Amsterdam – Day 23

Knowing that most of the tourist attractions don’t open until 10am I had a leisurely sleep in and breakfast before heading out the door.

My first stop was only a short distance away at the Diamant (Diamond) Museum.

This actually turned out to be more interesting that I thought. It has plenty of really interesting about the mineral properties of diamonds but includes things like how the stones are cut, where they end up as well as section on great diamond heists. The museum is three floors and I would say is really worth a look if you get a chance.

As I left I saw in a building a few doors up another diamond establishment you can visit to actually see stones being cut and jewellery fashioned. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time and the security getting into the place would require you to strip bare.

Just a little further up the street was the Rijksmuseum.

It contains lots of artworks from Dutch master including Rembrandt but unfortunately they don’t allow you to take photos.

After a quick tour of the museum I headed for a canal tour with Blue Boat.

The Heineken brewery.

The tour ran for about 75 minutes and I made the mistake of staying at the back of the boat in what I thought would be in the fresh air. As it turned out it was the place where all the smokers who went, who happily puffed cigarettes the whole trip. Oh well, at least I got some good shots.

After the cruise my next stop was the Van Loot museum.

The museum is basically a historic house of the period.

From there I crossed the canal and headed to another historic house, the Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis.

Many of these historic houses have two parts, a gatehouse at the front and the main house across a garden.

When I entered the museum I was ‘set upon’ by an over zealous guide who gave me a good overview of the history of the occupants of the house. After that I walked through teh garden to main house.

On my way to my next stop I passed the Handbag Museum. No time this trip!

My next stop was at the Hermitage Museum Amsterdam but unfortunately the line was already too long for this late in the afternoon so I moved along to my next destination.

The Allard Pierson museum hold many ancient artefacts.

From there I headed to the Amsterdam Historisch Museum which covers the history of the city of Amsterdam. This is quite well laid out museum and includes a good self guide tour to follow through the museum taking in all the periods.

I decided that I would head back to main station and catch a tram back the Hotel or perhaps if time permitted head to the Van Gough Museum.

Problem was that as I started walking in what I thought was the right direction I became di-orientated in all the small streets and ended up walking in a complete circle.

When I finally found my bearings I decided that I’d simply catch a tram back to the hotel and call it a day ready for the trip back to London tomorrow.