Amsterdam - Modern Art + A Seafood Feast

One of my favorite things about Amsterdam is the Museumplein. Just a few steps from the canals that circle the center of the city, the Musuemplein is where you'll find three of the city's most iconic museums; The Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum.

After an epic morning at The Rijksmuseum I stopped for some much needed sustenance at the conveniently located Seafood Bar. I wanted a little bit of everything so I chose the Fruits de Mer platter plus a side of frites for good measure. When my food arrived it was so epic that I had a brief moment of panic that I had accidentally ordered Fruits de Mer ‘Seafood bar’ a much more expensive option. But no, my order was correct, it was just a massive platter of mussels, cockles, scallop, razor clams, periwinkles, shrimp, crab, and oysters. The seafood was fresh and sweet and definitely shareable. Skip the fries, the included baguette is offers plenty of carbs.

After lunch I made my way to the Stedelijk Museum. The modern and contemporary art museum is sometimes referred to as "The Bathtub" for its unique architecture. Bright, airy, and calm; the museum was a nice contrast to the overcrowded madness of the Van Gogh Museum. I enjoyed my relaxed tour of the collection, especially the 360 lego room, a temporary installation.

Amsterdam - A Day at the Rijksmuseum

There are lots of reasons to visit Amsterdam and I chose probably the nerdiest one-- the art. There dozens of world class museums within the compact city and most of them are covered by the Museumkaart, Amsterdam's Museum Card. I bought my pass at the big one - The Rijksmuseum, the first stop on my self-directed museum crawl. I spent a good four or five hours exploring the museum before taking a late lunch and continuing on to the Stedelijk and Van Gogh museums.

I had been eager to tour Amsterdam ever since I took a course on Netherlandish Art for my Art History Major. I focused my Rijksmuseum visit on the 17th century Dutch Golden Age collection where many of the paintings I once studied are held. Including priceless masterpieces by Vermeer and Rembrandt like 'The Night Watch,' one of the most famous paintings in the world. It draws quite the crowd (I preferred the Vermeers, which are almost like miniatures in comparison.) I also made sure to track down the gorgeous Cuypers Library. You can't browse the stacks or study without prior permission, but the view from the balcony on the 2nd floor is a pretty great consolation. Another highlight was the gallery of beautiful and intricate Doll Houses.

I love to visit museums when I travel solo. I can really take my time viewing the art, without worrying about keeping pace with a companion. And if I want to skip a piece, or even a whole wing of a museum, it's totally cool. Though traveling alone can be stressful, especially when things go wrong, at museums I never feel self conscious when I'm on my own. I really appreciate it when cities offer passes that make it easy to visit multiple museums or attractions. But they're an investment. You really have to do your homework to make sure the pass covers the right length of time and attractions you actually want to visit. I chose the Museumkart, but Amsterdam also offers the Iamsterdam city pass which includes public transportation and a canal boat ride, but not quite enough museums for my liking (no Rijksmuseum or Anne Frank House.)

For me, the math on the Museumkaart just made sense. Because I was spending a week in Amsterdam, I made a list of the museums I wanted to visit and researched their admission prices. Once I added the entrance fees up, I knew the €65 Museumkaart would be more than worth it. I would have spent €106 if I had bought each ticket individually. The card also encouraged me to visit smaller, less well known churches and museums like Oude Kerk (The Old Church,) Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic Museum,) Museum Van Loon, and FOAM Photography Museum. The Museumkaart is geared towards Dutch residents so there's no English website, but I found the Amsterdam.info site to be a great resource for information about the card. It's good for a full month and gets you into museums all over Holland, nice if you're touring outside of just Amsterdam. The card must be purchased in person at one of the participating museums. If you're an art lover, history fanatic, or just spending an extended period of time in Amsterdam, then the card is an excellent value.

Amsterdam - Museum Van Loon & Café Lanskroon

It rains and it's okay. That's my new travel mantra. Inclement weather can be such a bother when you're exploring a new place. I always hope for blue skies and moderate temperatures when I set out on a trip and, for the most part, I've been extraordinarily lucky weather-wise. My luck caught up to me last fall in Amsterdam where I had several chilly, rainy, generally miserable to be outside kinda days. Ultimately the rain slowed me down some, but it also gave me the opportunity to put my Amsterdam Museumkaart to good use. In just one day I visited three small museums that I probably would have missed otherwise.

My first stop was the seriously lovely Museum Van Loon. This well preserved Canal House was built in 1672 by William Van Loon, one of the founders of the Dutch East-India Company. It's a gorgeous home full of period furniture and lots of tall windows that fill each room with light, even on a gray day. Conveniently, the Van Loon house sits on the Keizersgracht, or the Emperor’s Canal. It's one of the widest canals in Amsterdam and houses several Museumkart eligible museums.

After Museum Van Loon I stopped into another historical Canal House, Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis. It's not quite as charming as the airy Van Loon complex, but still a nice way to spend an hour. The home has a beautiful little library and very nice gardens. There was a couple taking wedding photos inside, which made touring a few of the rooms a bit awkward.

My last museum stop of the morning was FOAM, Photography Museum Amsterdam. I almost didn't visit -- I was starting to get a little hungry. But I'm so glad I decided to stop and tour the collection. I was thrilled to learn that FOAM had just opened the traveling exhibit, Vivian Maier: Street Photographer. If you're not familiar with Maier's work and story I encourage you to check her out.

In a nutshell, Vivian Maier worked as a nanny for most of her life while producing an astonishing output (100,000 to 150,000 negatives!) of street photography in her free time. She was extremely secretive about her work which was only recently discovered by a third party. In 2007 John Maloof won a haul of negatives in a storage unit auction and has worked since then to develop, curate, and promote Maier's photographs. After enjoying the exhibit I was delighted to discover Maloof's documentary Finding Vivian Maier was available on demand to watch on my flight home.

After museum hopping all morning, plus a stop at the Spui Book Market, I needed a pick-me-up. Pint size cafe Lanskroon was just the place. I had a to wait a few minutes for a seat, and my treats, before I settling in to warm up. The cozy shop offers a wide variety of sweets, including pies and cakes, but I chose a traditional Dutch treat, the stroopwaffel. Roughly translated to syrup waffle, a stroopwaffel is two thin, wafer-y cookies that sandwich a layer of syrup or some other sweet gooey substance. I ordered the coffee caramel stroopwaffel (they also have a honey-filled option) which was oh so nice paired with an espresso. If I did it all over again (and I would, happily) I might get a latte and do like the Dutch, setting my cookie on top of the coffee to warm up the filling.