Amsterdam – The Rijkes Museum

• By admin
• May 26, 2016
• No Comments

Our first whole day in Amsterdam and it was still raining. We cycled from the campsite which is an easy 5km ride, following the river all the way to the centre. As in other Dutch cities cycling is huge in Amsterdam and happily all other traffic and pedestrians defer to the bike. The local cyclists travel at quite a speed and seem to use the cycle tracks as Lewis Hamilton uses a race track so although you have the safety of a designated track you can still feel vulnerable

We cycled to the Rijks Museum where we spent the whole day looking at the art punctuated of course by coffee and lunch in their fine (but expensive) restaurant. I had my first taste of herring, it was served with beetroot, was delicious and very filling.

We joined a tour guide in the afternoon, given by very enthusiastic ex art student who was able to point out lots of things we would have otherwise missed. The the bare bottom in Avercamp’s 16^th  century painting of a typical Dutch village scene being the one that caused most amusement.

Of course the Rembrandt & Vermeer’s are the ones that everyone huddles around. Fortunately, our guide was very Dutch in her approach and pushed her way to the front taking us with her.