex by Adriaen de Vriend in 1698. So many details!
This painting by Vermeer, entitled The Milkmaid, seems pretty typical of his work.
I did not count the number of Rembrandts that we saw. This
one is Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul
from 1661 and is easily recognizable as Rembrandt. He was also one of the
artists depicted in stained glass in one of the halls.
We saw a couple of pictures that reminded me of the Dutch
Masters Cigar boxes from my childhood. We weren’t sure, though, until I googled
at home, and, indeed, The Wardens of the
Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, known as “The Syndics” is what is used as their
symbol. Pretty cool to see the actual painting!
Rembrandt’s giant masterpiece, Night Watch attracted quite a crowd, as could be expected.
Interestingly, the info card notes that it got that nickname because it was
thought to depict a night scene.
I can’t be sure that
we saw the Rembrandt portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit from 1634,
but we sure saw the Playmobil version of them outside of the shop. While we
chose not to, plenty of people stopped to get their picture taken with them.
I’m sure of their name, because I could not resist buying
the Playmobil toy version of them in the shop. I have a Playmobil Martin Luther
and a Durer from a trip to Germany. This seems to be becoming a thing,
especially since I also bought the Playmobil of the Vermeer and the Playmobil
of two members of the civic guard from Night
Watch.
After waiting in a long, warm line for the restroom as the
museum was closing, we were out at 5:10.
We decided to take some time to look at the garden and the huge, clever I Amsterdam sign. There
was no way to take a picture of that, as there were so many people all over it.
We did take some time for me to take a look at the Canal
House Parade on one side of the park. They appealed to the miniaturist in me.
This one is the Hamelhuis Gorinchem, which features a crow-stepped roof like
one of my most recent miniature projects.
At 5:32, we caught the #2 again, this time going in the
opposite direction, for what turned out to be a 2-minute ride. It was a chilly,
but pretty 8-minute walk after that to reach the Hard Rock Café for another
addition to my city guitar pin collection. I display it on a Hard Rock London
t-shirt at home.
At 5:55, we were back on the #2 for an 8-minute ride to City
Centre. We were shopping, but also looking for dinner. It was a charming area.
We chose De Vergulde
Lantaarn, where we were taken upstairs and put at the table by the window,
which was perfect while waiting for our food. Savory Dutch pancakes were our
choice. I went for the Hartige pannenkoeken speciaal, which had cheese,
tomatoes, bacon and spinach for 11,50 Euros. It was very good, even if they did
use frozen spinach. I also got a welcome large Coke Light for 5, 50. J ordered
Ham Kaas (cheese) for 10,50, along with a large Coke. K ordered spek en appel,
which was a delicious ham and apple, for 10,50. Being in Amsterdam meant he had
to order a half-pint of Heineken for 3,50. It was a very good meal, which we
split three ways. Unlike most European restaurants, this one did not include
the tip in the price, so my husband gave the waitress 5 Euros.
When we left at 7:45, it was raw again. Our next goal was a
canal cruise. The Holland Pass gave us a discount, taking the price down to 12,50
Euros. Even though we hustled over to the dock after buying the tickets for the
Lovers 1 hour cruise at 7:54 we were too late for the 8 pm cruise. So, I went
back to buy postcards at another cruise kiosk. They were not cheap at 1 Euro
each, but they were the first I’d gotten.
When I got back to the dock at 8:10, they were starting to
board for the next cruise already. The sun peaked out when we were settled in,
but it disappeared again. Captain Lex set off at 8:30 and it was so cold with
the windows open, but they had to be for pictures. It was a lovely, informative
cruise. We learned that some of the buildings are lopsided because they are
subsiding. We passed churches such as St. Nicholas, bridges, the red light
district, and more. He definitely earned his 2 Euro tip.
We were off the boat at 9:36 and in our rooms by 10:10,
ready for the good night’s sleep we’d earned. We really hoped the weather the
next day would be better.
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