Europe Day 13: Amsterdam

April 26 was an interesting day...after breakfast we took the train to Amsterdam and stored our bags in a train station locker.

Our first sight of the day was the Van Gogh Museum.  Based on the line crawling around the block when we arrived at opening time, we were really glad for our pre-purchased reservations that got us right in!  We both really enjoyed the museum, and again agreed that Van Gogh's works are just so much better in person!  I like how he used a lot of paint - layering it on to add depth to his works.  Some of my favorites are Almond Branch, Irises, Sunflowers, and a garden scene. 

After the museum we grabbed lunch at an outdoor cafe, one of the things we really liked about Europe, then wandered around for a while trying to figure out where we were going.  We saw some interesting sights along the way...

Bikes!!!

The Heineken cart

Amsterdam definitely has some charming buildings, but street names change constantly and with all the canals navigating can be a challenge.  We happened upon a church in our wanderings, which was nice to sit in for a few minutes, then finally found the dock at Spui and took a canal cruise which was fun and relaxing, and we learned some interestings things about the buildings and city.

The "hooks" at the top of each peak were/are for lifting furniture up and through the windows of each level...the stairs are too narrow to carry it up!

A city of canals...so interesting!

Next up was the Anne Frank House.  Rather sobering to walk through the actual rooms where the poor family hid for their lives before finally being reported and carted off to concentration camps.  Only the father survived.  So sad.

Dinner was next on our agenda, so we found a spot relatively close to the train station and chowed down, then spur-of-the-moment decided to get 30-minute foot massages at one of the little shops we'd passed.  Excellent decision that our feet thanked us fervently for!  Then we headed back to the train station, gathered our bags, and found our overnight train to Italy.

We found overnight trains an efficient way to cut out a whole day of traveling, but not the most efficient means of a good night's sleep.