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Sunday December 10th

It was cold and rainy most of the day which made it a good day to be mostly inside of museums. John and I bought museum passes that allowed us free entry to most of the major museums in The Netherlands for one year. It paid for itself on this trip alone. I have had an interest in Von Gogh since I was in college, so the Van Gogh Museum was the first stop. The new addition was just completed a year ago, which added space for the 200 Van Goghs in the Museum, along with some special exhibits. 

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The Van Gogh museum had an obnoxious rule that did not allow any photography in the museum, even without a flash. That kept me from capturing the actual frames used with some of the copies I have at home. I did sneak a picture of the actual Wheatfield with Crows, since I have a professional copy of it at home, done by the students at the Vincent Art Gallery in southern Netherlands.

We moved on to the Rijksmuseum to enter the Dutch golden age. The style is dramatically different than the impressionist with dark tones and large commissioned pieces. John snapped a picture of me in front of Nightwatch, the most famous Rembrandt in the museum. We then moved on to the Stedelijk Museum to move into modern times. The Stedelijk was much more of an attack on the system with interactive art and provocative themes.

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Not yet "museumed" out, we trammed and walked across town along the canals to the Rembrandthuis. I caught a nighttime picture of canal architecture along the way. We got there with just 45 minutes before closing. The Rembrandthuis was Rembrandt's home and studio at the peak of his commercial success. There were displays of his prints and some minor artwork, but the more interesting experience was to see the way he lived and worked.

We then took a side trip to see Rembrandt's final home, a small plain apartment along a plain street. By that point the rain was coming down sideways and the temperature had dropped sufficiently for us to head back toward the hotel and a good dinner at the Luden restaurant. From there we did some bar hopping and finished the night watching karaoke at the Bulldog Cafe near the hotel.

Tuesday December 12th

On the last day of the trip, with only the morning to kill, we ventured to the Amsterdam Historisch Museum which captures the history of Amsterdam with art, navigation technology, maps and displays. I captured a picture of a Golden Age sitting room.

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We finished the trip with a stop for coffee at the famous art deco Cafe Americain near our hotel. I headed for the airport and John headed for the train station.

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