The last full day in Amsterdam and it will end up raining all day. No worries. I've always loved the rain. There is such a purity to hearing the rain hitting the roof and windows. I especially like bundling up and walking through streets, by the canals, of Amsterdam. It's funny, it doesn't seem to bother the hundreds of bikes on the road. The city of Amsterdam is built with bikes having a real right of way, with very wide paths that lay parallel to old major roads.
I eat a late breakfast or early lunch around noon. I find another Italian Resturant along the Amstel Canal, which is one of the largest and most well known. There are plenty of dinner cruises up and down the canal. I meet a nice young Dutch lady, Anna, probably about 22-3, at the table next to me. She ordered a large pizza and couldn't believe how she "hoofed" the thing down in just 10 minutes. Anyway, she lives locally and is attending dental school and works at a Sushi Bar. I was curious about how she pays for that type of education. They have a very good social education system. As I understand it, when you commit to a major of study, it is covered as a "grant", but if you leave or quit the program, you are obligated to pay it back, through payroll deduction. I bet they have a low dropout rate. When I've been meeting people I always get around to asking where they would like to visit in the US. Anna surprised me and said Las Vegas. Usually its New York City or Miami, usually nothing on the west coast. I asked her why Las Vegas. She said she wanted to see the Blue Man Group and Elvis impersonators.
After lunch I continue to walk along Amstel Canal toward the museum district. I come across a bunch of houseboats. I think they have more here due to the fact the canals are wider. There are some really interesting houseboats. I noticed a wide assortment of ones that look like they are ready to sink to ones that have very extravegent designs. They all have addresses and water and electrical hook-ups. Before I get to the Museum District I come across the Heineken Brewery. The tour was pretty neat showing the large vat systems that process the famous green bottled beer. At the end, beer was free in a very attractive sleek looking glass, but the glass was $10e, pass.
I reach the Art and Museum District. It is very beautifully laid out. The largest museum is called the Rijks, short for Rijksmuseum.The Rijksmuseum was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, where it was first located in the Royal Palace and later in the Trippenhuis. The current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened its doors in 1885. On 13 April 2013, after a ten-year renovation which cost € 375 million, the main building was reopened by Queen Beatrix. In 2013, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with a record number of 2.2 million visitors. The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000, among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer.
The Van Gogh Museum is the one that I was looking forward to visiting. The building is very plain and mostly of steel and glass, which is contrary to the Rijks which is a very majestic brick structure.
But, I get what I was looking for on the inside. The majority of the paintings are Van Gogh, who is known as the artist that took a u-turn from the Impressionists. The museum's collection is the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. In 2013, the museum had 1.4 million visitors, and was the 2nd most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 35th most visited art museum in the world.The walk back to the Tulip was in a driving rain. I had carried an umbrella with me, but had not broken it out most of the day, as most of the day was just a drizzle. I tucked myself, with my back pack, under the traditional black umbrella, and pulled out my earbuds and cranked up my favorite classical tunes. It was a perfect night. My last night meal? I just went back to my apt. and finished off the edam and gouda cheese, Chilean Red, avocado, 80% chocolate bar and Dutch pressed ham. I have an early alarm to be sure I can get a cab during rush hour in the morning.
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