Day 662, 26 Mar '16, Rijksmuseum (pictured), Uptown Meat Club Burgers, Hermitage (Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age) and the Spaanse Meesters (that would be Dutch for the Spanish Masters... and still has us smiling).

We are currently dog-free which means Luca wasn't licking our hands with regard to a) piddles and b) brekkie at 7 am. Which meant the only thing that woke us up was the chimes from the Munttoren (the Mint Tower) just down the street. Our 8 am wake-up call. Speed-breakfast for us and we were off, onto the tram and on the doorstep of the Rijksmuseum for the 9 am open. We spent a couple of hours zooming about and seeing the highlights of the Rijks including Rembrandt's Night Watch masterpiece. We didn't want to be the folks that go to the Louvre just for the Mona Lisa - so explored far beyond the Gallery of Honour... particular favourites include the jewellery gallery in the basement. No surprises there. We were out and starving by midday and headed to the Uptown Meat Club just up the road. Not ones for spending money willy-nilly, we usually shop/cook/eat at home or snaffle and snuffle bargain chicken satay at the Albert Cuyp Market. We have however climbed aboard the Groupon phenomenon here in Amsterdam - which really chimes with our mantra "Never, Ever Pay Retail". We thought we'd check out a deal and chose the 2 x uptown burgers with fries for 15.50... managed to get the price down to 13.50 with an extra discount. Usual price? €31 - which for lunch for us would never ever happen. For reference - even for a burger and fries at a fast food van, €6 each would be standard. So we were as happy as clams when we arrived at the Uptown Meat Club and found it very upscale indeed. And the burgers... yummo. So good in fact we will be going back (probably with another Groupon mind you). After lunch we trammed away and headed to the Hermitage. This museum/gallery features two exhibitions at the moment - Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age (aka: "Look at us!") and a top notch exhibtiion of the Spanish Masters from the collection at the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Feet were falling off by the time we finished at the Hermitage. The museum marathon will continue tomorrow. If we can walk.