Van Gogh Museum and a Boat Cruise

This was Van Gogh museum day, but it also turned out to be exploring downtown Amsterdam and boat cruise day. Once again, our day started early, with a bus ride, then trolley to Museumplein. Museumplein is park or area in the city surrounded by several museums. Those museums, mostly art museums, feature the Riksmuseum, Moco Museum, Van Gogh Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum.

In Search of Breakfast

We made our way through the Museumplein park, down a few blocks, across a canal, and to the Bakers & Roasters restaurant. The restaurant was only blocks from the museum and it had great reviews, making it an easy choice. Unfortunately, when we got there and checked in with their QR code, we instantly realized we would not have enough time to wait. Thankfully, we found another little pancake restaurant only a few blocks away.

Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum

After breakfast, we walked the few blocks back to Museumplein park finding our way to the entrance of the Van Gogh museum. Like many of the other museums, the museum was sold out for the day. Thankfully, we pre-purchased tickets in advance! There were no lines at the entrance, so we swiftly checked-in and headed down into the main entrance to pick up our audio guides.

We started our tour in a small gallery on the first floor. Most of the works were Van Gogh’s self portraits along with a select few of his early works depicting urban life. We learned that Van Gogh painted self portraits as a way to practice his paint technique and play with colors.

Van Gogh’s Self Portraits:

Van Gogh’s Urban Life:

As we made our way up to the second and third floors, we saw more of his works and life during the short decade he was painting. The fourth floor displayed some of his more popular works, but also his later works and detailed history of his health decline. In addition the fourth floor also included his last few painting from when he was institutionalized, as well as, a gallery of the letters he exchanged with his brother.

Sadly, after leaving the hospital, he took his life shortly after. His brother’s health declined and he passed away within a year of Vincent Van Gogh. His brother’s wife and his nephew, Vincent (named after him) carried on his legacy by founding the Van Gogh museum.

Van Gogh’s Popular Paintings and other pieces

Lunch Break after the Van Gogh Museum

After leaving the museum, we were quite overwhelmed and exhausted. It was well past noon, so next on the order for the day was lunch.

We found the Blushing Cafe just around the corner from the museum. Blushing featured low fat, low carb, breakfast and lunch options along with healthy smoothies and juices. I opted for the Chai Chai Latte rather than a juice or smoothie, but I paired it with the healthy Kinky Quina Salad. It was so delicious!

Downtown Amsterdam and a Boat Cruise

The Royal Delft Store

Our remaining day was open to exploring, so we started off on foot toward city center of downtown Amsterdam. We easily found the Royal Delft store in the city center. We walked through the lower level to view the pre-printed pieces and Delft souvenirs. For fun we also went upstairs to see the really expensive hand-painted pieces and their studion for classes.

Although, classes were not available that day, I did pick up information about their hand-painted tile class. They offer Delft workshops led by professional Delft blue painters weekly at each of their three locations in the Netherlands. A fun activity for my next trip to Amsterdam!

Anne Frank’s house

As we continued on, we thought we would try to see the Anne Frank house and museum. Unfortunately, the museum was sold out, not only for the day, but to whole entire month. This did not stop us from going around the corner to find the house and take a picture of the front door.

A Boat Cruise

Anne Frank’s house is located on a canal in a busy part of the downtown Amsterdam. We noticed that there were many boat cruises in the area and found one right in front of the house. We found the little boat cruise storefront/restaurant next door and asked if they could fit us later that afternoon. They were pretty full, having only a few seats, so we were advised to go straight to the captain on the docked boat. Though he was on his lunch break, he was happy to help us. Amazingly, he was able to fit us in on the next cruise.

We got in the boat cruise sitting across from a lovely Dutch couple with their dog. The windows on top of the boat were open and the sky was warm for the entire cruise. The route was completely different than the boat cruise we took last August, so we were able to admire different landmarks and canals.

Dinner and heading Back

After the cruise we decided on pizza for dinner. Only a few blocks away we found La Perla Pizzeria. Luckily, they were able to fit us in before the rush and we enjoyed our pizza with wine and beer.

We were tuckered out with all the walking, so we made our way to closest Metro station and to the hotel. A movie, late night snacks, and off to sleep to get ready for our final day in Amsterdam.

Read about the first and second days of the trip, Short Get Away to Amsterdam and Netherland’s Tulipfest!. Be sure to check tomorrow for my final post about this trip.