SUN MAR 12 - Arrival
Landed ~ 10:45 am
A slow, but not long line at customs. “You're just visiting Amsterdam? Really? There’s more here than just Amsterdam.” Took the train to Centraal Station, then the subway (Metro) to our digs. The train ticket machines did not like any of our credit cards, seems a signature was required at the window. The Metro ticket office was located
outside the big train station. Eventually figured THAT out. Fast, easy, Metro ride to the apartment, where our host AirBNB Paul had coffee ready for us.
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| Our place, up on the third floor. |
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| Stairs to the metro station. Note the Dutch Modern design. |
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| Cargo bike. Things like this were everywhere. |
So… finally here, we ditched our carry-ons and daypacks, and hit the streets. Walking here is an adventure in itself, with canals and bike lanes and trams and busses. But once you realize there are seperate stoplights for people, bikes, and cars/trams/busses, it all makes sense.
To get oriented, we took a canal cruise on one of the Blue Boats. We zigged and zagged through the canals, starting at the Heineken place, up around the harbor, and back down the Amstel River. Took pictures:
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| The EYE Film Museum, plus some of the few tallish buildings in Amsterdam |
Museumkaarts in hand, we took the sidewalk/bike path that goes
through the big Rijksmuseum, past the AMSTERDAM letters, and went to the Stedelijk, the modern art museum. Lots of Mondriaan, of course, being the 100th anniversary of De Stijl. Nice Ab-Ex room with a Rothko, a big blue Newman, and several nice de Koonings. Lots of Malevich. The current big exhibit was on Ed van der Elksen - Dutch street photography and early home films. I think we actually walked the museum backwards.
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| Bike path going THROUGH the national art museum. |
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| Stedelijk, the modern art museum. |
Ate dinner at a Thai place called Yum Yum (!) on Ceintuurbaan, which is kind of the main drag between the apartment and the Museumplein zone.
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| NEMO Science Museum |
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