WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY--THE START OF A DOWNHILL SLIDE……….

We woke up to rain AGAIN today!  The weather Gods are sure not favoring us this week.

Thankfully, we had an indoor activity planned for today--a visit to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam's world class museum of Dutch Masters.  I'd really been looking forward to seeing their collection.

We had our usual breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast.  I kind of thought I didn't feel very well after breakfast--but I just ignored it.

We walked the short 1/2 block to our tram stop, and it was an easy ride with no line changes to the Museum.  We were in luck today, the line was short, and we got right in.  I was surprised there is no security to go through at the Rijksmuseum.

It didn't take us too long to figure out why the lines were short--everyone was IN the museum!  It was pretty crowded--but we made the best of it.  We thoroughly enjoyed looking at the many beautiful portraits, landscapes and still lifes.  Many of them look like they could just "spring to life", they are so perfect and realistic they almost look like photos.  Truly amazing!

I didn't take too many photos--this is why!

Generally, the crowd was polite and orderly.  We just had to be patient and work our way to the front.

Night Watch
Rembrant

This next painting was interesting--it was done by two different artists.  The left side by Hals, and the right 7 figures by Codde.  It was fun to spot differences in style.  It was also huge--so I took two pictures.

 Militia Company of District XI
by Frans Hals and Peter Codde
1632

Right side

 Left side

Detail:

After about 1 1/2 hours, I was absolutely, positively sure I was not feeling well!  As hard as I tried, I just couldn't make it through the whole museum.  David was sweet, and told me we could always come back tomorrow.

So we left the Rijksmuseum and walked out into a pouring rain.  Umbrellas up-- we made a beeline for the tram stop.  We were so glad to get "home"!  I settled in to a miserable afternoon and evening with the nastiest stomach flu.  So far, David has escaped, and I'm sure hoping he doesn't get this stuff.

Thursday in Amsterdam:  Still sick--didn't even leave the apartment.  So NOT how I wanted to spend our last day in Amsterdam.  Friday we are catching an early morning train to Frankfurt, and then on to the the Rhine and Mosel region of Germany.  Wine and castles!