4:30am wake up was early indeed. My host warned me that the taxi would be exactly on time, therefore so must I, which I would have been had I not been locked between the street door and the lobby door! I felt horrible but I had to ring the landlady at 4:55am to let me out!! She obviously had been through this before because she didn’t even ask, she just came right down with her keys.

No issues with the taxi nor flight to Amsterdam, and I arrived at 9:30am – I’ve got the whole day ahead of me! I misplaced my research for this leg of my trip, I probably decided it was too much paperwork to be carrying, so instead of trying to find the bus as I had intended I took easy route by hopping on a train to Amsterdam Centraal station. The only issue with that is that is was a long walk to my hostel and my backpack was very heavy. I took my time, window-shopping, photo-taking, and being jostled by the busy tourists and locals all going somewhere. Luckily my hostel is on a quiet street away from the busiest area so hopefully I’ll get a good sleep tonight.

It was too early to check-in, so I left my pack and strolled down to Museumplein (Park) as I’ve reservations this afternoon at both the Rijksmuseum to see the special 350th Anniversary show on Rembrandt and the Van Gogh / David Hockney exhibit at the V.G. Museum.

My 1pm entry to the Rembrandt show was prime time for visitors. Lots of people trying to see little pictures in small rooms.

The exhibition was mostly walls and walls of his etchings, there were some of his paintings but what was special about this showing was that so many of the prints were so fragile they might not ever be shown again, so I wanted to make the effort to see them.

I didn’t have much time to see much else of the Rijksmuseum as I had a 4pm date with Vincent but fortunately they have a “Gallery of Honor”, so I could whip around and catch some Rubens, Vermeer and the Night Watch all in one room.

The special exhibit at the V.G. Museum was “Hockney & Van Gogh, The Joy of Nature” which was ending on Sunday. I didn’t know much about Hockney other than his California pool pop art but he’s actually British and returned to Yorkshire to paint it in Spring, eventually staying 9 years, painting all the seasons. Like Van Gogh he felt he saw beauty in the ordinary places in nature and so the museum put on show with some of their work side by side. I took a couple sneaky pics before I realized you weren’t allowed to; I really liked his stuff. Very colorful, very evocative. Some were huge prints of his paintings done on an iPad paint app(!) and they had a video showing of two iPad paintings being created, just like an Etch-O-Sketch. Fascinating.

I’d seen the VG museum years ago but it’s changed quite a bit with different art being displayed. He only painted for about 10 years so in the chronological layout you really can see the evolution of his work. No pics unfortunately.

I think my legs and feet are more tired from shuffling around two museums than doing a big day on the Camino! I felt better on the walk back but whew, next Camino I’m definitely packing light!

My hostel is a Christian Hostel, meaning no drugs or booze(!) allowed. I’m good with the former but lament the latter. A nice glass of wine would have made a perfect nightcap. The place looks like a high school, all metal lockers and big white bathrooms and such. I’m in a 6-bunk room with a just gal from California and her mother, so that’s cool. At the prices Amsterdam charges for accommodation I’m happy to be here!