Amsterdam
We flew to Amsterdam a week before the cruise began, so most of this page was not a part of the cruise.
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We rented an apartment in the canal house in the center. We were on the fourth floor, 58 steps from ground level.
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After a short rest we walked to the Amsterdam Museum where we bought our museum tickets for the week. Then we walked to the flower market where Elizabeth bought tulips. .
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This is how they looked in our apartment.
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The next day we went to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. Some of the following photos are from Wikipedia. This is Rembrandt's "Nightwatch."
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Rembrandt's "Jewish Bride."
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Vermeer's "Little Street."
Vermeer's Milkmaid.
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Vermeer's "Woman Reading a Letter."
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In the Rijksmuseum we also saw a number of the paintings of the Hague School, such as this Barbizon View by Jan Weissenbruch
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I spent a day the Rijksmusem Study Room where I saw this water color of a drawbridge by Hendrik Weissenbruch.
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This one is by Joseph Israels and is one of my entries at my Rijksstudio collection of Hague School artists.
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This one is by Anton Mauve
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In the Van Gogh Museum were able to see paintings such as these from the Museum website. This is one of Van Gogh's self portraits.
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"The Pink Peach."
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Van Gogh's "Harvest."
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"Wheatfield With Crows."
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We also went to the Rembrandt House where the master lived and painted.
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The minerals were ground and mixed with oil to make the paint he used.
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These were some of the minerals used for his paints.
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We also went to the Hermitage Amsterdam where we saw an exhibition of group portraits.
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This is the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) of the 15th century. It is used now as a museum and for organ recitals.
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An interior shot of the Nieuwe Kerk
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The Oude Kerk (Old Church)of the 14th century.
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A side view of the Oude Kerk.
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The roof of the Oude Kerk is the largest medieval wooden vault in Europe. The Estonian planks date to 1390 and boast some of the best acoustics in Europe.
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The Church of the Attic, where Catholics worshiped when they were prevented from having their own churches by the Protestants.
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A model showing how the church was built in the attics of 3 adjacent homes. To get to the Church one must go through kitchen and parlor of lower floors in an ordinary home of the time.