Amsterdam – 20 March 2018

Today in Amsterdam we toured the Rijksmuseum and walked around exploring the streets and canals.

The Rijksmuseum has a wonderful collection of old masters. They also have an excellent free app that includes an audio guide. The app located where we were in the museum on a map and showed us where the next described painting was. We spent about three hours and didn’t see everything.

They also have a lovely library.

We had pizza and beer for lunch.

In the afternoon we used a Rick Steves audio tour in his app to do our own Amsterdam walking tour.

We saw frites stands and a herring stand.

We walked by the tulip market.

And we admired the canals, houses and shops.

Paris to Amsterdam

We had a fabulous time in Paris. The rain, snow and cold just made it more of an adventure. This was the view from our hotel this morning.

Today we took the train north through Belgium to Amsterdam.

Although it is cold and windy the sun is shining. That’s always nice. The temperature is around freezing.

We caught a tram to our hotel and then went out for a walk. It probably is obvious but there are lots of bikes and canals in Amsterdam!

For dinner we went to a restaurant with traditional Dutch food.

Paris 18 March 2018

In Paris we woke up this morning to freezing temperatures but only occasional snow and rain. We took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe.

From there we walked to the Eiffel Tower. The tower was closed to visitors because of ice on the platforms so we couldn’t go up but we still got to appreciate it’s beauty and size.

Next we walked along the Seine to Ile de la Cité. We stood in line for about thirty minutes to get in to see Sainte-Chapelle. I’ve been to Paris a few times but these stunning windows were new to me. They were recommended by a woman at our hotel. The Chapel was originally built between 1242 and 1248 as a part of the Royal Palace.

Our last stop was Notre Dame. A mass was just ending so the organ was playing as we entered.

Paris – 17 March 2018

We woke up this morning to rain and cold. The papers call it the Moscow to Paris icy weather front.

I had originally wanted to explore Paris on foot today but because of the rain we changed the plan and headed to the Musée d’Orsay. We had to wait in line for an hour in the rain to get in but it was well worth it.

The museum is in an old Beaux-Arts railway station and houses the largest collection of impressionist masterpieces in the world. It’s open and bright and around every corner is a recognizable stunning work of art. The d’Orsay is perhaps my favorite art museum in the world!

While we were inside it started to snow! Walking back to the metro station was cold.

For dinner we walked to a neighborhood restaurant. Duke had pork and I had salmon. For desert I had an orange soufflé and Duke had an apple soufflé.

Barcelona to Paris

Our train to Paris left at 1:20 so this morning we visited the Palau de la Música Catalana. It is a concert hall built in 1908 and owned by a Catalan choir group. It was designed by the modernista architect Lluis Domènech i Montaner. I enjoyed seeing a gorgeous modernista building that wasn’t designed by Gaudí. It was designed as a box of light. The stained glass was especially beautiful. There was a children’s concert going on during our tour.

After checking out of our hotel we took the metro to the train station. The high speed train to Paris went through some of the Spanish territory that we toured earlier on our trip and then through the gorgeous French countryside.

It is exciting to be in Paris. Although I’ve been here before this is Duke’s first time in Paris. This is the view from our hotel room.