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OK, this entry could take a zillion years, so I am going to be really brief.
We had heard about the "I Am Amsterdam" Pass and bought one, as related previously, first thing on entry to Holland. It goes into "action" at the first museum we visit, and then is valid for 72 hours. WE really tried to use it to the limit, and thus "did" the following museums.
Sunday - Oudekirk (We missed the Neuikirk and I planned to go round back to it, but we were too tired, figured we'd do it the next day, but didn't get there.)
Monday - Rijkmuseum, VanGogh Museum, Bible Museum (amazing!!!), 75-minute canal cruise (not a museum, obviously, but included in the pass)
Tuesday - Portuguese Synagogue (not included), Jewish Museum, Rembrandt House, Hortis Botanical Museum.
Wednesday - Houseboat museum, Van Loon House, Anthropoligical museum.
We hit that last one at 1pm, knowing that our card expired around 1:30, and wandered there for about 3 hours.
The pass also allowed us unlimited transportation on the trams, busses, and metro (we only used the trams, actually). We figure that all the attractions we saw would have cost 67Epp, plus, let's say, at least 13Epp worth of tranportation, so the 53E pass was really a good deal. Not to mention the "fun" of being able to just pop into all these places without having to figure whether they would be "worth" the 5-7Epp admission fee, or whether to take a tram for one stop.
All the museums are great, lots to see, wonderful explanations. Since this is Rembrandt's 400th birthday, they are making a big hoo haw about it. At the Rijk, they had a special presentation and viewing (in a special gallery) of "the Nightwatch." Most interesting. This is actually Rembrandt's most famous painting, and the one that ultimately brought about his bankruptcy....great story.
The Van Gogh traced his development as an artist in the few years he dedicated to art, and until he committed suicide.
The Rembrandt house had one half his "house" and the other had a presentation (over 2-3 floors) of his work as an etcher. Also included was a demonstration of the process of copperplate etching.
The Bijbel museum was amazing. A collector of amazing objects, the founder dedicated his life to building precise and authentic models of the tabernacle, and Solomon's temple. I have tons of pictures, but haven't downloaded yet.
Other museums can be found on the internet for what they are. We enjoyed the Hortis immensely, especially, having hurried there at 4:30 to squeeze it in, thinking it closed at 5, and finding that July hours were till 9!
All, in all, we certainly had a great tour of museums. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would have loved to visit more, but we just couldn't manage it. They are, unfortunately, mostly open just till 5pm, and we wanted to enjoy each one for what it was, instead of trying to rack up as many entries as possible. We also took time to break the day by wandering around a market or looking in stores. But I do think we got our money's worth from that pass!
