Monthly Archives: June 2018

Rijks Museum, The Night Watch, The River Queen in Amsterdam, Uncategorized

The Rijks Museum, a festive dinner and on to Cologne (Koln)

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After a pleasant night in our small but comfy suite, we were ready for the morning’s tour to the Rijks Museum. The Ramblers had never explored Amsterdam on their other stops, and their attempts to see things on their own this time had mixed results.  The senior Rambler grumbled about taking this Uniworld tour. He is not a big fan of art museums, despite spending a good bit of his working life as a commercial artist. He was talked into going, when I pointed out, he didn’t have to go inside if he didn’t want and the museum had a beautiful garden. True to his word, he didn’t go inside, although I think he would have enjoyed it. I know i did.

Sometimes ships are docked far away from the city, this time we were docked within walking distance of the city.

As a life long student of history, this Rambler has toured many museums and the Rijks Museum is one of the most beautiful I have visited. Even before entering a visitor can’t help but appreciate the  newly restored exterior, white tuck pointing gleaming in the sun. The one complaint most visitors seemed to have was that it was hard to determine just where the entrance was, so they wandered around a bit. However, the Ramblers didn’t realize this until later as we had special access and didn’t have to wait in line to enter but walked right in. This was a plus as more than 2 million people visit the Rijks museum every year and it can be very crowded.  Luckily this was not the case when we visited as we were able to get quite close to the major Dutch masters and never felt crowded.

The Rijks Museum, from the road. As we arrived by bus, we had no chance to wander around outside.

You may wonder why the Netherlands, a small densely populated country has such a major collection of art? Well, the Dutch were a major naval power with trading posts all over the world in the 17th century,  their golden age.  Unfortunately, they eventually  lost out to the British and the Dutch Republic was even  ruled by Napoleon  for a time. Nevertheless, the Dutch did not lose their sense of identity nor their pride in their golden age art of art and architecture. Unlike most of Europe at this time, the great works of art by Dutch Masters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, et al., were owned by wealthy  stadtholders, officials appointed to keep order in the provinces . Most of them were fiercely republican and not from the aristocracy, although there were exceptions.  The public museums that we take for granted today began to appear at the end of the 18th century and the Dutch thought a national museum like the recently opened Louvre, would be good for the country. Some  stadtholders then allowed their cherished paintings to be  displayed at the new museum.

Noticed this gentleman copying some of the details from one of the paintings.

Thus the precursor to the Rijks Museum opened in May of 1800 as the National Art Gallery in The Hague. When Napoleon established the Kingdom of Holland in 1806, the museum was moved to Amsterdam and paintings then owned by the city, such as the Night Watch were exhibited there. The exhibits of paintings and art objects were moved several more times until  a new building was constructed in 1874. It would be decorated inside and outside with references to Dutch history. This building which opened in 1885 became the Rijks Museum. However, over a century later, it needed some refurbishment and in 2003, the main building was closed for a total renovation. Some 400 of the most famous artifacts were displayed in the wing next door until the Rijks Museum re-opened in November 2014. The renovation took over a decade to complete and cost 375 M Euros, but the money and time was well spent. The interior glows with light and the center atrium gives the museum a spaciousness not often found in museums. Not surprisingly, over 2 million people a year have visited it.  After the renovation, the most famous Golden Age paintings were grouped in the Hall of Fame, anchored by the most famous of them all, The Night Watch. This makes it easy to see some of the greatest Dutch masters in a relatively short time.

Our guide, Aida, giving us the background of a painting, the art student/copyist, is standing the the left.

Thus  the senior Rambler was left to wander around outside, and with hopes I would find him when we were done with the tour. I joined the Gentle Walkers group in the atrium where we met our guide Aida. The guides at the Rijks Museum are a very highly trained bunch who have considerable understanding of art. Aida was extremely knowledgeable and easy to understand and made our visit very pleasant. We  of course, had limited time in the museum so Aida led us on one of the special tours for groups like our Uniworld bunch.

Here we viewed Rembrandt’s most famous work, The Night Watch.

We were able to see some of the Netherlands’ greatest paintings in the Hall of Fame, which probably pleased the majority of the tourists. This Rambler, however, wished she had more time to check out more of the galleries, especially the arms and armor and ship models. However, Aida provided us with a delightful hour’s worth of knowledge about the Dutch masters of the Golden Age. The paintings were indeed masterworks.

The Night Watch is big but this painting which hung on a side wall, was much larger.

We learned that The Night Watch was actually not a night scene but had been  coated with a dark varnish which was since removed. It is justly famous for its large size, 11.91 x 14.34 ft., its wonderful use of light  and shadow and the life and motion that Rembrandt has given what was a portrait of a military company. It has been vandalized several times. In 1911, it was slashed with a shoemaker’s knife, by a bread knife in 1975; although it was restored, some evidence of the damage is still visible. Finally in 1990, it was sprayed with acid. However this time, the guard quickly sprayed water on the acid and no serious damage resulted.

Feeling very cultured, I located the senior Rambler and we headed for our bus. We had quite a long walk past dozens of busses which had arrived after ours. It was obvious that the attendance figures for the Rijks Museum had not been exaggerated and it was a good thing we had an early special entry.

House built into one of the bridges, note the heron perched next to the window. Quite the water view but not so good during a flood.

Back on board the River Queen, we watched the crew get ready for our departure. They worked in precise order to lift the gang plank and move it into its travel position, lines were cast off and we said good-by to Amsterdam.  Sometimes river cruisers sail at night if the landscape is not interesting but this time there was much to see. First the outskirts of Amsterdam, with many quaint buildings and finally into the country side where windmills still turned in the distance. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we lingered on deck to watch the countryside scenery flow past.

Sailing through the Dutch countryside, in the distance you can see one of the many windmills that dot the landscape.

Eventually we headed to our cabin to change. Tonight was the Captain’s Welcome Dinner, with a meet and greet before hand in the lounge. Our Captain for this trip, Hendrick Fennema, was a tall, lanky Dutchman, one of the most out-going and personable we have encountered on our Uniworld cruises. He would always be visible and approachable during the cruise which we all appreciated. We also formally met our Cruise Manager, Tabea Bramberger, another very important person on any cruise. Young and pretty, we found she was also an accomplished organizer and tour guide. It looked like the Ramblers would be in good hands as we cruised towards Basel.

Amsterdam's canals, Stach Amsterdam Nieuwendijk, Stubbe's Haring, The Bulldog Coffee Shop

Finally on board the River Queen, after another day in Amsterdam

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Because we had to change hotels for our free night at the Renaissance Marriott, the Ramblers didn’t plan any activities for our last day in Amsterdam. Instead, we decided to take a look at the area around the hotel. The Marriott is on a narrow side street which was close to yet another canal, and an open square with food stands but sadly, no places to sit down. The Marriott was also close to the famous or infamous Red Light District and several coffee shops including the Bulldog. For those who might not know, coffee shops serve marijuana which is legal in Amsterdam, not coffee.

Very close to our hotel on the other side of the canal was the famous or infamous Bulldog Coffee shop.

Our youngest son, then a graduate student at the University of Georgia, visit Europe for the first time shortly after 9/11; his rationale was that it was probably the safest time to go as security was very tight. He had wanted to experience New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam so he booked a stay at the Bulldog Hostel. This turned out to be a bad idea, but that is another story. We were surprised to find that the Bulldog was just a short distance from our hotel, tho we did not visit it.

The groom in formal tails valiantly pedaling around the square, somewhat hampered by the large pink balloon which always got in his way.

We also had a chance to see some wedding fun. A wedding party had stayed at the hotel, and after the ceremony, it seemed to be a tradition for the groom to pedal his bride around the square in a wheelbarrow cart. This was not so easy because of the cobblestones and uneven pavement. He almost dumped his pretty blonde wife onto the pavement several times, much to the amusement of the bystanders.  The Ramblers noted that Amsterdam seemed to have more than its share of tall, slim, blond and attractive young men and women.

The famous herring stand, not too busy at the moment. They only do serve herring.

The Ramblers also checked out the nearby restaurants. Probably the most famous was Stubbe’s Haring stand. They mainly served haring (herring) in several ways, which has been a traditional Dutch food for generations. However, I had been forced to eat pickled herring at home when I was a child and developed a strong dislike for it. Therefore although I am usually game to try local specialties, herring did not fall into that category. Stubbe’s is supposed to be one of the two top places to experience this Dutch treat in Amsterdam, but the stand near the canal has recently closed, although they still have another location in the city.

Our friendly proprietress who did everything efficiently. The sandwiches and cakes were delicious. It wasn’t crowded only because most people wanted to eat outside on a nice day.

We finally settled on a small place called Stach staffed by one smiling young woman, who efficiently ran the place. Everything looked fresh and tasty and the senior Rambler didn’t even realize that he was eating at healthy food restaurant or that his cake was gluten free. LOL

After a good nights sleep, we gathered our bags and headed downstairs to wait for the Uniworld bus. We thought we would wait outside, so the senior Rambler could have a smoke. It is ironic that you see almost as many people smoking marijuana as you do conventional cigarettes, easy to tell as they look sort of lumpy. While we were outside, the Uniworld rep was looking for us inside and we were finally located just as the bus arrived. The River Queen was docked not very far away, on the Rhine, and we were happy to board our new home for more than a week. For the first time, I had booked an suite, and we would get a lot of ribbing about it from our new friends on board.

A beautiful orchid awaited our arrival in the suite

The River Queen only has four suites; they are not huge like those on ocean cruises but very well fitted out. They also come with a butler wearing formal butler garb. This was a new experience for the Ramblers. The Uniworld butlers go to the same training as those who work for the British Royal family. No doubt we didn’t take full advantage of our butler as he always wanted to do more for us. We found a beautiful orchid waiting for us in our suite, a very nice welcome.

After checking out the cabin and meeting our butler, we headed up on deck to watch the river traffic.

The Celebrity Silhouette heading out to sea, guided by a tug. It dwarfed the River Queen and other river cruisers docked nearby.

The River Queen was docked on the Rhine rather than a canal. The river is deep enough here so that large ocean going vessels also dock there. We were somewhat startled to see the Celebrity Silhouette glide by. It made the River Queen look very small as it headed out to sea. The Uniworld ships are always polished and spotless. The River Queen was no exception even though it had the look of an old-time river cruiser. One of the staff, polished the ship’s bell before we left port.

A member of the hotel staff polishing the ship’s bell before we left port.

We would spend one night on board in Amsterdam before starting to wend our way towards Basel. Of course, our day included both a tour of the Rijksmuseum and another canal cruise. The canal cruise was first, and we saw some entirely different views of Amsterdam from the water that morning. We began to appreciate just how important the canals were to the the citizens of Amsterdam. The oldest one, Singel, acted as a moat around the city. The three main canals, Herengracht, the gentleman’s canal Prinsengracht, the princes, canal and Keizersgracht, the Kaiser’s canal, were dug in the 17th century during the Golden Age of the Netherlands. They form concentric belts around the city and are lined with more than a thousand  historic buildings. There are many canals; some wide and busy and some quiet and dreamy. At least one connects to the Rhine as we found out that morning on our canal tour. In all, there are more than 100 kilometers of canals (60 miles worth) and a total of 165 canals, 1,500 bridges and many islands. Amsterdam is considered with good reason, the Venice of the North.

Perhaps the most bizarre thing we learned about the Amsterdam canals is that their murky waters are a repository for unwanted bicycles

Searching for bicycles in the murky water

. So much so, that the city has  teams of workers who search the murky water for bicycles and other other unwanted items. and remove their rusting remains. It is said that between 13,000 and 15,000 bicycles are dumped into the canals during a year. Some were stolen, a few were unwanted but most seem to end up in the water because of hooliganism. If you have to leave your bike outdoors, it is a necessity to chain it to an immovable object. About a car a day also ends up in the canals, and  surprisingly to us, there are many sunken boats under the water which have to be removed.

A barge full of rusting bicycles; all will go to the scrapyard.

Sometimes people end up in the water as well, although the canals are not suitable for swimming at the moment. The  3 meter deep canals have a muddy, debris filled bottom. The Dutch are working to improve the water quality but from what the Ramblers observed, it will take a while. Amsterdam is also the only city that has four divers on call 24/7 to removed unwanted objects from the canals.

In the winter, after a prolonged cold snap, many of the canals freeze over and the Dutch skate on them as they have done for centuries.