We heard from the airline on Tuesday morning that Opa's suitcase had arrived. So instead of heading straight into Amsterdam, we first went to the airport to get Opa's bags. Then we took the train from the airport into downtown Amsterdam...
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Like so many other travellers we arrived into Amsterdam at the Centraal Station. We walked down the main street, the Damrak, to the Dam Square because we knew the Royal Palace was open for tours. It is only open infrequently, so we took advantage of the opportunity. |
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The Royal Palace on Dam Square was originally built as a City Hall in 1648. It became a Royal Palace during the Napoleonic period but was returned to the city later. Not until this century did the city of Amsterdam turn it over to the National Government for use as a Palace. It is used by the Queen when she has official duties which take her to this Capital city. The walls and floors inside are all made of Italian marble. It is amazing to think that they had to bring it in stone by stone by sailboat! |
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Here's Krista walking through the painting exhibit in the Amsterdam Historical Museum. The paintings are of the various civic guard groups, similar to Rembrandt's Nightwatch! These paintings are by lesser known painters but similar in size and subject. It's interesting to realize that these are all early relatives... |
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Deep within the City, and off the tourist path is a small courtyard where novices (nun wannabees) lived at one time. Most of these houses were built in the early 1600's, and they're all still in good repair. We liked these steps filled with geraniums. |
| On Wednesday we headed off in the car for a trip to the center of the country to the Kröller-Müller museum. They have a beautiful sculpture garden and quite a few paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Berlynn's favorite artist. We also saw some paintings by Mondriaan, Seurat and Sisley. A very nice museum, not crowded, but not on the tourist path either. |  |
| Since we were so close, and since earlier this summer we went to the town where Berlynn spent summers with her grandparents, we went to Laag Soeren, where I spent summers with my Oma and Opa. We were able to find their house without a problem, and walked around and took a few pictures. The dirt road on the left, led to the farm where we got the eggs, and I rode on a tractor. I must have been six years old when I was last here! |  |
| The house didn't change very much in almost forty years. They've added a roof over the back porch, the thatch roof still needs repair, Krista spotted the pond where my Opa had goldfish, and his vegetable garden is still there. No sign of the chicken coop though. |  |
There are more pictures on page four of our trip.
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