29-Aug – We leave the Viking Skirnir for the last time about 7:30 am and shortly thereafter everyone that has extended the trip by 2-days is transported to one of two hotels. We were taken to the Pestana Amsterdam Riverside Hotel (reportedly owned by Viking) where we checked into a beautiful room and subsequently had an incuded buffet breakfast. We then had a morning walking tour in part of Amsterdam by a local Viking employee. After the tour we were left on our own to explore the sights. We attempted to get tickets to the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, however, there were no tickets available for our two days in Amsterdam. We did get into the Rijksmuseum which is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history. The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000, among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer. After spending several hours in the museum, we walked back to the hotel to get instructions on how to use the transit system. We had purchased a 2-day trolly pass but it was not totally clear how to negotiate the city. You couldn’t talk to the trolly operator and most of the people we approached denied speaking English. The stops were all identified in Dutch and it was next to impossible to do anything without getting specific stop names and transfer information from the Viking representative in the hotel. We could not even pick out landmarks to identify our starting point as everything looked very similar and the trolley moves pretty fast. Viking provided maps but they did not help! Once we got some information we headed out and boarded the trolly got off at the Central Station. We walked around the area and found a small Italian restaurant where we had dinner. Taking the trolley to Central Station gave us a little more confidence to use it. We rode the trolly (#24) back to ‘Lutmastratt,’ got off and walked to the hotel about two blocks away. 

Viking_29Aug_4396Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4086Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4090Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4100Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4108Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4113Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4115Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4118Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4119Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4127Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4129Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4132Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4139Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4142Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4145Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4150Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4154Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4156Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4159Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4163Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4168Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4170Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4176Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4177Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4179Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4185Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4190The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4193The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4225The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4235The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4256The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4257The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4264The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4266The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4276The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4290The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4291The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4292The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4294The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4297The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4309The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4327The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4328The Rijksmuseum . . . The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000 Viking_29Aug_4330Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4331Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4333Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4335Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4339Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4350Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4351Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4352Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4355Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4356Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4357Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4361Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4362Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4363Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4366Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4367Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4385Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4387Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4389Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4391 Viking_29Aug_4393Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4394Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4400Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4398Amsterdam, Netherlands Viking_29Aug_4402Amsterdam, Netherlands