Individual Days - Netherlands
Van Gogh Museum
Took an early bus from Haarlem to Amsterdam to visit the Van Gogh Museum. The trains were closed for maintenance for the weekend, so we got to experience another form of transportation.
The Van Gogh Museum was nice. They had a recorded guide that gave background stories and scholarly insights into most of the artwork.
Royal Palace
After a quick lunch, we toured the Royal Palace. While it is the official palace, the royal family lives in The Hague. The palace serves as a museum when it isn’t used for state events and hosting dignitaries.
Meeting the Tour Group
At 3 pm, we got to meet our tour guide, Lisa, and the rest of the members of the Rick Steves Best of Europe in 21 Days group. After an orientation, we went on a walking tour of Haarlem.
Lisa added an unexpected group event to our schedule. After our walk, but before dinner, we stopped at Brinkman’s to enjoy a Generva tasting. The Dutch created Generva, although the English changed the name to Gin when they started distilling it. We tried an “old” and “new” Geneva. Not based on the age of the spirits but rather the distillation process – the old way or the new way. Proost!
Our first meal together at Restaurant Flamboyant – Rijsttafel Dinner, a traditional Indonesian rice dinner with various types of meat served family style. It was good and we got to enjoy the dinner with our tour group.
We walked 9.1 miles today.