We .did indeed go out into the rain last night looking for food in Jordaan. This area has relly appealed to us even in bad weather and we ate well in "Cuisine Flamande" before getting back to the hotel and eventually figuring out how to buy and print out tickets for the Rijksmuseum. Armed with these we went by tram to said museum and had only a small queue to worry about for the 9am opening. The place is a nightmare for lack of informative signs including emergency exits, it's difficult to find cloakroom toilets and cafe. Thecafe itself has a very limited menu and is far too small. However there is a god free map available and we had the onour gallery very uncrowded for a while though the Nightwatch gallery filled up immediately. We liked the hanging scheme with lots of Nightwatches close together. Rembendts is much the best painting but some of the sitters might have felt agrieved. It also has a faint air of smoke and flames suggesting the people might actually get out and fight.The main 1600-1650 gallery floor is wonderful with so many great pictures. The 1700-1900 floor less so but still worthwhile. We were there for 3 2/3 hours including light lunch.After lunch we returned to the main floor to see the Vermeers we had missed before. There was at least one I have not seen before but the experience was unhappy. We were full already with pictures and the crowds made it difficult to see any of them clearly. Fairly exhausted we went back to the hotel to snooze though I made a side trip to survey a LIDL - not very different from the UK.
We returned to the Jordaan for a Thai meal - very good cooking and had again slight trouble with the return tram. The authorities are digging up track under the running trams and so access is difficult and temporary stops frankly dangerous on a half metre wide strip of raised concrete between cars and bicycles - both rabid.
However we made it home with tickets for Van Goch at 9am tomorrow.
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