Amsterdam - Day 2

Em is in the purple, between the s&t

Sunday was a busy, busy day. We wanted to get as much done in town as we could, so we could go out of town to see a couple of other things on Monday. So, we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Then, we headed to the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of The Netherlands. We got there for the opening, so we wouldn't have to wait in line. Most of it is closed for renovation, so it only took like an hour to go through it. They have the masterpieces on display in one wing. Em got the kids' audio tour (as I said in Luxembourg, she loves audio tours), so most of that time was actually waiting for Em to listen to her tour. It was pretty fun, because then she would tell us what she had learned about each of the paintings on her tour. No pictures allowed inside, unfortunately, but we did get a picture with the IAmsterdam sign outside.

The French kiss exhibit

The one thing that Em really wanted to do was the NEMO Science Museum, so we headed over there next. It is a very cool science museum. By then, it was pouring, so the museum was very crowded. But, we had lots of fun anyway. So, Amsterdam is very open, right? You should see the teen section in NEMO. There was a bunch about growing up, and the dangers of drugs and alcohol. There was also a "peep show" section that had artist's mannequins in various positions. After that, we were starving. NEMO is pretty far away from anything, so we had lunch there. It was probably the best museum lunch I've ever had. I also discovered the wonder that is the Dutch almond cake. It is like an uncrustable that has pastry on the outside and marzipan in the middle. Sooooo good.

Em on the ship, with NEMO in the back

Outside NEMO is a replica of a Dutch West India Company trading ship. Max loves ships, so we went in. It was much like the other tall ships we've been in, which is to say pretty neat. There was a lot more to touch than in others, though, and we could go in all the parts, unlike some.

Em making paint in the Rembrandt House

Then it was time for the Rembrandt museum. It is in the building where he lived before he went broke. It was a pretty impressive house. Most of his stuff was sold to pay creditors, but that actually turned out to be good for us. Since all of his things had to be inventoried before they were sold, they knew just what he had when they built the museum. 

Van Gogh museum

After Rembrandt, we scampered over to Van Gogh. The Van Gogh museum is very different than the Rembrandt one. It's in a huge modern building. We didn't have much time, so it was a bit of a rush. However, we did pick up the kids' scavenger hunt for Em. She seemed to enjoy it, and since it covered several of the main paintings, it gave us some direction for where to stop and enjoy and where to rush through.

We were hungry after that. We saw a sign for Hard Rock, and since we had gone in Cologne, we thought it might be fun to go in Amsterdam. However, once we got there, we saw a horrible line. We were too hungry to wait the 30-45 minutes. So, we just took a picture by the sign. We saw in our guidebook that there was a pancake restaurant not far away. It was closed by the time we got there. There was another pancake restaurant a bit further on. (Remember the lying map? Yeah, it was more than a bit) That one was open! I'm glad we pushed on, because those were some seriously yummy pancakes. They are more like huge crepes piled with stuff.

We walked towards the Anne Frank House to see how the line was. Along the way, we saw that there was a church playing Faure's Requiem. I love Faure's Requiem, but we just didn't have time. The line for Anne Frank was long, and we didn't really want to end our day on such a sad note, anyway, so we skipped it. Plus, we don't want Em to hate the Germans while we're living here. We did give her a general story about the place, though.

We were then quite exhausted, so we went back to the hotel to sleep.

Emma says - At the pancake restaurant, I had the most delicious pancake ever. They had a little prize that came with it, they said, and I was like "Ooh!" It wasn't little, though, it was a giant stuffed elephant with floppy arms. I named him Flapjack. 

NEMO is the best museum in all of Europe and America combined. Rembrandt & Van Gogh were pretty, and my audio tours and the scavenger hunt were awesome. On the scavenger hunt, there was a find the word thing, but we couldn't find some of the pictures. I was still able to figure out the missing letters and unscramble them at the end. The dude at the counter where I went to claim my prize was like, "whoa." I got a sticker and a postcard. (The sticker is still sitting by my clock)