With Dutch efficiency, I managed to walk out of Schipol Airport, clear customs, buy a digital ticket, hop on a high speed train and arrive in downtown Amsterdam in less than an hour.
I only had a half day, but I tried to see some highlights:
The Rijks Museum was impressive: their claim to fame are the Rembrandts and they sure have lots of them, including Night Watch.
The museum building itself is impressive, too – more like a cathedral or grand train station than a stodgy old museum.
Next door, I went to the Van Gogh Museum with high expectations, but it was a bit of a bummer. While they have an impressive array of his self-portraits, they don’t have very many of his most famous large works – mostly minor stuff from early career (not my cup of tea). I did a quick walk through and left disappointed. It was also very crowded and it felt like it was a waste of my time.
It was very cold and windy outside, not the best weather for seeing Amsterdam – I would like to return again. There were bikes everywhere – like everywhere. I’ve never seen so many bikes. Like, oh, my god, man. The Dutch sure do love their bikes.
Before I left, I also visited the The Eye Film Museum. The cinema history display here was a bit small and it only took me a half hour to walk through it. Too bad, as the Dutch have one of the most impressive histories in world cinema. I expected far more.
