The  Rijksmuseum  is the national museum of the Netherlands, dedicated to Dutch arts and history. Founded in 1798. The current structure opened in 1885. Ten years of renovation from 2003 to 2013 cost $400 million and re-opened by Queen Beatrix. 2.5 million visitors/year. Has about a million objects from the years 1200 to 2000, but only displays 8,000 or so of them at a time. Rembrandt is the star of the show. A special hall was created for The Night Watch in 1906.  This is the Rijksmuseum equivalent of the Louvre's Mona Lisa. Approaching the Rijksumuseum, we were led by my Blue-bar Pigeon to the museum. Some other works. Of course, asparaguses. The motor coach with guide of course took us from the ship to the museum, where other highlights of Amsterdam were featured. This photo shows 7 bridges. Bird nest. We returned to the ship in time for lunch. Mushroom cream soup and seafood. There was a Dutch cheese-tasting before supper.   Then, during this reception, the Esprit departed Amst

This will be one of those posting sequences that will appear only a few hours apart, for we are in the midst of transfer to a river cruise, with tours and activities that prevent me from filing a blog for long periods.  Thus, soon after this article gets posted, there will be a second one coming. We boarded the Tauck Espirit.  Speaking of high end European cruises, this is it.  The ship is posh and well-staffed.  The room is large and well-equipped.  In fact the bed is king-size and the shower is larger than anything we saw in European Marriott hotels.  Any sort of alcoholic drink is available from wake up to sleep.  The cuisine is superior. Then dinner of Caesar Salad and Steak. You can follow our ship here .  We depart Amsterdam in a few minutes.  The next blog will be our tour of the Rijksmuseum, the national treasure of the Netherlands. - 

Another short flight today, from Copenhagen to Amsterdam on KLM.  By the way, for those planning on a European trip, keep in mind that they don't all use Euros.  The exceptions are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Denmark, where it is about 7 Danish Kroner to the U.S. dollar.  Also keep in mind that Norway is not a member of the EU and it is nearly 11 Norwegian Kroner to the U.S. dollar.  Sweden and Iceland use the Krona. The airline lounge was okay, with hard liquor, wines and beers available in the morning.  Neither our Munich nor Copenhagen hotel executive clubs, for example, offered any kind of spirits beyond wine and beer.  We were the only one there for a long while. As we approached Amsterdam, saw tulip fields. One of the advantages of living in Scandinavia is the lack of severe natural disasters.  Sure, a few hurricanes have managed to survive all the up to this far north causing some damage.  Take tsunamis, for example. Only a 2% chance of a