Culture in Amsterdam

We travelled to Amsterdam by train from Heiloo where we are staying with Andrew's cousin Sieska.  Heiloo is only 49 kms from the capital so a train  trip in takes 30 minutes.   We plan to make more trips to Amsterdam but this first day was a cultural extravaganza, plus a 75 minute canal tour.

We arrived at the Central Railway Station which is a magnificent building like many others in the city.  We took a tram to the Rijksmuseum.

We are very fortunate in that the Rijksmuseum has only re-opened very recently, having been closed for the last 10 years undergoing renovations.  It houses many Dutch masters, the most famous of them being Vermeer and Rembrandt.

Above is Vermeer's famous painting titled The Milkmaid and on the right the even more famous Night Watch by Rembrandt.  This is a magnificent huge work of art.  Sieska tells me that in order to get it into place in the museum they had to cut a special slice in the floor to lift it through.

Before going along to our next museum and paying homage to Vincent Van Gogh, we had a look at the famous Amsterdam cultural icon the Concertgebouw.  I have listened to wonderful concerts emanating from this venue for most of my adult life.  To see it in the flesh so to speak was very exciting for me.

My favourite painting by this tragic artist, Van Gogh, is the Irises, above.  On the left is one of the Sunflowers.

This man was the most consumate of artists and the amazing thing about him is that he only painted for ten years.  He decided to become a painter at 27 and his life ended at just 37.  He was shot, either a suicide or accidentally by some louts.  What a tragedy for him and the world to lose someone of this immense talent at such a young age.  Furthermore, he never received recognition in his lifetime.

Here are the three of us standing in front of this fresco on the second floor of the museum.   Sieska travelled around Australia with Andrew and they are close.  In fact, Andrew is close to most of his Dutch relatives.  I have the privilege of acquiring a whole new set of relatives by association.  They have all been very hospitable and welcoming.