The Rijksmuseum

Seriously? The Dutch should be embarrassed to charge anyone money to go to the only part of the museum that's open, The Phillips Wing. I looked online and there was a comment about how surprising it is that the admission (14 Euro) is the same as for the Van Gogh Museum but the Van Gogh is so much smaller--this will be true when the Rijksmuseum actually completes the remodeling, but at present, it should be free. I thought maybe I missed a wing so I came home and read my brochure and it says there are 400 of the best Dutch paintings--they should add "5 of which are halfway famous."  I did like the story of Rembrandt's Night Watch that said when it was moved from one museum to another, it didn't fit so they lopped off 3 feet of it.

Luckily, my museum karma was working because there was a very short line at the real museum, the Van Gogh--the line was huge when I left. The museum is gorgeous and it has not only Van Gogh but also art by his contemporaries and friends. My favorite painting was the Gauguin painting of Van Gogh painting "Sunflowers." They also have a great collection of programs and posters by Toulouse-Lautrec and other artists.

The Dutch should also be embarrassed that they have no decent bread but that's another story. I guess they think the waffles make up for it.

I've been through two rainy cities but it wasn't until here that I developed horrible sinus headaches. I got up yesterday at 6 and took an aspirin I bought in Bruges and about an hour later, I was really sick.  Then I remembered I can't tolerate aspirin, at least not on an empty stomach, which is why I try to get a coated or buffered kind. On my long walk to the museums, I looked for a pharmacy but again...another city that doesn't believe in drugs (?). I found a little store that sells aspirin and a clerk told me to go to the pharmacy on the Dam. So later that afternoon, I walked to the Dam and saw a crowd of people at the square. I rushed over, in case it was a protest I needed to be part of, but everyone was taking pictures of fancy people getting out of fancy cars at the Royal Palace.  Since I have no shame, I asked a policeman what we were watching and he said a dinner party for the queen with ambassadors attending. Then I asked him where the pharmacy was and he told me. I know he knew it was closed (5:30) but I walked there anyway and saw a sign that said their other location is open 23 hours a day.  I actually knew the street it was on so I walked there, just to be told by the pharmacist that coated aspirin exists but they don't sell it.  The pharmacy was packed which should be a clue that stores should stay open later than 5 or 6.

My experience in all three of these cities is all meals are huge. I don't like a big breakfast but I hadn't found a store until just now so I had to eat in restaurants. All omelets, fried eggs or scrambled eggs orders are made of 3 eggs.  This morning, I  asked if I could cut down the order.  She did but I got 2 eggs, sunny-side up, sitting on buttered Wonder bread (actually, the bread wasn't that good), with tomato, cucumber and some weird greens on top of that.  I took off all the greenery--I was afraid it had come from the Magic Mushroom.