Amsterdam: Day 2

As seems to be normal when I´m left alone I didn´t leave the house till 11am this morning! Not that it mattered when everything is so close by.

I walked to the Rijksmuseum, and having pre-purchased my ticket online (Thanks Nat!) I bypassed the enormous queue and went straight in. I´m not a huge fan of art galleries - personally I find them tedious - but this one was fantastic. Partly because it was small (only one wing is currently open) but predominantly because the layout is not by artist, but rather historically/thematically. Thus the paintings had context and were much better for it, IMHO.

After lunch at Museumplein, the big square outside the Rijks- and Van Gogh Museums, I headed into town for the Amsterdam Historische Museum (AHM) to find out more about the town´s past. It´s a fascinating story, revolving mostly around the canals and land reclamation. In that regard Amsterdam shares a lot with Singapore. The most interesting part of that museum for me though was the Anne Frank exhibition. AHM isn´t the Anne Frank House, so the focus was instead on her letters and in particular those ones that didn´t make the book. They gave a great insight into life for Dutch Jews before WW2 broke out.

The final museum I visited was the Church Museum, located in a secret Catholic Church in the middle of Amsterdam´s infamous Red Light District. The District itself is one of those things visitors kinda have to do, but I did it begrudingly. Along with many Dutch I see it as a sad inditement on society that such a place continues to exist. I guess every city has its ugly side, but for it to be a tourist attraction is kinda wrong. And it´s just so ... well ... public. Everything, and I mean everything, is on display.

But onto the Church Museum - built when practicing Catholicism was banned in the Netherlands, it´s an amazing display of ingenuity under pressure, and well worth a visit.

My final touristy act in Amsterdam was to take one of the ubiqituous canal tours, which was surprisingly good. The commentary, in true Dutch style, was quad-lingual with English coming last. Thus when we were told about things, they were usually past us!

And there you have it, Amsterdam in two days without once visiting a ´cafe´ or getting stoned!

PS: For photos of Amsterdam, click here