Being our 4th visit to the Netherlands, we thought this one would be at a slower pace. We had already ticked off the main sites on other occasions. How wrong were we.
Mr X had a date on the golf course with Mr P so that kept him busy for most of Day 1. Ms X had planned out her time as a solo-tourist, however she hadn’t factored in the 27000 steps she’d clock up in the process! 


Mr P won by the way. 

First up Ms X headed to the Rijksmuseum to check up on some old pals…. Vermeer and Rembrandt for a start. Trying to find ‘The Milkmaid’ proved difficult but Ms X soon found out that the old girl was visiting Paris. This Museum is an amazing place to visit just for the building alone. It’s magnificent. Ms X also made ‘temporary friends’ with an American lady as they both contemplated a painting done by a father of his 3 daughters centuries ago. Dear old dad knew that they weren’t lookers and tried to bring out a best feature in each. We both agreed dad had missed the mark. By a mile! There were brides being photographed and a mini-orchestral concert out the front so she did get good value from this visit.

Next stop was a very long walk into Dam Square to meet the Free Walking Tour.  When the tour guide asked the group to go and meet a stranger and introduce oneself, Ms X ended up with a Nat Science student from Eindhoven!!! Can’t quite understand what a Dutchman was doing on the tour??  Lots of interesting info and stops along the way on the 3 hour walking tour, which she proudly conveyed to Mr P over dinner that night at an Indonesian restaurant, Dutch style. 

Day 2 saw a visit to the Dutch Resistance Museum which was very interesting. The jury is still out on how much resistance was put up though. Mr P would argue that it was not enough for a museum.

Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder is a 17th-century canal house, house church, and museum in the city center of Amsterdam. The Catholic Church was built on the top three floors of the canal house during the 1660s when Catholic Churches were banned.  The place is so well preserved and amazing inside.


Mr X didn’t miss out on his bit of culture as Ms X had bought some tix to the Van Gogh museum. Considering that there was currently a Van Gogh exhibition back in Melbourne, then it made sense to see the real deal. Ask Mr X all your Vincent-questions as he’s an expert now. just don’t ask him about Starry starry night’ 


The couple of days were also enjoyed in a terrific Airbnb with our host, Nick providing us with hospitality in his little ‘cabin in the park’ at the entrance to Vondlepark (the city park)