We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so here's an outside shot of the Rijksmuseum, which was undergoing renovation, but still had many old masters on display:
And the outside of the Van Gogh Museum:
Even in winter, there were so many people at both of these museums that we really couldn't enjoy ourselves as we would have liked.Consulting the map in the book to make sure we weren't missing any museums:
We decided to grab a quick sandwich from a street vendor:
And then some more map-checking:
This was at the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, which is a canalside mansion that's now open to the public. Brian was working on taking artistic photographs:
Outside, in the W-H's courtyard:
As we left to head to our next destination, I realized my hat and gloves had been taken from me:
I think this may have been a picture of the W-H Museum from across the canal:
Entering another museum (obviously, my notes and memory are lacking):
About to enter the Rembrant House, which was one of my favorite places we visited.
Outside, we saw many magpies; this guy is hiding in the tree:
Here's an Indian Ringneck Parakeet. We also saw these in Istanbul and London. They are not native to any of these cities, but have adapted incredibly well:
After our long day of museum-going (we visited several not mentioned here), we went to the grocery store near our house to grab stuff for dinner. The basket Brian is holding has wheels on the bottom and can be pulled with a fold-out handle as a mini-cart.
Later that night, we had a Trappist taste test.
I thought the Tripel won, but Brian preferred the Dubbel. We went to bed early as we had an early day of birding planned for the next day.
Pigeons waiting for the train (starting our birding early!):
On the train:
At 
Our guide brought a scope that we could use. We brought our own binoculars from home, but he had some we could have used had we needed to. 
Many people bird in the Netherlands, and they have nice birding blinds set up in popular spots. Every time we went to one, there were plenty of other people there.
The view from the blind:
Mostly herons:
Mostly cormorants: 
We drove back to the visitors' center and ate a picnic lunch outside. This guy, a relative of our chickadee, had gotten rather tame and kept flying to our table, hoping for crumbs:
Outside the visitors' center:
We had to hike a fair amount to get to the next blind. Along the way, we passed some red deer:
Our guide and Brian walking toward the blind:
We passed so close to her! 
Walking up to the blind:
It was extremely muddy; luckily no one lost their shoes, though we did end up with muddy pants:
Near the end of the day:
This mural was outside of the center:
Modern windmills:
We ended up seeing quite a few birds in these fields, which was fun. At the end of the day, our guide brought us back to the station. A starling contemplated taking the train with us back to Amsterdam:
He was actually probably hoping we'd give him some food, but we didn't have any. Back home, we ate dessert first:
And then had a nice stir-fry for dinner.
We were disappointed in our dessert, feeling no effects from it.
We had a very nice time talking to him, his son, and wife, and then we walked back home through the 
Some moorhens:
Exiting the 
We had dinner close by, continuing our vacation trend of stopping at a 
Then we walked back home, exhausted from an exciting trip!
