Amsterdam

The Royal Palace in Amsterdam is, as you'd expect, a very impressive building. What struck us was the difference in visual security between this and Buckingham Palace. Here there were no fences or visible guards and this palace was not surrounded by ornate statues and monuments. This photo was taken around 8:30am and the square was nearly deserted. When we returned around 3:00pm you could hardly move!

The focus of our visit to Amsterdam was to go to the Rijksmuseum - the Dutch national museum - and wasn't it amazing! Altogether they have over 1million items for display.
This tin glazed earthenware Delft (c1705) was considered to be the masterpiece of earthenware when purchased for 1500 guilders in 1876. That's a lot to pay for an ornamental violin which cannot be played! One only wonders about its current value.

The most popular display, as expected, was Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' which was painted in 1642.
John was surprised at the size of the painting (3.63 m × 4.37 m), which is even more amazing when you read that it was originally bigger, but had a section of all four sides removed so that it would fit into the hanging space at the Amsterdam Town Hall in 1715. These pieces were not kept - apparently a common practice in those days.




 As also expected, other popular exhibits were the three Van Gough paintings. Although always acknowledged as one of the Masters, he seems to have become the 'world's coolest Dutchie'. 
Some of his paintings have been 3-D scanned and 3-D printed to create near-perfect replicas which sell for $25,000. Some people consider these a bargain when compared to the $20m+ price of an original.

This is one of our favourites, by Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriel, painted in 1889. Called 'A Windmill on a Polder Waterway', it really captures the essence of a summer's day in Holland.

 This is the largest painting in the museum. It was painted in 1824 and is titled 'The Battle of Waterloo'. You can get an idea of the size by the person standing on the right of the painting.

Originally the painting was intended for the Duke of Wellington himself, but was bought by William I of the Netherlands for his son and so remained here.

 This strange looking disc is the original Dirk Hartog pewter dish, nailed to a pole in Western Australia. The message says 'Arrived here 25 October 1616' (that's 402 years ago!) and remained there for a further 80 years until another Dutch captain found it and brought it back to Holland.

We saw a replica at the Maritime Museum in Freemantle and now we've seen the original. Wow!



The museum itself is a beautiful building.

 Amsterdam is famous for its canals and different styles of architecture. On a day like today it was a pleasure walking through the city and along the canals.

Isn't this 'Holland in a photo'?

A Friesian in a cheese shop!

Seen today: Cannabis lollypops and starter packs for your own plants; buskers at the entrance to the Rijksmuseum, playing Vivaldi; lines of canal boats ready for the tourist rush; trams in Amsterdam - another thing to watch out for when crossing the road!




As we fly home shortly, this will be our last post. Hope you've enjoyed sharing our European adventures.
Cheers,
Chris and John