Our final destination before the Rotterdam - Hull ferry this evening.
We were last here 26 years ago and can't remember if this is the site we stayed at. Certainly now there is a metro service 5 mins away into town. A small display shows what they found when they dug the roads to build the line. Old bottles and coins and a mobile phone which embarrassingly, but not surprisingly, was a later model than mine!
The Rijksmuseum below is huge and frankly too big to take in even during a full day. It is also very busy which makes viewing a bit stressful. Half the visitors seem more interested in taking random photos of paintings than actually looking at anything. Assuming they look at their photos again all they are doing is looking at photos of paintings which they could have looked at 'live' if they'd taken the time. (It's probably just me.)
There are a whole host of museums and galleries to visit but we settled on just three. The best of
these was the Stedelijk Museum which included one of my favourite artists, Chagall, below. I've
recently read a lot about the artist and been to a Chagall exhibition at the Tate Liverpool and it was genuinely exciting to see some more of his work.
The Amstel runs through the City along with dozens of canals.
The canals are busy with leisure craft and cruises, the one below with a saxophonist providing the entertainment.
Me with the Amstel behind.
One of the attractions in the city is the 'Brown Café'. These are old bars with loads of wooden furniture. Not all of them serve huge ranges of beer but the one below, Gollem, happened to serve 200! Is this one Chouffe too many?
This is the Rembrandt statue. There's lots of Rembrandts in the Rijksmuseum which we both enjoyed.
Another view of the Gollem Bar.
We also visited the Van Gogh museum which was well presented but was heaving. Truthfully, I don't like Van Gogh much. No surprise to me that he failed to sell paintings while he was alive, more that they now sell for multi-millions. Subject matter rather boring in my opinion. Whilst in my Mr Grumpy phase, what annoys me more than it probably should is the large number of visitors taking selfies in front of any painting they choose. How does this improve anything? Don't get it and they just get in the way. I'd employ these two likely looking chaps to have a few quiet words.
So, our last day. Thanks to everybody for following our journey and sending their comments. We get about 150 views per month which makes it worthwhile from my point if view. Particular thanks to our friends and neighbours Peter and Mary for keeping an eye on our house and taking in the post. Also any other neighbours who stepped in whilst they were on holiday which I trust they enjoyed.
We hope to catch up with many of you over the next few months maybe in our motorhome.
I'll probably keep blogging on our next trip wherever that may be.
Gauw tot ziens,
J&P
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