Full day in Amsterdam

I slept quite well last night! I woke a couple of times but managed to loll until about 7 am. I then showered, did some re-arranging and then wrote this diary and copied the photos from my phone. Finishing around 10 am I set off!

The weather was cool but sunny which turned out to be perfect for the long day of walking that was ahead. I’d decided in Sydney that I’d go to the Rijks Museum first so I headed off to there. I took a slightly different route to yesterday for a change of scenery. I was looking the whole way there for somewhere nice to have a snack but there wasn’t anything that appealing. Just before the museum there is an area on Nieuw Soiegelstraat which is the ‘Art and Antiques’ district. There were some nice, and expensive, shops but nothing that appealed on the food front.

In the end I went into the museum and ate there. I had bread with cheese (one large piece of bread with 4 or 5 slices of Beemster cheese) and a plum paste. Rather nice, especially with the hot chocolate. Naturally I had to follow that up with a traditional apple pie or apple cake as they call it. Delicious.

I then spent 2.5 hours wandering through the museum. I’d wanted to go ever since the renovations finished, but of course it is so long ago that I last went I can’t recall much to make any sort of comparison with the old one. I saw lots of famous paintings, including of course ‘The Night Watch’. One of the things that stood out was how bright the colours are! In the section from the late 19th century I was struck by the similarities with the oil painting I have at home, I guess they were the inspiration for it. One funny thing, I also noticed one Asian lady who seemed to be going around taking photos of all of the dogs in the paintings, but not the paintings themselves! There was one interesting modern, mechanical, art, I took a short video, it reminded me of Jelly Fish which was probably the aim I guess.

This photo is for Paul :)

After the museum I walked past the Concert Geboux and then went down Frans van Meirsstraat and took a photo of the house dad lived in during the war. 

From there it was a short walk to the Albert Cuyps Market which I walked the full length of. As I was taking a photo of the sign, which said use their free WiFi, I noticed a Poffertjes place so I got 10 with butter, icing sugar and stroop. Very nice. I think you need the Stroop.

Feeling fortified I wandered back to the Leidseplein to look for the Indonesian restaurant that I normally go to. After at first thinking it was gone I found it (different coloured sign?) and checked the opening hours. 5pm. So I set off down through the mall and ended up walking all the way to the station and back.

I was feeling a bit buggered, not to mention hungry, by the time I got to the restaurant, the Puri Mas. I got the 2^nd dearest Rijstafel. I would have gotten the dearest but was worried about the quantity.

Gosh how on earth will I finish all of that? 

No problem it seems :)

After the meal I walked straight back to the hotel, via a different route. Sore feet and tired, so I had a shower then channel surfed for a bit before doing this diary while my phone recharged and then bed around 10 (although I think I slept through some of the TV I was ‘watching’).