Amsterdam Arrivederci

 It is 7 a.m. and I'm sitting in the Schipol airport, nearly 3 hours before our flight leaves for Detroit.  Oh those Dutch and their desire for promptness!  But, waiting at the end of today's saga is my own bed and I'm really looking forward to that.  First Detroit then Columbus around 5:30 p.m.

Yesterday was a ton of fun and spent entirely with the kids.  We met Jenny, Dave, Ava G., and Niamh (Gigi) at 9:15 a.m. and did "stuff" all day long until retiring about 9:30 p.m.  First, we had tickets to the Rijksmuseum (Rikes-museum) for 11:30 a.m., and walked the few blocks to the Dutch national museum and home to the Dutch masters, particularly Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Van Gogh. 


What a magnificent building the Rijksmuseum is, both inside and out.  It reminds me a lot of the Louvre in Paris in that you could easily spent several days exploring its contents.  We, however, were on a bit of a timeline as we had tickets to follow for the Van Gogh Museum at 1:30 p.m.  And, remember, we had two little girls with us so patience and being well behaved is always up for grabs.


We started at the top and worked our way through to the Rembrandt area before it was time for lunch.  His works were quite astounding as was the period furnishings we saw there.  They could be a slide show unto themselves!  About noon, we departed and enjoyed a delicious American hot dog just outside, loaded with relish, onion, and mustard just like home.


Our entry time for Van Gogh Museum was 1:30 and, although impressive in its own right, it was much simpler than the Rijksmuseum.  Cheryl and I had enjoyed an up close look at Vincent Van Gogh on a prior Viking cruise from Lyon to Avignon, spending a good amount of time at his home in the asylum at Arles, France.  What a joy it was to see this period reflected in the work in this museum, particularly the painting of his bedroom.  We made it through the entire museum before it was time to depart which we did after, first, taking a nice break for an iced tea in the lower level of the museum which was, ironically, adjacent to the gift shop!



The girls had been really excellent all along so it was time to reward them with a nice play session at a nearby children's park.  No blood was spilled, and no one was killed so it was a successful hour spent there.  Then some light shopping before dinner at a steak house, setting up the day's finale - a canal boat ride.

We had an earlier canal boat ride on the trip but this was better - longer, and with earphones citing facts about the buildings in English.  After 90 minutes on the boat, it was time to break apart and head for home.  Funny how fast a day and a half with loved ones goes and how tough it is not knowing when we'll see them again, but soon it'll be.

We're anxioius to get home and back in that old familiar groove.  After we've had time to unpack and digest the trip, I'll write a brief summary of our thoughts for one last post on this wonderful vacation.  See you soon!

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