Museums & Milkshakes

Museums. They're one of the main features of any city break, right?

Unsurprisingly, Amsterdam is chock-a-block full of them, and having already paid a visit to Anne Frank House during our first day in the city, we were ready to check out the competition on the Saturday.

Once we'd located the Museum Quarter {conveniently not too far away from our Airbnb} we decided to grab something to eat before the cultural afternoon ahead. Having scoured through Carrie's list of recommendations, we settled on Corner Bakery Amsterdam.

Famous for its extravagant, colourful and downright outrageous milkshakes, my inner child was pretty excited.

I chose the banana milkshake; thick and creamy, and loaded with whipped cream, Fruit Loops and Party Rings..

Delicious.

With our bellies full of milkshakes and burgers, we took a leisurely walk back in the sunshine towards our next stop: the Rijksmuseum.

As you can see, the entrance hall of the museum is fantastic.

And it gives a great first impression.

Our priority was seeing the museum's most renowned works first of all, which meant heading straight to the Gallery of Honour.

Rembrandt's The Night Watch is perhaps the museum's most famous piece, and I was surprised at how close we were able to get to it {the four-deep crowd of people in front of Mona Lisa in The Louvre comes to mind...!}

As much as I like Rembrandt, I much prefer Van Gogh - he is in fact one of my favourite artists.

The Rijksmuseum only has a few Van Gogh pieces, so be sure to pay a visit to the Van Gogh Museum during your trip if you want to see some more {post about that coming soon!}

Next up was the breathtaking library within the museum, one of the main art history collections in the world.

Honestly a book-lover's dream!

There were still a few exhibits we wanted to track down, so we spent the rest of the afternoon mooching around the different floors, snapping photos as we went.

^ Still wearing my waterproof coat of dreams as you can see - I've linked it above for you.

 

There's no denying that the Rijksmuseum is big. By the time we had just about seen everything we wanted, the museum was closing, and we were completely exhausted! But thankfully, the charming café remains open for another hour after the museum closes, meaning we could have a rest and a cold, refreshing beer before the walk home.

I think it's safe to say that no trip to Amsterdam is complete without going to the Rijksmuseum {especially if you want a selfie with the iamsterdam letters outside!} Even if it's just so you can wander through the Gallery of Honour and see the big-hitters, don't miss this highlight if you're in the city.

Thank you to the Rijksmuseum for arranging my press visit.