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| Amsterdam welcomes Holland America! |
Our ship feels like she has come home. She whispered that to me as I was going down the back staircase early this morning. This is something of a rare stop for our ship as Amsterdam is not always a part of this cruise. Holland America has rolled out the red carpet for us and they are treating us to an exclusive opening tonight at the Rijksmuseum. The red carpet could very well be orange as the entire city is preparing for King's Day tomorrow. This is a national holiday celebrating King Willem-Alexander. They are preparing for major parties everywhere ... even the bottles of their famous Heineken are orange!
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| King's Day! |
Amsterdam is the capital city of The Netherlands and is well known for it's impressive museums and architecture, it's windmills and wooden shoes, and it's tulips and bicycles! There are 881,000 bicycles in Amsterdam. That is four times the number of cars, and bicyclers can even cycle through the famous art musuem, the Rijksmuseum! As regards art, I am not a particularly sophisticated enthusiast nor do I have a lot of knowledge of historical artworks, but I can appreciate the masterpieces created by the likes of Van Gogh, Vermeer, Reuben, Rembrandt and so many others that we will see today!
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| Bicycles everywhere! |
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| Cool buildings! |
Our tour today first took us through the beautiful Dutch landscape to Delft, an age old city best known for it's beautiful canals and blue pottery. It is getting harder and harder to find true hand-painted Delftware pottery. It is becoming more commercialized and the hand painted stuff is competing against the factory replicas. We were lucky enough to get to visit a small factory in the center of Delft where they still produce the hand painted artworks. We got to meet the painter and the owner and he showed us the details of his craft. It is a difficult process which is very time and labor intensive but you just can't beat the real McCoy. Each one is a work of art, and yes, Vialula had to have some!
the beautiful canals in Delft
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| Beautiful mural showing Delft's true colors |
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| Delft Pottery Demonstration |
Next we went to the Hague and on our way as we drove through the countryside we saw lots of the well known windmills. Most of these are still turning away but today they serve different purposes. Everything from milling, to water pumping, to generation of power. But you couldn't help notice that they were being replaced by the huge white wind turbines which you see more and more of. The Hague is the administration center of the Netherlands and the city where the King and Queen reside. We walked through the Binnenhof which is the "Inner Court" of the Hague where the 12th century Knight's Hall is located. It's a beautiful area, complete with a gold gilded fountain from the 1800's.
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| Welcome to the Hague |
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Binnenhof - the Inner Court of the Hague
and the Knight's Hall |
While here, we visited the Mauritshuis museum which houses art from the Dutch Masters including The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer, several Rembrandts, and Fabritius' The Goldfinch. One of the most interesting things I noticed was that these works are all on display without any protection or coverings on them. I would have thought that it would have been necessary to protect the integrity if not the value of them. But not one of them was behind a glass cover. I was impressed.
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| The Maritshuis |
After an incredible day, we raced back to the ship to get ready for our official welcome to Amsterdam at the Rijksmuseum. It was a beautiful cocktail event where there was a live band, free-flowing drinks and desserts, and art ... lots and lots of art! The pinnacle of the evening was Rembrandt's most famous painting "The Night Watch". It is a life-size painting of a militia painted by Rembrandt in 1692. It is surrounded by much speculation, myth and history and has taken on a life of its own. Google it sometime - it's truly storied!
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| Vi and LeRoy getting some culture! |
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| Rembrandt's famous "Night Watch" |
What a welcome home party it was! Thank you, Holland American and Amsterdam! We are ever-grateful and in awe of this wonderful city and it's art. We will visit the tulips next time!
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