9/26 - Left Berlin for a long day travel to Amsterdam. I have been to this place in my first visit to Europe but never saw the famous windmills, tulips nor tasted their cheese. Again it has been a routine after arriving in a new place, to look for accommodations. I was able to find some decent hotel in Dam square close to the Centraal train station. Having accomplished that, it was time to walk around the canals for a good meal. Later for a view of the scantily-clad women from their windows. The 'high-end' glamour pusses are along the tiny Trompettersteeg by the Oude Kerk. "Whatever happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam!"

9/27 - Left for the Volendam and Marken for the "windmill" tour. From Amsterdam, we stopped by Zaanse Schans with its windmills, old- fashioned stores and wooden houses, then a visit to a wooden shoe factory for a demo on the making of their famous clogs. We also stopped by a cheese factory where the cheese is still made the traditional way. Then onto Volendam at the Ysselmeer - a fishing village which features quaint houses, coffee shops, boutique stores, and fishing boats lined-up on the harbor. We took a ferry ride to Marken fishing village and met our tour bus for our ride back to Amsterdam.

9/28 - Today is a cultural and historical tour to the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. The Rijksmuseum is the largest museum in the Netherlands and and possesses an unrivalled collection of Dutch art, from early religious works to the masterpieces of the Golden Age. The Van Gogh museum houses some 200 paintings and 550 sketches showing Van Gogh in all his moods. These combined with hundreds of letters by Van Gogh to Theo, and selected works by his friends and contemporaries, form the core of the museum's collection.

Rembrandt HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN was born on July 15, 1606, in Leiden, the Netherlands. Dutch painter, draftsman, and etcher of the 17th century, a giant in the history of art. His paintings are characterized by luxuriant brushwork, rich colour, and a mastery of chiaroscuro. Numerous portraits and self-portraits exhibit a profound penetration of character. His drawings constitute a vivid record of contemporary Amsterdam life. The greatest artist of the Dutch school, he was a master of light and shadow whose paintings, drawings, and etchings made him a giant in the history of art. His most popular painting is the The Night Watch. It depicts a group of city guardsmen awaiting the command to fall in line. Each man is painted with the care that Rembrandt gave to single portraits, yet the composition is such that the separate figures are second in interest to the effect of the whole. The canvas is brilliant with color, movement, and light. In the foreground are two men, one in bright yellow, the other in black. The shadow of one color tones down the lightness of the other. In the center of the painting is a little girl dressed in yellow. I can only afford the portrait in a fridge magnet.

Gogh, Vincent (Willem) van was born on March 30, 1853 in Zundert. He was considered the greatest Dutch painter and draughtsman after Rembrandt. He powerfully influenced the current of Expressionism in modern art. His work, all of it produced during a period of only 10 years, hauntingly conveys through its striking colour, coarse brushwork, and contoured forms the anguish of a mental illness that eventually resulted in his suicide. In May 1889 he went at his own request into an asylum at St Rémy, near Arles, but continued during the year he spent there a frenzied production of tumultuous pictures such as The Starry Night. He did 150 paintings besides drawings in the course of this year. In 1889 Theo married and in May 1890 van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise to be near him, lodging with the patron and connoisseur Dr Paul Gachet. There followed another tremendous burst of strenuous activity and during the last 70 days of his life he painted 70 canvases. But his spiritual anguish and depression became more acute and on 29 July 1890 he died from the results of a self-inflicted bullet wound. Vincent's mental instability is legend. His life is very depressing. And after all of that, he only sold one painting during his lifetime!

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