Day 4, 16 June 2014 - Amsterdam - Centraal Station, Van Gogh Museum, Diamant Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Tulip Museum, Symphony at Concert-Gebouw... imminent tourism induced collapse...

I realised this morning that between the Amsterdam Pass (yet to be picked up) and the free things to do like the flower market... that I really needed to get a wriggle on. So I made a plan and got going. Down the stairs, out the door, into Dam Square... ooh breakfast. Now I don't usually darken the doorsteps of McDonald's but I'm trying to stick to €10 a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner - and just a coffee is usually €2.50. Even a Maccas it's €2. Unless you get their breakfast special of any coffee and a coffee item - in this case Dutch Apple Cake (or apple cake as it's known here). Right then, plan begins again and I make it to Centraal Station to pick up my Amsterdam Pass. You wouldn't have thought the Tourist Information Office would be that hard to find - but it took 5 staff members before the lady in the newsagent pointed out it was actually in a building outside the station. Pass finally in hand I jumped on a tram and headed for Museumplein. First stop Van Gogh Museum. I make no pretence at knowing about art - and I never rent the headset - but I did enjoy cruising around the paintings and seeing some we've not seen before. Also a quick hello to Sunflowers which we saw in the National Gallery in London and has just been returned. Skipping the massive queue with the pass was worth every euro spent on it (though some people with passes insisted on queueing up anyway - strange). From Van Gogh it was the Diamant Museum - they even had a reproduction of Starry Night enhanced with diamonds... nice. Spent quite a while pottering about looking at all the exhibits and they have a couple of doozies - including a Japanese katana sword crafted from Murano glass and encrusted in diamonds, a gold and diamond tennis racquet and an ape skull made of diamonds. Moving right along it was off to the Stedelijk Museum just down the road for a quick cruise through the pre-1960 section - Chagall, Picasso, Braque and Pollock just to name a few. We've been quite fond of Chagall since we saw the ceiling at the Paris Opera House a couple of years ago. I hadn't realised the Concert-Gebouw was actually so close to the Museum Quarter - but popped in and bought a same-day seat for the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra - a bit of a luxury, but 25% off with the Pass - so only €13.50. Right. Getting very good at the trams out of necessity - back to town and down to the Tulip Museum right in my neighbourhood. Really didn't know how good this was going to be - but it turned out to be brilliant. For instance - I never new tulips were a wild flower from the Himalayas. That they were introduced to the royal Ottoman courts and almost worshipped by Suleyman the Magnificent. That he had massive gardens of them at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. That the word Tulip come from Turban (think of the shapes). That they were introduced into Europe and sent the Dutch bonkers for a few years (to the point that one bulb was worth the same as a stunning canal house at the time the tulip bubble burst). I could go on, but you get the drift - really good stuff. Right. Dinner. Only 4 pm but when else will I get the time. Speaking of food, I thought the Dutch were all slim because they didn't have supermarkets. I finally saw one today "Albert Heijn" - in blue letters. Turns out I've been past a couple over the last couple of days. Egg Salad sandwich €2 and fruit for lunch. Back to my haunt Jennifer for dinner and an icecream - €6. Woo-hoo! €10 limit acheived. Now I don't know about you, but just writing about everything I'd done up til 4 pm is making me tired. So it was off for a disco-(symphony?)nap prior to going out. Was supposed to be 1.5 hours... but ended up having a 30 minute encore. Down the road, onto a tram and off to the show. Now remember the ticket only cost €13.50. Somewhat amazingly that includes your tram ticket to and from the concert house. When I got there everyone was having coffees... but I thought no - don't really need one. At intermission, out in the champagne bar, there were trays and trays of orange juice and sparkling water. So I piled in with everyone else and discovered that the drinks (and the pre-show coffees) are actually included in the ticket as well. But not the Champagne. So whilst the concert was amazing and the hall magnificent - I am curious as to whether they pay the orchestra with seashells once all the inclusions are taken into account - brilliant system. Really enjoyed the music, but must admit even the boom-crash of Mahler wasn't keeping me awake by 10.20 pm. Out the door quicky smart and onto a tram back to town. Down the road, up the stairs and into bed and it was boom-crash-lights out and sleep for me.

(Pictured - the Concert-Gebouw in Amsterdam.)