6/10/2016- Friday

We had a good nights sleep and don't seem to be too jet -lagged.  Breakfast (provided) was at the hotel and they have a very extensive spread- if we eat like this every morning we will come home overweight for sure!!!

Off to our walking tour at 0915.  This afternoon we will visit the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and walk around the old city.

Below are some pictures of the breakfast buffet- they have a large selection of vegetables, meats, fish,  omelets, etc.  Pretty much anything you would like.  They also had a varied selection of fresh breads.

We met down in the lobby of the Movenpick Hotel with the rest of the cruise folks and we were assigned to group one, got our radio headset and headed out with our guide Kim.   The track of our tour can be seen in the map below which takes us from the central train station to the Rijksmuseum.

Our tour began at our hotel but the track only shows the part of our path from near the central train station to the Rijksmuseum.  All of us felt that our tour guide was informative and interesting and we thoroughly enjoyed the walk.  We ended up the tour at the Dam Square at about 1100 h and, after a coffee break, we continued on our own to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum.  Below are some of the pictures taken during our journey today.

View of a protestant church along one of the canals in downtown Amsterdam.

Folks sitting outside of a cafe enjoying the beautiful sunny day.

One of the canals in Amsterdam.

I know, it says don't take pictures but I couldn't resist.

You might notice that the gray house on the corner is leaning a bit to the left.. many of the houses seemed to be out of square because the pilings that support them were made of wood and some have deteriorated causing the buildings to sink a bit.

This is the Royal Palace on the Dam Square just opposite the war memorial..

The Royal Palace in Amsterdam (Dutch: Koninklijk Paleis Amsterdam or Paleis op de Dam) is one of three palaces in the Netherlands which are at the disposal of the monarch by Act of Parliament.

The palace was built as a city hall during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The building became the royal palace of King Louis Napoleon and later of the Dutch Royal House. It is situated on the west side of Dam Square in the centre of Amsterdam, opposite the War Memorial and next to the Nieuwe Kerk. (Wikipedia)

Standing in the Dam Square.

Having some espresso on the Dam Square.

Our tour ended in the Dam Square and we took off from there to make our way to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum.  The trek took about 30 minutes.  The rough track is shown below on Google Maps.

The blue dot track is roughly our path to the Rijksmuseum although we took some side trips so it was probably 1/3rd again longer than shown.

We stopped at a cheese shop on the way to the museum and had some samples of wonderful cheeses.

Of course, we stopped on the way back also!

A string quartet was playing in one of the small squares on our way to the museums- they were excellent.

We entered the Rijksmuseum at around 1200 hours and spent some time enjoying the work of Rembrandt and Vermeer.

The Rijksmuseum.

The pond in front of the Rijksmuseum- note the cild in the water on the left side of the pond.

It was a beautiful day to go wading in the pond!

One of the more famous painting by Rembrandt, The Night Watch.

A well known and admired painting by Vermeer, Maid Pouring Milk.

After the Rijksmuseum, we stopped for a bit of refreshment.

The Van Gogh museum.  No pictures allowed inside!

The Van Gogh museum is a beautiful building and the art is very well organized.  It goes through the various periods of VG's life, covers many of his artist friends and even has audio recordings of letters he wrote.  A complex personality and troubled mind are evidenced in the murals depicting VG's friends and family relations.

After visiting the two museums, we made our way back to our hotel area.

Hmmm.  Where do we go from here?

I don't think I mentioned it before, but bikes are really popular in Amsterdam.  In fact, I think bike riders are more dangerous to pedestrians than cars!

I traded places with Pat so I could be in one picture today.

I think we all feel that the day was a winner.  The tour was well done and we learned a lot about Amsterdam and its history.  We enjoyed visiting the two museums and highly recommend them.  Getting out and walking all day was exactly what was needed to get us through the jet lag we were all feeling.  Hopefully everyone will get a good nights sleep.  Tomorrow we will go to the boat at around 1100 hours, store our luggage and see if we can tour the city some more before we embark.