Wisely, or at least fortunately, I had pre-purchased entry tickets to the Rijksmuseum and also to the All the Rembrandts exhibition. It was a five minute walk from our hotel to the Rijksmuseum, and we were not surprised to find long queues already forming just after 9am. So we skipped the queue, and went straight in.
We began our visit in the Renaissance galleries and at 10am were admitted to the Rembrandt exhibition, commemorating the 350th anniversary of his birth. We used the museum’s phone app for an audio tour of the exhibition. It was quite breathtaking. There were many works from the master, from postage stamp sized etchings to large oil paintings needed an entire wall to display; there were portraits, landscapes, biblical scenes, street life, and animals; there were etchings and print works, pencil sketches and oil paintings; indoor and outdoor subjects; night scenes; and sizes ranging from minuscule to massive. And then, of course, in a nearby gallery, was The Night Watch, filling an entire wall. It was surrounded by a very large crowd that never seemed to thin out. So were the Vermeers and Van Goghs.
This was a real highlight of our time in Europe to date. We spent four hours there and probably only covered a fraction of what there was to see.
On The Road With Garry 