Amsterdam Dag Twee

Day Two was the day of artistic discovery and kaaaal-ture, as we had 2 major items left on our shopping list in Amsterdam - the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. After having already abandoned plans to see the Anne Frank House (tickets were sold out almost 2 DAYS before - and this is even though its possibly the only museum open on weekends till almost 930 pm) and seeing that the 'waiting line' stretched round the building twice - we decided that we would be better off leaving this for another trip. And oh - so advice to all Amsterdam-travellers? Book your tickets for any type of museum / show / restaurant / bathroom ONLINE! If they offer it online, take it and book it. You'll easily save around an hour, unless of course you're one of those type of people who think that waiting in lines helps you 'breathe in' the city.

Crowds outside the Van Gogh ...

It stretched on for a good 1 1/2 hour wait ...

The Rijksmuseum was just as wonderful as I expected it to be - there were 2 1/2 whole floors just for Rembrandt, one for Vermeer and some buds of his, and an entire viewing room for the 'Night Watch'. Before you start viciously scrolling up and down for pics, let me break it to you gently that cameras weren't allowed inside - so you're just going to have to take my word for it that it was goddamn wonderful and totally inspirational :-)

After that was the Van Gogh - and at this point, I will need to disclaim myself from a previous post ... I didn't expect much, but I was totally floored. Just as the Rembrandts make you inch closer and closer to see all the little details you missed, the farther you move from a Van Gogh, the more you appreciate his tortured vision and often for me at least, it felt like an unexpected discovery.

The one thing you'll miss seeing here is 'The Starry Night', which can be found at the MOMA in NY ... but there are enough others to gorge on. We had the toughest time at the gift shop - I think ol' Vincent just had a knack of making paintings that could look good on T-shirts, kitchen utensils, mugs, bandanas, cushions, lunch boxes ... almost anything actually.

From here it was time to say tata to Amsterdam and take a train into nearby Delft to meet some close friends of ours. Now Delft is actually the home town of another of my favorite painters - Vermeer, and is currently where the 'Girl with the Pearl Earring' resides - first painting, then book by Tracy Chevalier and then movie. The book fictionalizes a supposed love of sorts between Vermeer and the girl who is depicted in the painting (see pic below) and is entirely set in Delft.

Its a supremely pretty town, and almost everywhere you turn there was a pikchur to be taken. Combine that with great hospitality (thanks Nirali & Kedar! much muaah), fantastic dinner (my first brush with Ethiopian food - would totally recommend it to anyone who's craving Indian food but wants to seem foo-faa eating exotic food :-) and a cute movie (Toy Story 3d - much fun and almost as much fun as the first 2 parts) ... I think it was a recipe for a great Sunday evening!

The Dutch version of town square ... this picture is of the main Church ... main maane since Delft used to be the old capital, if any of the royal folk pop it even today - they are buried in Delft. So fairly important place this is.

Their town hall.

Gaurav noticed the extremely pretty door - the blue potteryish type work is Delft's most famous export ...

I think the only surviving part of the old town wall - beyond this the moat that surrounds the whole of Delft, and of course the canals that weave in between ...

Ha ha. 'Don't even think of parking here' ... would have just liked to do so to see exactly what he does in retaliation.

Simply so pretty ...

... and so ends our trip to the lands of the nether. A special thanks to ...

(Kedar & Nirali - I think you have something on your nose :-)

Cheers and till something else happens.

Sushma