Amsterdam Five: Day Three

Monday December 28th was the most glorious of our days in Amsterdam weatherwise. It was sunny from dawn on, and with no biting wind.

Of course the sun rises late up there -- well past 9am at the time we were in the city -- so we had a hard time getting a move on in the morning -- I'm an early riser and found myself sleeping in until 9:15 through the whole trip. I don't think all four of us got moving until past 11, but Thierry went out earlier to take some photos in our "neighborhood," including the one above.

Well, now you know our main destination for the day. After a nice walk through neighborhoods we hadn't seen yet, a snack of waffles, and a short stroll through Vondelpark, we got to the Van Gogh museum... and almost decided to put off our visit until the next day. The lines appeared dreadfully long, and we feared a crowd inside.

We decided to see how the line was moving and, surprisingly, got in after only a 20-minute wait. And I'm not so sure where all of the people ended up going, because the exhibit halls were hardly packed:

Some of the crowd was in the gift shop, where my husband was tempted by these volumes, which represented the exhibition that was on at the time about Van Gogh's letters. Fortunately, I convinced my spouse that the 6-volume set would be a bit heavy in our suitcases.

After a leisurely visit in the museum, which I had already seen once but didn't remember that well, we walked around the Hoofstraat area, where many of Amsterdam's luxury shops are located.


We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that I would highly recommend: the Ristorante Saturnino. It's clearly a popular joint, and the waiters started all contacts by speaking Italian, which was a fun touch. Prices were reasonable, the atmosphere was jolly, and the upscale pasta and pizza absolutely delicious.

I'm starting to regret not taking pictures of our food...

(All photos except #2 courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)