Amsterdam - Day 2

So unfortunately, or fortunately, we scheduled our first activity a little early in the morning.  It was also a few miles from where we parked.  So I dropped off the crew, parked and made a run for it to make it in time. 

While I was parking and running, the boys were having a fabulous time climbing on the I Amsterdam sign!!

As you can see there was hardly anybody around at this time of the morning.

The first place that we went that morning was the Rijksmuseum.  This is the one  museum that my mom remembered going to when she was in Amsterdam a few years ago.  :-)  I loved this stained glass and always wonder how long it takes to build these.

What was really cool about this museum is that they had a family scavenger hunt.  So while Mom and Dad went around checking out the museum, the boys and I went on our scavenger hunt.  This was one of the first paintings that the scavenger hunt took us to was this one, The Merry Family by Jan Havicksz Steen.  If you look closely the dad is drinking, the grandma smoking, and the mother and grandmother chiming in singing with the dad.  If you look closely you can see the children drinking, smoking, and singing.  The moral of the story "As the old sing, so shall the young twitter."  Or in other words do you want your children mimicking what you do.

This is "Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue."  It is so popular because it depicts an adorable child dressed in her Sunday best.  As was the custom of the day, the young girl portrayed as a small adult lady.

Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, Known as the ‘Night Watch’, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1642.  Rembrandt’s largest, most famous canvas was made for the Arquebusiers guild hall. This was one of several halls of Amsterdam’s civic guard, the city’s militia and police. Rembrandt was the first to paint figures in a group portrait actually doing something. The captain, dressed in black, is telling his lieutenant to start the company marching. The guardsmen are getting into formation. Rembrandt used the light to focus on particular details, like the captain’s gesturing hand and the young girl in the foreground. She was the company mascot. There were two things interesting about this painting; one, they paid him lots of money to have them all standing in a line and looking good and Rembrandt painted what he saw inside people and two, if there is a fire or an emergency the floor opens up and the painting goes down.

This is The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer.  It was one that was on our scavenger hunt.  A maidservant pours milk, entirely absorbed in her work.  Except for the stream of milk, everything else is still.  Vermeer took this simple everyday activity and made it the subject of his painting.  He always has light coming in one from one direction.

The boys liking this suit of armor!

Don't forget the ships!!  They had to figure out which one was the best for certain types of sailing.

We found lighthouses and instantly thought of Great Grandma Mary, the boys said I had to take a picture for her!!

I told AJ not to pull the trigger.  LOL  He liked the old time guns.

And good news for AJ there was lots of old guns!

My boys were doing great on the scavenger hunt!!!  They were so happy about it, much better than "boring museum tours."

Part of the scavenger hunt was to figure out what this was used for back then.  I will give you a second to think about it.  It was used by females, when they are all dressed up and had to go to the bathroom, they just put this under the dress and peed.  They said they did not wear underwear so it was easier.

This pocket watch was so cool, it was for a rich person that you don't even have to look at it because it chimes different sounds for the minutes and hours.

This is a secret lock box.  You have to do three things in the correct order to open it.  And if you do open it then the circle moves one click so the owner knows how many times it has been opened and if somebody else opened it.

This is a collector's cabinet with miniature apothecary.  The small pots and bottles actually contain medicinal ingredients.  It is down to the tee.

The Threatened Swan by Jan Asseiijn.  A swan fiercely defends its nest against a dog.  In later centuries this scuffle was interpreted as a political allegory: the white swan was thought to symbolize the Dutch statesman Johan de Witt protecting the country from its enemies.

This is another painting about Rembrandt - The Wardens of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild Known as "the Syndics."  Rembrandt portrayed them looking up from their work, as though disturbed by our arrival.  This artistic device was a clever way of enlivening the scene and thereby involving the viewer.

This is Self-Portrait as the Apostle Paul by Rembrandt as well.  His brow furrowed and eyebrows arched, Rembrandt peers out at us meaningfully.  He has portrayed himself as the Apostle Paul, recognizable by the saint's attributes, a sward and a manuscript.  The boys finished the scavenger hunt, unscrambled the letters, and they both earned a prize at the gift store!!  They were very excited about it!!!

After we were done with the museum, the boys wanted to show me what they were doing with Grandma and Grandpa.  You can't tell too much here, but there were A LOT more people at this time of day.

This was really cool - they were painting a 3D photo on the ground!

Next we headed to the Van Gogh Museum.  Thankfully it wasn't too far away.  This museum also had a kids scavenger hunt - the boys were excited about it.  Almost too excited so Grandma had to go with one and I went with the other to keep an eye on them.  Vincent Van Gogh is on of the most famous artists of all time.  The hundreds of paintings and drawings that Van Gogh produced in a mere decade (1880-1890) made an enormous impact.  There are over 200 paintings, more than 500 drawings, and almost all of his letters in this museum.

These are self portraits by Vincent Van Gogh.  There were at least four self-portraits he did and all of them he painted different eye colors.

This is called The Potato Eaters.  According to Van Gogh, this is a true peasant painting ought to smell of bacon, smoke, and steaming potatoes, the simple meal shared by the entire family.

This is Garden with Courting Couples Square Saint-Pierre.  How many couples do you see.  When I first looked at it I only say two, but there are three couples in there.  It was really cool and I wouldn't have seen the other couple if the boys hadn't been doing the kids hunt.

This is The Harvest.  Out in the fields peasants work the land in the summer heat.  He did so many different types of paintings.  It was a really cool museum and the boys told us many fun facts.  When we headed out and needed to find some lunch.

Dad found us a great restaurant, outside and right next to the park.  Michael was having a great time!!!

AJ decided it looked like too much fun, so AJ decided he had to join!

While we were eating we heard a commotion and finally decided to go and check it out.  It was a group of young men performing and they were AMAZING!!!

Not just for their dancing, but they had a such a good script and were HILARIOUS!!!!!

This was them "counting" their tips and then they turned around, counted the crowd, and said that it didn't add up.  I was so glad we went over there to check it out.  We caught most of the show.

The finale was this gentleman doing a head spin with no helmet and on the cement.  He was amazing!!!  He stayed up there for quite awhile!

I love this bike!!  I am not sure how comfortable it would be though!

After lunch and a show, the boys asked if we could do the Heineken experience again.  They said Grandma and Grandpa had to do it!!  So I finally gave in and we bought tickets and headed over there.  One thing neat about this company is that when they first had bottles, they made them so they could be recycled to build houses.  They were a little a head of the time.

Listening on how beer is made with water, oats, etc.

AJ stirring up some beer.  Ok not really, but it looks like it.

Mom and Dad going through the taste testing, check out the color, foam, etc.

I think this is one of the reasons why they like this tour so much, there are a lot of interactive things to do.  They were making a video here.

Grandpa see how well of a beer pouring he is - he did pretty good too!!!

Michael winning the world cup!!!!

AJ's turn winning!!!

Then there was Foosball to play.  We couldn't pass that up!!!

As we arrived at the end of the tour  it was time to try another beer and of course pop for the boys and I since I was driving!

As we caught the hop on hop off boat, we were lucky because we had the ones with the table.  The boys were able to play some Kings in the Corner.

We saw all we wanted to see in Amsterdam so we headed back to the hotel for some more games!!  It was relaxing and we were able to sit down and enjoy.  We headed out a bit later for some dinner.  We had a little bit of a hard time finding the restaurant, but it was good food.  It was the end to another great vacation!!  We were able to see what I missed the last times we were there.  Ia m very happy with our trip and all we saw!!