Day 38 - Impasto

First on the agenda today was the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.

It was very nice. We saw some excellent Vermeers including the Milk Maid and the Letter Reader. We also saw one of Rembrandt's most famous works - the Night Watch. It is incredible! I really enjoyed this museum.

During lunch, we went to the Diamond Museum. I wish we had more time there because all the signs were in English and it was very interesting, but we did not have very much time. C'est la vie.

In a room shaped like the inside of a diamond. Pretty awesome.

On the ceiling.

In the center of the room. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

We finished early so we took some pictures by the I amsterdam sign.

Then we went to go find the Van Gogh museum. Only we got lost. Bad news. We ended up circling a huge block only to discover that the museum was very close to where the diamond museum is. Great haha. We ended up only being a little bit late after we booked it there so it was not too bad. We took a bunch of notes on Van Gogh then looked at his works. It was so cool to see the impasto and the choppy brushstrokes up close. An absolutely necessary experience if you want to truly understand his works (Now go tell the Dean that so he won't cut this study abroad!) After we wandered around there, we went upstairs to talk about modern art. It was cool. We saw Monet, Seurat, and more.

Then several of us went to the Blooming market, which is the flower market in Amsterdam. It was so fun. I was able to take lots of pictures there to make up for the lack of pictures from the museums.

I wanted to bring home tulip bulbs so bad but I'm pretty sure that customs would not allow that!

It is Amsterdam after all...

Then we wandered around for a bit, making sure to skirt the center of the city. We went into a couple souvenir shops and finally found Dutch flags! Hooray! The collection is almost complete. Then we headed back to the hotel and chilled for a bit. We watched the last half of what I think was Duplicity. It did not make any sense. Then I went back to my room and packed for Belgium.