Oct 28 Sunday -- Amsterdam & Rijksmuseum

So here we are on our first full day in Amsterdam. Slept in really late and finally got out of the hotel around 10:30am. Had a late breakfast at a small cafe just south of the hotel. Donna and I shared an omelet which the Dutch seem to prefer stuffed into a long hard roll. We chose to eat it on the plate, but they offered no butter or jam, so the roll was a bit of a waste.

We went back to the hotel so I could Google Map our route to the Rijksmuseum, under renovation for the past 10-years and scheduled to reopen in 2013.  It has the largest collection of Rembrandt's and Vermeer's in the world, and while under renovation has on display some of the most famous of the paintings in a wing that is open to visitors.  The paintings on display are spectacular, including Rembrandt's famous The Nightwatch, an imposing and magnificent painting (1642) that justly deserves its praise and regard. We spent over two hours viewing the offerings and were disappointed only in the fact that only two Vermeeer's were on display, and one of them we saw in Seattle at the Vermeer Exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle. It would be worth a trip back when the museum reopens just to see the vast collection that was not on display.

We dined near the hotel at an exceptional fish restaurant, Lucius, just a block away. We had some of the best mussels I've tasted, these from Zeeland, an area in Holland as well as pickled herring, both as appetizers. I've never had such fresh herring, and the pickling was very mild. It was served with chopped onions and a tiny pickle which was all eaten together.







For our main courses, Donna had a plate of mixed poached fish in a heavy sauce, and I had three fillets of baby dover sole. Both were exceptional. We sat next to a man from Atlanta, Georgia who makes it his mision to eat at Lucius every time he comes to Amsterdam, which he seems to do regularly for business. We had a bottle of Domaine de Corbillieres Savignon Blanc by Touraine (2011) which was a highly drinkable wine, but not particuloarly memorable.

Night Watch