• The Rijksmuseum

• Rijksmuseum entrance

• Great Hall of the Rijksmuseum

• Mosaic floor in the Great Hall

• Gallery of Honor in the Rijksmuseum with Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' as the focal point at the far end

• Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, 'Night Watch' - 1662

• Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, 'The Wardens of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild, known as 'The Syndics'' - 1662

• Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, 'The Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis' - 1661-1662

• Floris Claesz van Dijck, 'Still Life with Cheese' - c. 1615

• Johannes Vermeer, 'The Milkmaid' - c. 1660

• Johannes Vermeer, 'Woman Reading a Letter' - c. 1663

• Hendrick Avercamp, 'Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters' - c. 1608

• Hendrick Avercamp, 'Enjoying the Ice near a Town' - c. 1620

• Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael, 'Landscape with Waterfall' - c. 1668

• Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael, 'The Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede' - c. 1668-1670

• Meindert Hobbema, 'A Watermill' - c. 1664

• David Teniers, 'Peasant Kermis' - c. 1665

• Frans Hals, 'Portrait of a Man' - c. 1635

• Frans Hals, 'Portrait of a Woman'- c. 1635

• Vincent van Gogh, 'Carafe and Dish with Citrus Fruit' - 1887

• Vincent van Gogh, 'Self-portrait' - 1887

• Vincent van Gogh, 'Undergrowth' - 1887

• Joseph Constantin Gabriel, 'Windmill on a Polder Waterway' - 1889

• The Rijksmuseum from the garden side

• There was a long line and wait to tour the Anne Frank House. It was worth the wait.

• Westerkerk (Western Church) is a Reformed Church within the Dutch Protestant Church

• Because stairways are narrow to prioritize living space, furniture is moved in and out through windows.

• Building facades were often intentionally tilted forward to make them look larger from the pedestrian's point of view. This facade also illustrates the neck-shaped gable.

• Leaning buildings are a common sight in Amsterdam. This results from shifting or decay of the wooden pilings that were used as foundations.

• The Royal Palace, originally the City Hall, is on the left. The carnival is part of the King's Day celebration.

• The entrance to the Amsterdam Museum really is tilted, due to the shifting of the foundation that consists of wooden pilings sunken into the layers of mud and sand.

• The modern entrance to the Amsterdam Museum. This museum provides an excellent history of Amsterdam.

• A bit of fun inside the Amsterdam Museum

• Muntoren, the Mint Tower

• The flower market

• The Stadsschouwburg, a theater and the former home of the National Ballet and Opera

• The Stedelijk Museum of modern art

• Willem de Kooning, 'Rosy-Fingered Dawn at Louse Point' - 1963

• Willem de Kooning, 'North Atlantic Light' - 1977

• Vincent van Gogh, 'Two Peasants Digging' - 1889

• Vincent van Gogh, 'Kitchen Gardens on Montmarte' - 1887

• Wassily Kandinsky, 'Painting with Houses' - 1909

• A provocative comment on the Kandinsky painting shown in the previous photo.

• Wassily Kandinsky, 'Improvisation 33 (Orient I)' - 1913

• Piet Mondriaan, 'Windmill' - c. 1917

• Piet Mondriaan, 'Tableau III: Composition in Oval' - 1914

• Piet Mondriaan, 'Composition with Blue, Yellow, Red, Black, and Gray' - 1922

• Piet Mondriaan, 'Composition with Yellow, Red, Black, Blue, and Gray' - 1920

• Pablo Picasso, 'Nude in Front of a Garden' - 1956

• Pablo Picasso, 'Guitar, Compote Dish and Grapes' - 1924

• Pablo Picasso, 'Seated Woman with Fish Hat' - 1942

• Constant, 'Bird's Idyll' - 1948

• Karel Appel, 'Sun, Beast and Man' - 1950

• George Hendrick Breitner, 'Dam Square' - 1898 or later

• Rut Bryk, 'White Mountain' - 1970

• The van Gogh Museum is one of several museums bordering the park-like Museumplein.

• Doug in the van Gogh Museum. This is the only place in the museum where photos are permitted.

• The Red Light District is a somewhat 'seedy' part of Amsterdam.

• In the Red Light District

• The Scheepvaarthuis (Shipping House) is a prime example of the Amsterdam School of Architecture. Architects: Johan van der Mey, Michel de Klerk, Piet Kramer. It is now the Amrath Hotel.

• Old warehouses along the Amsterdam harbor now provide mixed income housing.

• Scheepvaarthuis (Amsterdam School) and St. Nicholas Church across the harbor

• NEMO Science Museum

• A private yacht docked at the National Maritime Museum

• The National Maritime Museum

• The Maritime Museum's galleries surround a courtyard.

• The skylight over the courtyard of the National Maritime Museum

• A replica of the East Indiaman 'Amsterdam'. The speed of these ships was a key to the Dutch dominating sea trade with Indonesia and Japan in the 18th century.

• Kathryn and Brian on board a replica of the East Indiaman 'Amsterdam'.

• In the ship's bar

• Reconstruction of an 18th century admiralty yacht, built according to traditional methods between 1997 and 2003 on the basis of original drawings dating from 1746.

• The Royal Barge

• A panorama of Amsterdam from the Doubletree Skylounge

• St. Nicholas Church and Weepers' Tower (center foreground, left of church)

• The ferris wheel is part of the carnival at Dam Square. The spire is the Oude Kerk (Old Church)

• Amsterdam - April 2016

• Our canal boat tour departed from near Central Station

• Central Station from the canal boat

• Seven-bridge view

• Bicycle parking is free in Amsterdam

• Parking is difficult in Amsterdam. Small cars are relatively common.

• Entrance to the De Papegaai Hidden Church (Church in the Attic)

• A view inside the Church in the Attic

• A view of the Old Church from an upper window in the Church in the Attic

• The Old Church

• The first coffee shop in Amsterdam, The Bulldog, an unofficial historic landmark

• Wynand Fockink is a noted jenever (gin) distillery in Amsterdam. We sampled three of their many flavors (one each!). The Dutch are credited with inventing gin.

• We're drinking this stuff?!!

• Our samples

• The National Monument on Dam Square, Amsterdam, is a 1956 World War II monument in the Netherlands

• The Canal House, our hotel for the three days with Brian

• The back of the Canal House from the garden

• The Canal House garden