Monday was busy

Monday: We got a fairly early start out by around 10:30. A quick breakfast in our hotel and planning our train route. Our first stop was the Rijks Museum which holds plenty of art pieces and historical artifacts from the Holland area. The building also has this old european look to it and so it makes for good pictures. I tried to figure out how old the building was but couldn't. Anyway Rembrant's most famous piece of artwork is here. This was a mellow and good start to a busy day.
After the Rijks museum we took a walk through a large park and found the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh happens to be one of my favorite artists. The whole museum is pretty much dedicated to him and his apprentices. I spent a lot of time enjoying some of my favorite pieces. The bedroom is one of them. This was worth the trip all by itself. I also got to see "Wheat field with Crows".



There were absolutly no waits to get in to either of these. I guess normally during touring season you can wait a long time to get into to these museums. Our next has been know to have hour waits and we stumbled across this looking for a restaurant. There was maybe three people in line. The Anne Frank house was eary and inspiring. I had an amazing reaction to the idea that her family 50 some years ago was locked up in the actual space I was standing in. Not to mention that the views she had from her window which she rarely had were basically untouched. This was really a moving couple of hours. Very Sad, especially being a father with daughters. In the photo you can see the annex in which the Frank family was being hidden. The top floor was where they were kept. Tuesday: Was going to be a day to look at some of the old buildings and churches. They just all happened to be closed or were being restored. So this became a day to simply shop around...buying nothing of course. We got to see where Rembrant's wife was tombed.

The church was right in the middle of a web of buildings and the famous red light alleys. True paradox! There were literally woman at their glass doors standing in bras and panties facing the church, not more than 25 yards away. I held the tension. After the site seeing we found Rembrant's House and took this tour. His artwork is truly emotional. Many of his paintings capture scripture. Many of the museum artifacts are four hundred years old including a chair I sat in, and was promptly told "that chair is not meant for sitting". Thankfully the dutch know the meaning of the word Oops.

The day ended early because of a lot of walking. We found a pub and sat down to discuss saving Holland and the rest of the world.