Europe day 2: Amsterdam

A full night’s sleep and then some — 11 hours. Now, back to the grind. Up first: the Van Gogh Museum, which covers his whole career, including examples of the art that inspired him. Rather depressing at times since he was quite alone and unappreciated by most during his own time, but his brother Theo was very dedicated to him and supported him his entire life (and named his only son after him).

After Van Gogh, a walk through the park towards and around the Rijksmuseum. Then a leisurely Canal Bus (boat) ride past canal houses to Centraal station. IMG_0139

Near the station was a huge parking deck for bicycles.

As with many of our trips we scouted out a place to see cats, in this case, the Poezenboot, or Cat Boat. The boat houses a cat-rescue agency. Inside are cages with adoptable cats and scurrying around the floor are the cats that live there permanently. Sharon donated money and bought a silly cat t-shirt. IMG_0153

Then a walk through the cozy Jordaan nieghborhood, with stops at a few shops.

Tram over to Munttoren, where behind the Bloemenmarkt is the Torture Museum. Rather shabby and even a bit silly (if you can imagine torture being silly) but still interesting. IMG_0176 Here’s the skull cracker.

Then a walk over to the Museum of Bags and Purses, which just about caused Sharon to faint. Housed in a gorgeous canal house, which used to be the mansion of one Cornelis de Graeff, 17th century big shot including mayor at one point.

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Then on to the Anne Frank Museum, the house where she and her family hid for two years during the Nazi sweep of the Netherlands, which has a large museum built around it. Cannot be missed.

We had dinner at a small restaurant nearby with the resident cat named Timba. IMG_0215

Drinks at a nearby bar. Walk through the old town back to the tram and back to the hotel.

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Miscellaneous Bonus Pictures:

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Canal scene

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Cat boat

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Art in the city center

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Boat purse!