We had “skip the line” tickets for the Rijksmuseum (rhymes with bikes museum) but there was not much of a line.  On our walk there we took a small detour through a street with gorgeous huge houses–one looked like a hotel.

And we passed through a very small bit of the Vondelpark (we’ve got to go back!) and through a street with designer shops.  Finally we came to a square with the famous “I Amsterdam” sign.  We saw more and more people as we neared the museum which was quite crowded with school groups and tourist of many nationalities and languages.

We did 2 different audio tours in the museum–one of the dutch masters and another about the building itself.  Both were fascinating and moving.  The reverence for Rembrandt was clear.  The information on the architecture had us noticing things we never would have.  We went into the old library with its spiral staircase, mosaic floor and three stories of wall to wall books.

We walked back towards home and I wanted to go to the market and the Food Hallen.  First stop was the Food Hall for lunch.  So many choices!  They have a burger stand and a bar-b-que stand along with eastern, African, Italian, French and Asian stands.  In the center is a regular bar, a champagne bar and, my favorite, a gin bar. Try as I might, I could not resist the gin and tonic.  I tried a new gin called Elephant gin from Germany.  (Josh, they had the Monkey’s gin and I asked for something similar).    I ate sate skewers from this super nice guy who made me a special plate with 3 skewers, turkey, tofu and goat.  Each one had a different, wonderful sauce and I loved it.  Before we left I went back to tell him I enjoyed them and he shoed me how he makes the tomato sauce, starting with onions, apples, ginger and peppers in the food processor. Ken got something called a fish burger which was a bit strange, on a Korean style white spongy bun, but it was good.

Then we visited the Ten Kate Market with produce, cheese, meats and some random stuff for sale all in the midst of our mostly residential neighborhood. The most noteworthy item was colorful bike chains, hanging in stalls.  We were a bit late in the afternoon for a produce market and some stalls were empty but we got some delicious strawberries.  We stopped in the bakery across our corner for some rolls for dinner.

Post G&T (never again in the afternoon) we came home for a rest.

In the evening we went for a walk.  Saw some people swimming in the canal.  Came home and had a repeat dinner from last night.

We are watching Bloodline on Netflix.  We can get Netflix but nothing else in terms of video will play here.