Netherlands Days 2 & 3

We spent most of the second day just wandering around the city and taking in the sites.  We tried to go to the Anne Frank House but the line was all the way around the block so we decided not to go. As we were walking around, we found the Royal Delft Experience. In my research I had found out that Delftware is the traditional porcelain of Holland.  Since I love me some pretty china, we decided to stop in.  The Royal Delft is the only remaining factory that produces Delftware so it was pretty cool to step into that store and see all the lovely porcelain! I even picked up a little dish for myself. That gorgeous blue color gets me every time.

Next, we headed over to the Bloemenmarkt or flower market.  There were so many different kinds of bulb flowers, my mind was blown. I never knew there were so many different kinds of tulips let alone how many different plants came from bulbs. 

     

 

The next day, we decided to stay in a hostel which was very conveniently located in a part of the city we hadn't explored yet. We found the I Amsterdam sign and took our obligatory tourist photos along with everyone else. Van Gogh is my favorite artist so I had to check out that museum. Turns out you can't just walk into the Van Gogh museum without standing in an hour long line. So, we headed over to buy tickets for a specific time. When we were in line, we were approached by a nice Australian man inviting us to a pub crawl. Normally, we wouldn't be up for that kind of thing but when in Amsterdam right?

We found some very fitting graffiti!

To kill time in between when I got my ticket and the actual time to go into the museum, we headed to a famous street market called Albert Cuyp Markt. It sells a wide variety of items and was a fun way to pass the time. I ended up getting a dress and Sheena got a skirt. Then, I headed back to see the Van Gogh museum.

  

 

  

  

A lot of my favorite paitnings of his are in other museums but there were a lot of interesting stories about his life and career to make up for it. I did see a couple of paintings I didn't know that became some of my favorites like the windmill one up top and the wheat field painting above on the bottom right. 

At the end of the day, we headed out to the pub crawl. We ended up deciding between 2 different ones and picked the one that was smaller. Could have been a bad choice but we had fun anyway. That was the end of our time in Amsterdam! We got up the next morning and headed off to Brugge and Brussels! Stay tuned for those photos coming up soon.