Day 4 - Rijksmuseum, Albert Cuyp Market, National Maritime Museum, and Nemo

Today was a busy day!  The weather was cloudy but we didn't have rain.  I've been watching the weather forecast all week and decided today would be a good museum day.   

This morning when the alarm went off nobody wanted to get up.  I laid in bed for a long time before I finally got up!  I slept well but I was still so tired.  I was determined to make it to the Rijksmuseum when it opened at 9:00 am so I made sure everyone was up and going a by 7:30.  We had a simple breakfast and everyone got ready pretty quickly.

We left sometime between 8:15 and 8:30 to head to the tram stop.  After a bit of initial confusion we figured out the tram stop heading in the direction we needed was on the other side of the intersection.  It was a quick tram ride and we were dropped off right in front of the museum.  We were a little early so we took the kids back to the I amsterdam sign to try to get a few more pictures.

Wednesday is trash day on our street, you just leave the trash bags out by the street!  

After the pictures we joined the line to wait for the museum opening.  We were about 15 people back in the line.  The museum opened promptly at 9:00 and we were let in.  I'd read in my guide book that we wanted to head to the 2nd floor to the Gallery of Honor to see the best of the Dutch Masters.  It took us a minute to find our way but soon enough we were greeted by Rembrandt's Night Watch.  This painting is spectacular, it is very large and it commands attention.  We were lucky to be able to admire it with no crowd, there were maybe 10 other people in the gallery with us!

The Night Watch

Vermeer's Woman Reading a Letter 

The kids admiring the art

We also looked at the works of Vermeer, Steen, and Hals.  The Rijksmuseum has four (currently three, one is on loan to the Lourve) of the 35 Vermeer paintings that can be viewed in museums.

After we spent time in the Gallery of Honor we spent time in some other parts of the museum.  We found an interesting exhibit about South Africa and Apartheid.  Connor learned a lot, he knew who Nelson Mandela was but didn't know much else about the history of South Africa.

When we left the museum there were tons of people arriving, there were a lot of people with tour groups.  I was so glad that we got there early!

We decided to have an early lunch.  I'd read about a restaurant nearby called Bakers & Roasters, it had great reviews so we decided to try it.  When we arrived at the restaurant it was full, we waited and were seated within 5 minutes.  We had an amazing meal!  The menu is mostly breakfast type items, it is a great menu and I had a hard time deciding what to get.  I finally settled on the Eggs Florentine and it was amazing!  We all agreed that this was the best meal so far this trip!

It is a vacation!

Do I look happy!

So good!!! 

Ali's was really good too!

After lunch we walked to the Albert Cuyp street market.  We had fun browsing the stalls.  There were quite a few vendors with street food but we were all too full to try anything, I'd love to go back when I was hungry.  We did stop and buy some chocolates for later, the kids were amused to see chocolates that were being sold in the form of male and female anatomy.  I guess this is Amsterdam, so anything goes!

We stopped at the apartment for a quick break after our adventure at the market.  I knew after our quiet afternoon yesterday that we needed to really make this a quick break.  I think we stayed for about 25 minutes and then headed out again.  We walked to the National Maritime Museum.  We explored the museum for about an hour, we saw some great exhibits but there was a lot we didn't see.  Outside there is a replica of a ship from the Dutch East India Company, the kids had fun walking around the ship.

After our time at the Maritime museum we decided to visit the Nemo science museum which was close by.  It was later in the afternoon but since the museum was covered by our Museum Cards it seemed fine to go even if we were there just for a short time.  Nemo is a hands on science museum where you could spend hours!  My kids had fun trying some of the experiments and we probably spent about an hour there.  Everyone was tired so we decided to walk back to the apartment.

Nobody wanted to go out for dinner so we had dinner at the apartment.  Dan and Connor went to the grocery store while Ali and I went to the bakery.  We had a simple dinner and a relaxed night.  Tomorrow we have to be up early to head to Keukenhof to see flowers!!

My dinner was super simple, I just had desert from the bakery.  I was still full from lunch!  Dan and the kids had pizza.

Today was definitely a good day.  We had a lot of fun!  We probably pushed a little too hard to get to that last museum but we only have two days left and we are planning day trips both days.

We had some interesting conversations today.  Connor mentioned at dinner that Amsterdam doesn't feel as "foreign" as other places we've visited.  I actually agree with him but I'm not sure why.  Amsterdam just feels like an easy place to fit in!  Both kids agreed that they liked the Rijkmuseum better than the Lourve.  They also agreed that at ages 7 and 10 they were probably too young to appreciate the Lourve.  It made me wonder what I could have done differently that trip so they would have gotten more out of it!  Amsterdam lives up to it's reputation and Ali has already figured out which coffee shops sell coffee and which ones sell pot.  The 18 and up signs on the door are apparently a giveaway!

Tomorrow: Keukenhof and if we have time Leiden