Krista & Brian's Amsterdam Travels: Museum hopping

I'm starting to get used to life here in the Netherlands, aside from the weather which is completely and totally unpredictable (I've yet to find a weather site that has been even 50% accurate). And since Brian is always working during the week (granted his hours are much better here than they were back in Portland), I've tried to figure out a little routine for myself during the weekdays in order to keep myself from getting bored. For the most part this includes walking/biking around the city for hours, going for a run, getting coffee, trying to figure out something interesting to make for lunch, and yes, possibly stopping by a bakery/gelato place/food market or something of the sort for a mid-afternoon snack. Since we've both been to Amsterdam before, we'd done most of the tourist stuff already, so neither of us felt a huge need to spend our Euros on tourist traps right away. But last Friday I decided to really take advantage of all the culture the city has to offer and got what's called a museum pass (or, Museumjaarkaart in Dutch).

It works like this: I get access to 400 museums in all of the Netherlands for an entire year for only €23. No strings attached. No feeling like I have to stay there for 4 hours and get that headset thing with the incredibly boring speaker that costs anywhere from €4-10 to feel I got my money's worth. I can go every day if I want!

So as you can tell, I'm very excited about this. I think it will be a great way to keep my brain working properly while I'm not working and while the weather is less than perfect. And what a deal!

On Friday I went to the Rijksmuseum, which has famous paintings by people like Rembrandt and Vermeer that I learned about in my art history class last year, and paintings like this one that I was forced to memorize: