Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum and Rembrandt

I'd been thinking about going to the Rijksmuseum today for a while now so I was really glad to see the sun shining when I woke up. Although I would be indoors once in the museum, I might have been inclined to stay inside the house had the weather been crap. Either it is getting even colder these days, or I am about to come down with something like a cold. I realize now though that my winter wear from Virginia does not cut it. Even with a ski jacket, it's pretty damn cold. I suppose the winter here is particularly harsh given that countries like Russia are hitting -25C. I need some sort of survival wear to go outside and be comfortable.

Anyways, I was accompanied by Marco today to Amsterdam. We got a late start since I was looking forward to sleeping in all week and Marco had work to do in the morning. We arrived in Amsterdam about 1:30ish and walked the main streets to the museum. It's around my 4th time in Amsterdam, but I still don't really know my way around. It's probably because I've always had someone else lead the way. This time, I lead the way and feel like I am learning the streets. On the way to the museum, we pass Madam Tussad's Wax museum. They also have one of those in London and NYC, but I hear that the figures in the Amsterdam one are known only to the Dutch. I have been to the one in NYC so I won't be making a stop there. There was also the Sex museum and the Amsterdam Dungeon. Although I've been to the Sex museum in Copenhagen and the London Dungeon, I wouldn't mind checking these out here sometime. I had already been to the Van Gogh museum, Ann Frank house, Red Light District, and on Canal tours but this will be my first visit to the Rijksmuseum.

The walk to the museum was about 20 minutes and is 10 euros to get in. The museum is under construction until 2010 and only a small portion of it is open, perhaps about 12 or 13 rooms. The exhibits were still nice. Many paintings by Dutch artists, Delft pottery, doll houses, etc. I particularly liked Cupid, and Triton. My main goal, however, was to see Night Watch, a Rembrandt painting. They also had a special exhibition room that contained all Rembrandt paintings housed in the museum. A few more photos from the museum can be seen here.