Sunday, February 6 & Monday, February 7, 2011--Amsterdam

We were up early to make two train exchanges--first from Bruges to Brussells and then from Brussels to Amsterdam.  Lugging all our baggage on and off was not the best fun in the world, especially since the commuter to Brussels had nowhere to store our larger bags.  Finally we arrived in Amsterdam and checked into our large, ultra-modern hotel and rested up.  We wandered a little, but the traffic was insane--cars, bikes, buses, rapid transit trains--we were constantly in the way and nervous.

insane traffic on Leidestraat as seen from our room

fountain in square near our hotel

beautiful hotel near ours

On Sunday we decided to do our museum visits, first to the Rijks Musem for some  culture.  The place is full of Dutch Masters but the most important were the Rembrandts, Vermeers, and Frans Hals, who was a native of nearby Haarlem.  It was a very nice museum, just big enough and varied in its offerings.

We then marched up the street to the Van Gogh Museum which is a gem.  This is an almost perfect museum--well-lit, a number of rooms, a variety of Van Gogh's work from early to late period, and most  interesting samples of his influences and contemporaries.  The legends explaining everything were well-written and just long enough.  This was a really satisfying place.

All in all, not too many photos to present here.