On our final (half) day in Amsterdam, we decided to do the really touristy things like visit museums. In this respect, we had a 3 hour window to cram in The Diamond Museum, The Van Gogh Museum, and the Rijksmuseum - entry to these are free when you purchase the I amsterdam card.
Of these three, I'd probably say I enjoyed the Diamond Museum the best, which surprised me given my (alternative) past as an Art Historian! It follows diamonds from their creation billions of years ago in the Earth's core to being pushed to the surface in magma/lava flows, mining, use in society, jewellery, etc. It was REALLY interesting! There was a supercheesy thing at the end where you could make a photo with a famous diamond-encrusted crown onto your head and email it to a friend. I tried to put the Russian Imperial Crown on my head but we couldn't figure out how to do the emailing so here's a photoshop attempt :P
Regarding the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseums, they are both quite good but I guess the AH background was what actually stopped me from enjoying them so much? As much as I enjoy looking at a Van Gogh, especially his later works with more colour, I can't help thinking that a lot of his popularity is not so much derived from the works themselves inasmuch as people regard him as the archetypal misunderstood genius. Cult of the celebrity if you will. I couldn't help thinking that his works are not really that technically proficient nor exhibit subject complexity. I'm probably being a snob here. But the colours are nice :D. The Rijksmuseum doesn't suffer from that analysis from me. It's packed full of excellent masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, particularly Rembrandt and Vermeer. But...it was so small! It is being renovated though (since 2003, according to Wikipedia) so perhaps a substantial part of the collection is in storage or on loan.
And so, that was nearly the end of our trip as we picked up our luggage from the B&B and headed back to Centraal Station to catch a train back to Schiphol. But hang on - there is one last thing you need to know! Much to Amandine's disgust, I managed to get a raw herring fillet and eat it in a bun with pickles and raw onions.
Two views of the bun, also a demonstration of having the wrong settings for the camera on my phone.
Despite it's somewhat haggard appearance, I thought it was pretty good! But then, I am a bit of a food viking...
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