Enjoying Amsterdam despite the weather!

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Geo: 52.3738, 4.89095

The last two days have been thoroughly enjoyable in spite of the cold and rainy weather.Yesterday morning we caught the tram down to the Rikjsmuseum. This has only recently been reopened after a 12 year closure for renovation and upgrades.The building itself is magnificent, beautifully decorated and grand in its aspect. We went inside to one of the newly covered courtyards. Here we stopped at the mezzanine floor cafe and had coffee and cake for breakfast. I then went and queued to get tickets.
The first thing we headed to was the Great Hall, the central focus of which is Rembrandt's masterpeice, The Night Watch. In 1980 Fletcher had found this in the 5 minutes he had had while I and the children had been sidetracked into a room with dolls houses and other artefacts. The painting certainly is impressive. It is flanked by other paintings of the Dutch Militia by Rembrandt and other artists. In all it is a magnificent room. The side galleries leading up to it are dedcated to other Dutch Masters such as Vermeer and Frans Hals as well as some with whom I am not as familiar. Some magnificent paintings though all around.
From there we saw some galleries on the first floor which had paintings of the late 19th century including some Van Gogh. There were some Romantics as well as an amazing painting of the Battle of Waterloo which covered one entire wall it was so huge. The building inside is beautiful with magnificent stained glass windows and wall decorations.

We spent an enjoyable couple of hours there. Outside we stopped in the square around which there are several other museums. This has the letters, I amsterdam spelt out in red and white. We then caught the tram back to our hotel and had a pizza in a nearby restaurant. Then we changed and were waiting in the foyer when Frans Verberne and Hannah arrived to meet us. We had not met them since 1980 though we had kept in touch through Christmas cards and now Facebook. Frans had studied in Adelaide back in 1978 and when we had first visited Amsterdam with the children he had driven us all over the countryside. Now it was easy to fall back into conversation. We went into Central Station on the tram and then took a ferry across the water to a modern building called Eye in which there is a film museum. Here we sat for a couple of hours chatting about children, athletics and all sorts of topics, while having a drink or two. At 6-30 we returned and trammed it again to near Dam Square to a fabulous restaurant called Graves. This had a Chef's menu for only 40 euros for 4 courses and we could have wine to match each course.
The food was magnificent. We started with soft delicious scallops, then a potato,leek and truffle soup followed by some delicious beef. Frans and I then had sweets while Fletcher and Hannah opted for cheese. It was all beautifully presented and cooked, a true gourmet delight!

About 10-15, well-sated, we said goodbye. Hannah had to return to The Hague, an hours tram and train trip while Frans was meeting a friend to embark on an annual boys 'cycling and running weekend. It had been the perfect night, great food and wine, good company only spoiled a little by the drizzling rain.

This morning the rain had stopped though it was grey and very cold. We walked to Rembradtplein in which there is a large statue of Rembrandt and in front of this is a series of statues representing the main figures in The Night Watch.We had some scrambled eggs there and coffee for breakfast. We then caught a No 9 tram to an area near the Zoo where there is also a Museum dedicated to the Dutch Resistance during World War 2. This is well displayed and shows the initial dilemma of local officials who thought it better to stay on in their administrative jobs rather than let the Nazis run everything. However, it also showed the growing resistance with strikes, student demonstrations and then an organised underground publishing newspapers and running a massive forgery operation to alter papers for Jewish citizens and those threatened with imprisonment. Two hours went by very quickly! They also had a section concerning the opposition to the Japanese in Indonesia which was the Dutch East Indies at that time.

We returned to Kalverstraat and wandered through the pedestrian mall there joining the shopping crowds. We had lunch in Spui, a square close by. While we were eating a parade and demonstration went by, obviously Animal Rights activists judging by the pictures on their banners and the fact that some were dressed up as pigs and chickens.

We have now returned to the hotel to rest and repack for our flight tomorrow. Tonight we will stroll to the Red Light District as Fletcher is keen to do some window shopping. Then tomorrow it is on to Singapore for 2 days before returning to Adelaide on Wednesday.

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