June 23 - Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Another day off in Amsterdam, so I hustled my butt out to the big museum, the Rijksmuseum early to avoid the crowds, along with the thousands that were there early avoiding crowds.  After spending a few hours there, I high tailed it back to the room for some rest as Montezuma seems to have taken an interest in me ('nuf said).

So, I'll show you a few pieces and Julie, who was there recently, can correct what I say.

The Merry Family, by Steen (1642).

The discussion about this painting centred around all the bad habits these people had, but the fun they had with them.  The fellow in the back is playing a set of bagpipes and they think that it is Steen inserting a self portrait into the painting.










Two sailing canvases.  I forgot the details about this one, except that the foremast has broken.  (I guess I lose my Junior Woodchuck Art Appreciation badge for not knowing who did this).









I like this one too; "Dutch Ships in a Calm Sea, by van de Velde II (1663).

I was surprised they let you take photos, although there wasn't any flash photography.
Sorry about all the crooked photos - I tried to keep the photo bombers at bay.








The Threatened Swan, by Asselijn (1650).

In the bottom left is a dog swimming toward the Swan, which apparently is the reason for the kerfuffle.

This one stuck me, because it so captures a PO'd swan.








This  is the big prize, the reason for this gallery - The Night Watch by Rembrandt, 1642.  It is gigantic, about 12 x 14 FEET.

It depicts the Military Company of District 2 heading out for a patrol.

The story behind this painting, including how it was hidden during WW2, is worth reading.  I have no idea how he obtained everybody's likeness - I assume multiple sittings for each participant.

This is probably in contention for having the most selfies taken of it, including Obama.
(Maybe Trump will try to one up Obama by having his photo taken at a sex shop).
Bad Greg - shouldn't say nasty things!



Onward. I liked these two landscapes,
this one because it showed the land better than my photos.

This one because it shows a raised bridge in the background. 

Ooops, no info on either.









Behind the painting gallery, was a display of sculptures.  This one, "Typanum," made by Quellinus in 1648.  The purpose?  A practice model for his proposal for the much larger decorative gable at the new Town Hall.

 

Upstairs from the paintings is a gallery of modern art.  I included this one because I liked the vase and the contrast in colour with the chair.

There was also a short film showing how the Dutch dammed out the ocean after WW2 to reclaim some land.  Very interesting.






I popped through some of the other galleries, but the cultural overload was taking hold (engineers are particularly sensitive to this).

Look at the detail in this cabinet - its a fully stocked Apothecary, possibly used for training.










And the detail in this plaster fireplace mantle.  It must have been commissioned by the male of the household - would a wife want a dust collector like this?










This is a table orrery (good Scrabble word, eh Judy?).  It's a working model showing how the planets revolve around the sun.
Made by Hartog van Laun about 1800.

Last photo is of the museum library.  Notable for the massive amount of books - I think they said about 15 km, possibly including the collections we couldn't see.

Also notable was the use of cast iron in the structure of the wing holding the library.  It allowed the architect to make the columns lighter and thinner than stone.







That's it for the museum - I have lots more photos, but no need to bore you.  I spent about 3 hours there - I'd probably need another half dozen trips to fully appreciate it.

My last photo of Amsterdam is of a canal in the Old Quarter.  It still boggles me how they seem to have so little trouble with foundations beside the canals. 

Tomorrow is a 20 km convoy out of town, followed by a 92 km ride to Zwolle.

Greg

June 22 - Around Amsterdam

A day off & I have the sniffles.  Nothing terrible, but....  Since I've got tickets booked to the museums I figured I'd take a go at it and buy more drugs as necessary during the day.

A bunch of us bought two day tram passes (good deal!) and headed off to the Dam Square.  It really was a dam (in the 13th century), but is now the central plaza.  

Here's the Royal Palace.  Not lived in (rent's too high?) but still used for official functions.

 A closeup of the detail on top.












The national Monument, erected in 1956 to commemorate the casualties of WW2.   I cut the top of the photo off; it is a rounded top with nothing fancy.











This is the former main Post office and is now the Magna Plaza Shopping Centre.







A shot inside of the lobby.  I did a bit of retail therapy here - bought a great piece of cheese.  All day long, I'd stop and slice off a hunk for a snack.  

Lots of other buildings in the square, but it was time to head toward the Anne Frank House.






On the way there we passed the Westermarkt Church.  It wasn't open today, but I figured I'd better include one church photo.














This is the only photo of the Anne Frank house - the lowest floor (black) has been restored to it's former look.

No photos allowed inside the house / museum.  You enter from around the corner and go through a number of exhibits before you get into their actual hiding place which was the upper 3 floors of the Annex behind this building.

It was a very moving and respectful visit, reminding one of the tragic events surrounding the story.



Afterwards - the canal near the house.  The yellow boat behind the tourist boat is a houseboat, with a rather dour individual looking out at those @#$@# tourists making waves in his front yard.










A couple of bike photos.  I liked this one because the bikes (typical Amsterdam commuter bikes) were named "Stella."  I looked it up - there is a bike manufacturer named Stella.

This one ain't named Stella!  We have one tandem bike on the trip, driven by a lovely couple, Greg & Sue.  I figure we could get them to switch to this one, so I could ride in the third seat sipping Lattes and there is a spare for somebody else to sit in while they carry snacks for us.

(I won't hold my breath)






I met up with another rider and we had lunch.  Afterwards, on my way to the van Gogh Museum I ran into (or rather, saw) this.  Is it what I think it is?  There are drain grates in the sidewalk at each of the "cubicles."

Leave a comment if you know what it is, or if you have used one of this type.













On my way to the Museum Quarter, I passed this magnificent structure, the Rijksmuseum.

And a detail of some of the architectural artwork.

The Van Gogh Museum is a thoroughly modern building a ways past the Rijksmuseum.  This is the special exhibits hall.  The huge awning I'm under belongs to the Museum of Modern Art.

I spent 3 hours between the van Gogh permanent exhibit and the special exhibit (van Gogh and Japan) and suffered serious cultural overload.  Definitely get the audio tour if you go as it explains a lot of the background and techniques he used.

No photography inside the museum, but there was a large screen flashing some of his famous works in the lobby. I had to shoot from an odd angle to avoid people getting their selfies into my shots.

The Yellow House

The bedroom in Arles.  

These are two paintings of the house he lived in for a while in Arles, France

After the museum, I used my tram pass for a quick trip down to the Central Station which is the main commuter terminal for buses, trams and railroads.  I have a death wish if I wanted to show up there at evening rush hour!

Look at the bikes!  Huge numbers, all chained up to racks.  I don't know how people remember where their bikes are.  In fact, I saw a couple of glazed eyed people stumbling around, either looking for their bike or a place to lock it up.

Last shots.  Some of the facade of the main station.

A rather pretty building I noticed on my way back from the Central Station.

Another rest day tomorrow, but don't now what I'm doing yet.  Depends on my developing cold and also what's available, since it's Saturday and I haven't booked ahead.

June 21 - Breda to Amsterdam

We were warned about headwinds today and they sure happened.  Our route was basically going north from Breda to Amsterdam and we had northwest headwinds all day.  At times we were pedaling hard enough top be going 30 km/h, but were only doing 20.  

One of our first stops was at this windmill.  There were a number of this style. 











A close up from the back side, showing the stairs to the top, which are fixed to the windmill and swing around as the upper part is turned into the wind.  The red & white wheel has a chain tied to anchor blocks - the operator rotates this wheel to change the direction the windmill faces. 
Below the stairs you can see the paddle wheel  





The other style of windmill.  We didn't see any of these operating in today's wind - they are likely replaced by pumps  installed nearby.













A stop in a pretty little village for coffee and apple pie.  Their apple pie is excellent!  






Some of our group enjoying the stop.  We debated whether we should avoid the headwind by turning around and running downwind back to Breda, and then putting our bikes on the train to Amsterdam.  Probably not a bad idea.









Here we are riding along the top of one of the large dikes.  The land on the right side is significantly higher than the left.  There are houses both sides.  I'm not sure about this - is the dike protecting only the land on one side?










A little further along we saw this large barge in the canal with a pusher tug propelling it.












Then a short ferry ride across a large canal on this rather sleek looking vessel.  

One of two ferry rides on the day.  The other ferry (sorry, no pix), was much smaller and was propelled by 'crawling' along a cable strung tightly across the river, about 3 feet above the water.  When we asked how boats would get by, we were told that the ferry would dock on one side and then loosen the cable so it was deep enough under the water for the boat to pass.



 Just past the ferry we saw this side channel with all these boats.  The wooden sailboat in front was particularly pretty and in good shape.















Further along, this drawbridge with a date of 1883 on the top - we assume this is when it was built.







 And we got just got over the drawbridge when it was raised for a cabin cruiser to pass.  The process took less than 10 minutes.












This is typical of houses for many houses along the canals - very little elevation difference between the water and the house.

Would this be considered waterfront?





No more photos as we got into Amsterdam.  Even with separate bike paths almost all the way it was crazy.  One confounding issue - small motorized bikes & mopeds are allowed on the cycle lanes.  So, on the side of the street you have houses, a pedestrian sidewalk, a 6 foot (or less) wide cycle path, then parked bikes or the roadway.  Cyclists, mopeds and pedestrians are coming in and out of the cycle path, or crossing it. 
You would hear a beep over your left shoulder, then move 8 inches to the right and a moped or cycle passes by with inches of clearance.  I got stuck behind a cyclist carrying a bass fiddle on his back.  Most of us agreed it was hair raising.  I would have liked to have a GoPro on my helmet to record the mayhem - but I might never cycle again if I looked at the movie.


Once into our hotel, I showered and then took my laundry out to the "Wasserette" for cleaning.  Having an hour to kill, I leaned up against a wall to take some photos of life in the Amsterdam streets.  This was a quiet street relative to the one we came in on.

Here you can see a moped crowding by a bicycle.







This is a cute little rig.  It looks like your standard scooter, but note the plate our young driver is standing on.  He pumps this up and down and it propels the scooter forward.










A line of cycles chained up to a railing.  Anywhere a chain can be connected is fair game.







The bicycle signal light has turned green and a group of riders surges forward.  Note the fellow with the case of Amstel beer on his handlebars.   They were carrying anything and everything on their bikes.

This looks like a regular old stairway, right?  Nope.  Cyclists use the ramps on the side to get their cycles up the stairs.

I saw a lady jump off her fast moving bike and run up the stairs two at a time wheeling her bike up the side ramp.  She jumped back on again and continued along without missing a beat.  The whole process took 5 or 6 seconds - you couldn't carry your bike up that quickly.



Last photo today of a building beside the canal.  I just wouldn't feel comfortable having an apartment or office on the lowest floor!

Culture day tomorrow.   I've booked tickets to Anne Frank's house and the Van Gogh museum.

TTFN.