14 September 2015 - Rijksmuseum and a quick whizz through the Van Gogh Museum again!

"Listen to the sound of the pouring rain..." and "Singing in the rain..." came to mind as I woke to the sound of heavy rain, but being Holland, it was bound to pass.

We had a finish time for school today as we were aiming to meet Diane outside the Rijksmuseum so we had to push through.  Luke managed to complete what I wanted him to and lunch eaten, Tim, Annika, Luke and I set off on the bikes to Amsterdam.  I was feeling a bit overdressed at this stage as it was warmish and a little humid after the rain.

As they say.....

"t" for Tim

"a" for Annika

"d" for Diane

"e" for Everybody!

 After locking up the bikes with two locks, the kids had fun scrambling over the "Iamsterdam" sign despite warnings about "own risk", etc.  Aunty Di joined in too!  More fun was had in the garden outside of the Rijksmuseum in the middle of the water fountain.  The idea was to time the step in and out of the water platform when the spouts were off - and believe it or not, we managed not to get soaked!  Such fun!

Spot the hand stand!

Just in time!

Tim headed off on his bike to explore a bit more and then headed back for schoolwork.  Diane, Annika, Luke and I started our tour of the Rijksmuseum.  Someone was singing opera in the grand cathedral like entrance walkway.  The museum is huge and I know I'll be back there to see some more but what we saw today gave us an overview and a good sample of what is exhibited.  It is brimming with familiar paintings by Dutch painters such as Vermeer, Frans Hals and Rembrandt, and also has displays of Delftware, models of ships, porcelain, glass and other treasures.  The old part of the Rijksmuseum is a beautiful old building and art work itself.

Portrait of a young woman holding a fan - Moroni

The early paintings made the women look so pale and lifeless.

I thought this lady was lovely!

Looking angelic and drawing

Looking out - You can just see the "Iamsterdam" sign

The battle of Terheide 1657 - Willem van der Velde

Luke LOVED the ship! It was magnificent! 17th Century.

Map of the world!  We found Australia as New Holland!

Landscape with two donkeys, goats and pigs - Dujardins

Stunning library where you had to be silent - impossible!

Wijckerssloot - Allegory of the French Invasion 1672

 

A family portrait

There were two absolutely stunning dolls' houses complete with real silver and porcelain miniatures.

Loved these!

I have always loved the blue Delft tiles

The Floating Feather - d'Hondecoeter - Funnily enough, Luke pointed out the floating feather saying that is looked perfect before we knew the name of the painting.  He pointed out the Egyptian Goose, too, as we have seen lots of those on our travels.

Luke loved this violin

 

Delft Flower Pyramid - for precious (expensive) flower displays - there was one in the cafe!

Woman at her Toilet - Jan Steen

Maternal Care - Netscher

Rat poisoner - guess he was useful in those days!

The Town Hall on Dam Square, Amsterdam - Berckheyde 1672 - and just how it looks today without the horses!

Stunning interior - always look up!

The Merry Drinker - Frans Hals

The Love Letter - Vermeer

The Little Street - Vermeer - Look at the detail on the brick work! LOVE IT!

I have been pondering why so many of the subjects in the paintings, who are mostly Dutch, have brown or dark eyes which is contrary to the "typical" Dutch blues eye.  There are certainly plenty of blue eyed blondes everywhere nowadays among the children we see.  The Spanish and French connections have probably been responsible for the darker colouring.

 

Look up and see more!

 We knew we had reached the Rembrandt zone when we saw the people!  The rest of the museum was relatively quiet but when we reached the "Rembrandt" zone the numbers swelled.  Having said that, it wasn't overcrowded and we could see all we wanted to.

Rembrandt's famous Night watch series

The Meagre Company - Frans Hals

Checking the photos with Aunty Diane.

Rembrandt's son dressed as a monk - Rembrandt

Self portrait as Apostle Paul - Rembrandt

The burgermeister and his daughter - Jan Steen - full of suggestion

The Parrot Cage  - Jan Steen - chaos, typical of this painter.

Oh so cold!!!

Portrait of a Happy Couple - Frans Hals

The Milkmaid - Vermeer

Molenaer- Woman at the Virginal?

Avercamp - Exploring Ice near a Town

Rembrandt - Early Self Portait

Night watchman guarding the Night Watch!

Ah, Rembrandt - you've done yourself proud!

Van der Helst - Mary Stuart, widow of William of Orange. White was the colour for mourning.

 It was delightful to be sitting in a cafe - a bright area which was most likely an open courtyard originally but was a cosy spot out of the rain today!

Gotta make the right choice!

By the time we reached the cafe, the queue we had spotted on our way in had all but gone and we sat and enjoyed a lovely drink and cake courtesy of Aunty Diane...thanks!  Whilst we were sitting there we heard loud claps of thunder and really heavy rain but by the time we had finished our refreshments, there were patches of blue again!

A rare treat.

Thanks for the treat Aunty Diane!

 Annika and Diane wanted to have a quick look at the Van Gogh Museum and Luke and I, who had already been there, gave them a quick run through the "best" paintings in the half hour before closing time.  The audio stories on the way through the exhibition are great and available in English and I would have liked to finish listening to more stories about Vincent 's life.  A certain 7 year old thought that it was fun to press the buttons before I'd finished.  He had actually done pretty well having already been through the Rijksmuseum.

I think I was allowed to take this one!

Floor plan of Van Gogh Museum

 I was told off for taking a photo of the floor plan of the museum! Really?!  Maybe it is a security issue.  In the Riksmuseum over the road, cameras and photography are permitted but at the Van Gogh Museum, they are not.

View from the balcony in the Van Gogh Museum looking over the new part - the new entrance is quite nice but the old exterior of the museum itself is a woeful  1960's building which looks way out of place next to the Rijksmuseum.  What were they thinking?

The temptation is always there at the giftshop and Luke is really captured by merchandise!  Unfortunately, his rock collection means his bag is bursting (and heavy) but it all looks so enticing! 

Luke eyeing off the Sunflower merchandise!

Amsterdam, in fact all of Holland, is a bike friendly place.  The rain doesn't stop the locals!  Bikes are parked everywhere.  I have no idea where one would park a car and it would definitely be costly.

Annika could pass for the average Dutch school girl!

We set off on our bikes along with all the locals who are used to this weather!

 It was about 5.30 PM when we got to our bikes, said "goodbye" to Diane and then the rain really set in.  We had a wild but fun ride home in the pouring rain.  We were SO drenched that our shoes were full of water and rain was dribbling down inside our coats.  Hot showers and dry clothes soon fixed the problem once we got home.  And guess what!  By the time we had showered and I went out to put the clothes in the washing machine, it was sunny again!

Completely soaked but home safely!

Drenched!