July 5 - Dutch Masters and Suicycling Amsterdam

After our first night on the River Empress, we started what will become our ship board routine: Breakfast, tours/activities, lunch, tours/activities, cocktails, dinner rinse, and repeat.  (Occasionally there will be free time when your Ramblers will go to the fitness center, do laundry, or watch the landscape pass by.)

We started today with a tour of the Hermitage of Amsterdam, an affiliate of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. They have a large collection of paintings by Dutch Masters like Van Gogh and Rembrandt.  Amsterdam was a center (perhaps the center) of world power in the 16th and 17th centuries.  The trading wealth built by the Dutch made them bankers to the world as well as fearsome merchants. It was a very self-organized city at the the time with guardian organizations similar to fraternal groups. They liked to have themselves portrayed in portraits.

Hard to see here but the fellow in yellow (center) was particularly vivid

Lots of religious depictions of families

Fancy organ

Public Anatomy Lessons Were Quite the Draw (get it draw). I crack myself up.

After the museum tour we met our biking guides for the jokingly named (sort of) Suicycle Tour of Amsterdam. So implied by the stat that there are 50% more bikes in Amsterdam than people and bikes and scooters are everywhere. The rules of the road can be summed up in one statement: "let anarchy rule".  However, the system works surprisingly well and we never saw an accident, which is good because no one wears a helmet. The most dangerous part of the tour was our fellow tourists who were not very familiar with riding bikes, especially in crowds.  We had a wonderful time and it is a great way to see the city.

Our bike rental company. They exist all over and you can pick up and drop off a bike at any location

Fresh herring is "in". Dutch sushi.

Very good

Flag facts. Of all the red, white, and blue striped flags in the world, the Dutch flag is red on top with horizontal stripes.

This scene is typical on any street

A hidden courtyard behind a house facade

One of our biking guides

Bike parking at the central train station - the outside alternative

After all our biking and sightseeing, we headed back to the ship for a mid-afternoon departure.

The harbor of Amsterdam floats past

We went up on deck for awhile and watched the city fade away while the Dutch countryside emerged. After that, it was more wine and dinner.

See you tomorrow and as always blijven wandelen ("Keep on Rambling").