National Museum (Rijksmuseum) Amsterdam

After finally arriving at Schipol after two solid days of travelling (due to missed flights and weather restrictions), I met my sister at the airport, bag-less. We trained in to Amsterdam, and arrived at our hostel which was less than five minutes from the main train station ... wonderful! When we arrived, we had the unfortunate task of having to …

So...it was still raining this morning when I got up, in fact I think it rained all night. This was a bit disappointing, but I did have an umbrella and a determination to see the Rijksmuseum...another place on my bucket list. Miraculously, this museum is not being renovated, in fact it has just reopened after several years of renovation...last …

"If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much," or so the saying goes, a saying I have heard many times in my life from friends and family with Dutch heritage. Being one-quarter Dutch, or at least having an Oma and Opa from Holland (my mum's parents), it was inevitable that my travels would eventually lead me back to where it all (or one quarter of it) began …

Acordei cedo e resolvi pegar um taxi para Gare du Nord por conta do excesso de bagagem e o sufoco para subir e descer as escadas das estações de metrô. Cheguei super cedo e tomei um café por lá. Peguei o trem para Amsterdam e já no caminho vi o que me esperava por lá: muyito frio!! Plea janela do trem vi paisagens com neve salpicada.
Chegando …

Por conta do frio e do pouco tempo que tínhamos, optamos por comprar um pacote de sightseeing de Amsetrdam com um boat tour a fim de conhecermos os principais pontos da cidade, porém as coisas não saíram bem como esperávamos.
Como não tinha o passio que compramos, nos colcaram em um ônibus Hop on - Hop off, o que nos fez perder muito tempo e nã …

For the second part of the trip we ventured into Amsterdam.

The city is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

There are canals everywhere, and so much green, and everyone was on bikes.

We went to the Rijks Museum, which was super interesting. In contrast from that we went to the Anne Frank House, which was super depressing but I am …

Our suggested trail in Holland is along the flat, yet surprising coastal polderland, from the Hook of Holland to Haarlem. Walking in the precious and bracing dunescape, which faces the North Sea, takes in some delighful coastal resorts and nature reserves. For a city break, Amsterdam is close by, revealing some interesting sights rarely found in …

Bike rides, duners, red light district, Vondelpark, stroopwafel, Rembrandts house, great smells if you know what I mean, no sleep, falling asleep while talking, dodging cars and humans on our bikes, loud Bob Marley songs being sung in the tent next to ours, sleeping pills, deep sleep. Seriously we rode our bikes all over the effing city. Chickens …

Had an early start to the day so we could be at the front of the queue for the Rijk Museum when it opened. Great museum - features Holland's 17th century Rembrandt masterpieces and artists who influenced his style, very enjoyable and not too large so that you don't get sensory overload. Learnt that one of his major attributes was his use of "light …

Of all the sites we are to see on this trip, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum are the ones that I am most keen to see and today is the day! Exciting!

The Rijksmuseum may be in "highlight mode" while the museum is under renovation, but the display of over 400 masterpieces is an exceptional opportunity to see the very best of the …

... live. The rest of the day we went saw the painted squatter houses, the Nieuwkerk, the Rijksmuseum (National Museum) and "The Nightwatch," the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (public library) for a nice view over the waterfront, and then we walked a little ...

... flickered at The Dolphin, but I tell Jaimi that we can walk over to the other museum...The Rijks Museum, which is the National Museum. On the way there we walk by a place that sold soft serve Ice cream...From real cream the lady selling it said....So we ...

... Grachtengordel (Canal Ring). I learned so much culturally from visiting the numerous museums in Amsterdam such as the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum (National Museum), and the Rembrandt House Museum. Countless Dutch people were very kind and helpful ...

... (Coster Diamonds is the maker of some of the United Kingdom's crown jewels), the Rijksmuseum (the National Museum) and the Stedelijk Museum (Municipal Museum of Amsterdam). On the way, I followed the Singelgracht (Singel Canal), which was beautiful. The ...

... . I then toured the Van Gogh Museum, which was pretty damn cool. After that, I went to the Rijks Museum, the Netherlands national museum. Unfortunately, it's in the process of being renovated, so their selection was rather small. However, they did have a ...

... Al Ain was an all tree-lined affair through a sandy desert. In Al Ain we had a look at the interesting Al Ain National Museum before exploring the large date palm oasis. After this oasis we visited the humble birthplace of the late Sheikh Zayed of Abu ...

... out of the city center to see Amsterdam's museum district, there was a lot of construction at the Rijksmuseuem,The national museum of the Netherlands, but May 16th was European museum day, where every museum in the whole of Europe was free making the ...

... ; Tomorrow, we have plans to meet up with a guy that we met in Brussels and then we'll probably visit the Rijksmuseum (national museum, where apparently many famous art works are kept).  Sunday, our last day, has been reserved for renting bikes and ...

... especially since I pretty much spent the same amount of money doing it on my own. The next day I checked out the British National Museum, free entry once again. Went to the London Tower Bridge exhibit (not free), and finally checked out the London tower ...

... just strolled around. Then we rented bikes and went all over the city. We made it to the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands. It's full of Dutch art, which happens to be my favorite. Then its crowning glory is Rembrandt's Night ...