Amsterdam our Last Port

 Our cruise ended when we arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday, May 31. We arranged to stay at a hotel for three nights so we could do some sight seeing before we flew back across the pond. 

The cruise port is near the Central Train Station and about a half mile from our hotel. It was a beautiful morning, so we decided to walk to Central Station to purchase our transportation tickets and then on to our hotel. We were amazed at the number of bicycles in Amsterdam. We read there are over 600,000 bicycles in the inner canal zone.

The Singel Hotel, a 17th century canal house, with only 32 guest rooms,
was in a good proximity to the Central Station and sites around the city.

The hotel was simple and clean and included a European Continental
breakfast (meat, cheese, yogurt, pastry and coffee or tea) each morning.

Amsterdam has 165 canals and 1,300 bridges earning it
the name "Venice of the North"

Singel Floating Flower Market

Pictured on the left are the permanent floating flower stalls

Dam Square with 14th century Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)
and Town Hall

The always busy 1889 Central Station was the starting and
ending point of all trams and buses. 
This is also where we caught the train to the airport.

Westerkerk (West Church) is the final resting
 place of Rembrandt although no one knows exactly where.

Singel Canal

Rijksmuseum, a top Amsterdam museum, and one of the best
we have ever visited, is home to works of art by Rembrandt and
the Dutch masters as well as many other historical objects.
We spent an entire day exploring this vast museum containing 80 galleries.

Milkmaid, 1657
Johannes Vermeer

The Night Watch, 1642
Rembrandt

David Leeuw with his Family, 1671
Abraham van den Tempel

Portrait of Haesje Jacobsdr van Cleyburg, 1634
Brewer's Wife
Rembrandt

Elaborate Finely Detailed Doll House

 

We toured the Anne Frank House.
This was the hiding place of Anne Frank and her family
during Germany's occupation of Holland in WWII.

Rembrandt House
Where he worked, taught and lived 1639 to 1656.

 

Rembrandt was an art dealer as well as a painter.
This is the studio where clients could view and purchase
 paintings of Rembrandt's and his students.

Kitchen in the Rembrandt House

Commemorating Rembrandt's 400th birthday in 2006, a bronze-cast
representation of his most famous painting, The Night Watch

No visit to Amsterdam would be complete without
a canal boat tour.

Het Scheepvaartmuseum (Maritime Museum)
One of 60 museums in the city.