Baltic Holidays - Day 12 - Amsterdam

Day 12.
The final Day of our Baltic Cruise and holiday and we are to spend it in Amsterdam.

Needless to say Rembrandt and Van Gogh were on the menu.

Straight off we hunted for the Rijksmuseum(wiki-link) knowing that it was an infamously popular destination. Upon arrival though it was clear the queue just to get a ticket to go in was going to take at least half an hour and they were already putting up signs saying that tickets were only available for later in the afternoon. Bearing in mind we'd have to be back on board the ship that afternoon it seemed unlikely that we were going to get in at all, cut our losses and went to get lunch at the hard rock cafe that was about a block away.

After that was when we stumbled on a canal cruise ride that included a package that promised access to the Rijksmuseum afterwards with no time restraints or queuing at all, so we snapped it up.
The following batch of shots are from the canal ride.

Due to the number of images please see the rest of this post beyond the break...

A big clock tower...

Some workers enjoying their lunch break on the canal's edge.

The above two shots are a bit self explanatory but goes a long way to answer a question I'd not have otherwise thought to ask as to how large heavy things might be moved into the old buildings that line the canals.

He knows the way...

A wonky building.

See how wonky it is...

This building is not wonky, the photographer is...

I took a few photographs inside the Rijksmuseum but I can't imagine them being that interesting really but, I'll post two highlights as much as evidence of going there as it is of proof of me observing these famous paintings in person.

Van Gogh and Rembrandt

I'm at least 60% sure this one is a bit of the Rijksmuseum or at least very near to it. (I will check and edit this bit of post if necessary. Any other shot I got of the Rijksmuseum had family in it.

The remaining shots are from our eventual departure. Either shot from the ship as we await departure or from the trip as we sailed out from Amsterdam which included travelling through a huge lock that prevents the north sea from... getting in.

A man shooting us as we leave dock...

A canal /river cruise boat in the shadow of our cruise ship.

Colourful vehicles that aren't trains at the train station.

The ship reflected in a building as we left.

Some industrialism.

A ludicrously wide angle shot of the ship in the lock, you can see the ship is gated at both ends(left and right), they then changed the water level to match the ocean(left) and let us go.

Some more industrialism before a setting sun.

The next lot of shots are all from once we've hit the open ocean.

That glowing lensflare is the moon.

The moon.