Rainy Amsterdam

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

It poured overnight and we awoke to lots of wind and rain ranging from downpour to mist.  We decided that, rather than walk to the closest Metro station, it  be a good idea to drive to a Park and Ride lot and catch the Metro there.  It rained heavily most of the way to Amsterdam's Central Station and the tram from there to the Rijksmuseum was packed with soggy passengers.

The museum, one of Amsterdam's star attractions at any time, seemed to be everyone's top choice of how to spend this windy, rainy day.  Oddly enough, the entry line for those with advance tickets was far longer than the one for those of us arriving without them, and we were soon warm and dry.  We wandered until mid-afternoon through centuries of Dutch art.  The crowds at Rembrandt's Night Watch made extended contemplation of the masterpiece too much of a challenge, and it was easy to spot his works, and those of Vermeer, just by the groups clustered around them.

The rain had let up by the time we left the museum, so we walked along the canals streets most of the way back to the Central Station.  The wind and rain came and went, and finally got the best of us, so we hopped a tram for the last part of the trek.  It was just getting too hard to see and/appreciate our surroundings.

As we enjoyed our happy hour at home, occasional sightings of blue sky gave us hope for better wandering conditions tomorrow.  We also learned that many flights in and our of the Amsterdam airport were cancelled today due to high winds; guess we weren't the only ones who threw in the towel today!