We’ve been on this Epic Adventure for exactly 15 weeks today and this was the first truly dreary weather day we’ve had. We’ve seen clouds, drizzle, crazy hot and very cold, but until today we hadn’t had a miserable day. We had a few short bursts of no rain where we were able to get from the hotel to the tram and from the tram to the museum, but by the time we finished our day, it was raining steadily, and we got pretty wet before making it back to our Bridge Suite at the Doubletree. But now we’re snug in our sweats and the fluffy socks we bought in France, munching on a cannoli, trying to warm up.
We started our day at the amazing Rijksmuseum, the national museum dedicated to Dutch arts and history. This is my 4th time to visit, and I never get tired of it.
We started in the Gallery of Honor where the most famous works of art are found. As I mentioned in the post from Delft, Johannes Vermeer is my favorite artist. Well, here is my favorite of his paintings. The detail in works by the Dutch Masters is simply amazing. You can see every seed in each roll and each crack in the loaf of bread. It all looks fresh enough to eat. I have a print of this at home.
This is one of Peter’s favorites. You can see the teeny, tiny skates on each of the skaters. The figures are very small, but the smallest details (e.g., eyes) are clear. It’s really incredible. We have a print of this one as well.
Here’s a famous self-portrait by Rembrandt.
Be honest, how many of you knew Rembrandt’s last name? How many of you thought Rembrandt was his last name?
And, of course, the star of the show….
There was also a large collection of 19th century art.
And one by Van Gogh.
But there is more in this museum than paintings. We saw tapestries…
Drawings…
Furniture…
Dollhouses…
Carvings…
Glassware…
Pottery…
And stained glass windows…
We spent over 2 hours at the museum but could have stayed for much longer without seeing everything. After a while, everything starts to blur together so two hours is usually our max in museums.
While on our way to find lunch, the rain started again so we ducked into the first restaurant we found, Cafe Hans en Grietje, where we had very good burgers. The Marc Chagall Gallery was across the street. We’d had enough of art for one day, though, so we didn’t visit.
By the time we left the restaurant, the rain had let up again, so we sped as fast as we could with me pushing a wheelchair, to the Heineken Experience. It was less than 10 minutes away and, luckily, we made it before the rain started again. The place was crazy crowded with at least an hour wait to start the tour. But one of the staff let us skip the line so we got in right away.
The tour is in the original brewery and the self-guided tour told the story of how the brand started. In 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken, bought a brewery and, without any experience in making beer, turned the company into the giant it is today. The current head of the company is Gerard’s great granddaughter.
Here’s what the original Heineken bottle looked like.
And here’s one from the year I was born.
At one point in the tour, we “became” beer as it went through the brewing process. In this video we’re being bottled. It was pretty cool.
The end of the tour included an interactive piece which was a lot of fun. We couldn’t get on the bikes to ride through Amsterdam, but we did have our picture taken in one of the vats.
While the tour was self-guided, we needed someone to help us with lifts because there were a zillion stairs, so it was almost like we had a private tour. It was a lot of fun. BTW. You have the opportunity to drink up to 3 beers during the tour. We didn’t.
Unfortunately, by the time we left, it was steadily raining. We thought about trying to catch a cab but there was no place to stand out of the rain to get one. We were right around the corner from the tram, so we did that instead. It was during the walk home from the central station that we got pretty wet. I had an umbrella for Peter but if he put it up, I couldn’t see where I was going so, I guess we should have kept the ponchos we sent home in one of the boxes. Oh well.
Tomorrow, we’re headed back to the same area to the Van Gogh Museum. We’ve had those tickets for about a month as they tend to sell out. It’s supposed to be another rainy day but hopefully it won’t be as bad as today. Fingers crossed.