Amsterdam Good Art

This is a warning that if you're not into Art, this post may not be for you.  There are some cool famous paintings buried here. 

Who knew that the Good Samaritan took place next to pyramid and some pillars that look like they're form ancient greece?

What's up my hommies? I think this was a Gang selfie 1600s style. Notice the gang signs being flashed.

Here's the "Battle of Waterloo"  This painting was huge. See the next picture to give you an idea of scale.

Yeah, it pretty much took up the whole wall. I can't imagine how long it would take to paint to that level of detail.

David (he has a sling, assuming he's going to throw something at Goliath pretty quick).

 This cow reminded us of Krissy, because she paints cows.

"Children of the sea" by Jozef Israels. If someone wanted to buy me this painting to hang in my home, I wouldn't say no.

Van Gogh. Make sure you say the last GH in his name as if you are coughing.  

Van Gogh's brother I believe. He painted a ton of self portraits. We went to the Van Gogh museum next, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. What we learned was that he revolutionized the way color was used, but some of his paintings didn't look very nice.  Some were very nice.  Lots were experiments with Color as he was learning.

Suzy liked this painting a lot. Especially the sunset coming in from the top right corner.

This was a Dutch guy, Toorop I believe.

We thought this looked like a picture almost, the depth etc. was very realistic.

I liked this one. Also, this was the only windmill I got to see in Holland.

The last supper

 

Here is Rembrant's painting, the Night Watch.  

Apparently it was originally called the night watch because it was so dark. Then a few years later it was cleaned up, and they realized they were just in a building, and the sun was coming in from the side.

Another pretty darn large painting.

Even though the Night Watch is more famous, we liked this one better.

Look at the detail on Mr. Fancy Pants (see the previous picture, this guy was on the left of the painting)

Incredible amount of detail on each person.

I ain't afraid of no goose.

This was by Aelbert Cuyp. Who has a bunch of the city named after him.  

Woman pouring water by Vermeer. 

Still life with a Turkey Pie by Pieter Claesz. We were just struck by the detail on this picture as well. Also, the Turkey was interesting. Personally, I like mine without feathers, but to each their own I guess.

Here was a self portrait of Van Gogh. He was pretty poor, so he couldn't pay models I guess so He mostly practiced on himself.

Amsterdam Artful Women

Apparently, for a large portion of the middle ages through the 1800s maybe, all the women looked the same.  Notice the similarities. Suzy pointed this out. Small chin, small lips, large forehead. 

Okay, who the heck paints a baby like that? 

This guy was looking pretty weird, but if you look in the background, another classic woman

Again with the creepy kids.  

Weird kids, they didn't seem to be able to paint kids right, nor deviate from one type of woman face.

Amsterdam

So I had to go to Netherlands for work a couple of week ago.  I found some things pretty interesting for sure.  For one, there are SO many bikes. Everyone seems to ride bikes.  It's pretty much the thing they do.  They have separate lanes for bikes, separate lights even at intersections. 

This was some kind of famous thing apparently.  Some nice tourists asked me to take their picture in front of this, and it seemed to be the spot to do so. 

I went to this great steak restaurant, and this was what they brought with the check. Your own Marshmallow roasting station. 

The one food that the Dutch make well is pancakes.  Here's one of their pancake houses. The standard syrup I got was molasses though. Luckily, I like molasses.

They had these fun public toilets you could use if you had some Euros.

Here was the train station attached to the airport. Schilopal or something random like that.

These were the standard trains. The biggest difference I notices was that they were VERY quiet while riding. Especially compared to other subways/trains I've been on.

Here was the train station (Amsterdam Centraal) closest to my hotel. Who doesn't want to put their train stations in a castle looking thing?

Is this an Alley straight out of Harry Potter?

Bikes, bikes and more bikes. 

This was pretty typical architecture.  

Canals. They're famous for these.

Here's one without me blocking the view.

Typical Amsterdam street corner.

More bikes. They were parked everywhere there was space.

What, is that the L'Arc de Triumph? Okay, so we're in Amsterdam, probably not.

Are those a sad Mickey and Minnie? Probably because if they move from their stop they'll get wet.

A skate park and Basketball court! This was in the middle of Museum square.

Here's me taking a picture with that famous thing.

 Here's some cute hottie in front of a cool building. Also, Birds. 

Yeah, those are beds. With people in them. You could pay 5 euro. Then you get in Bed. Next to an actor. We watched for a bit. They apparently kept getting closer and closer to the paid subjects until you either got so uncomfortable you left, or your time was up.  

Sweet Ride! I think this is a Ferrari.

Here's us eating at a quaint Dutch breakfast place in some kind of Market. Named for a guy named Albert I believe. 

Here's a better picture taken by the waiter.

Those white things in the background are places you can stick your head through and get your picture taken.   See below.

I didn't get the chance to see the front before Suzy directed me to a specific hole. At least I look elegant. and happy.

Super Cute!

really not sure what this guy is doing.

This is some kind of famous bunny, painted in lots of fun and interesting ways.

This one had lots of fun Amsterdammy things painted on it.