We started the day unsure of our plans... We figured we would take a day trip, but had not decided where. We both woke up at various times in the early morning... Heard the rain pounding the window, and went back to sleep. After breakfast at the hotel, we decided to go to The Hague.

I now have a Love/Hate relationship with Den Haag (The Hague).

Things I Love: Peace. Peace is a good thing and The Hague is the home of the Peace Palace where the U.N. has its international courts of arbitration. We saw the palace and took a picture similar to one Mark's dad took when he was here in the 50s. Public transportation. Friendly people who help tourists (shout out to the clerk at the American Bookstore and the guy at the bus stop who told us that the #10 tram doesn't run on Sundays).

Things I don't like: Overcast, rainy days (perhaps I shouldn't blame The Hague for this?). An art museum that moves itself without notice or signage (do you think I should blame the infallible Rick Steves for this?). The Girl With The Pearl Earring. Nope. I don't like her any more.

That makes it sound like we had a bad day, but it was actually a very fun and adventurous day. We took the inter city train from Amsterdam Central Station to The Hague, which is only 45 minutes or so away. It was still raining all morning so we chose The Hague instead of Delft because The Hague had the more exciting museum (ie. indoor) option: the Mauritshuis, which has several Rembrandts and Vermeers including The Girl With the Pearl Earring.

So we followed our map (and the street sign directions) to the Mauritshuis and circled the block twice in the rain looking for the museum, but we didn't see any evidence that there was any museum there at all. Finally I went into the bookstore and the clerk said that the museum is closed for extensive renovations and they've moved everything to the (insert unintelligible Dutch word here) Museum out by the Peace Palace and we can take the 24 route there and pick it up out by the trams. C'mon! What museum doesn't at least put a note on the door saying that they moved?? Seriously!

So with some guidance from a guy at the bus stop, we make our way to the Peace Palace, take some pictures outside the gate (not open on the weekend) and then realize that there aren't any signs for museums around. We consult the bus map and see that there are two museums a few stops later on the same line and our bus tickets are good for 30 minutes so we quickly decide to try the bus again. Since I have no idea what the name of the museum we are looking for is, this is just an educated guess (but the stop is called Gemeentemuseum/Museum stop so it wasn't exactly a mystical vision, either).

Sure enough, the bus drops us off right in front of the museum we need, a building that looks like a repurposed 1940s elementary school. Girl with the Pearl Earring, here we come!

It's not until we watch the introductory video that the chipper museum director slips in the information that a few of the museum's masterpieces, including Girl With the Pearl, are traveling to Japan and the U.S. while the museum is under renovation. Argh.

In any case, we did see more great art. Some favorites were Vase with Flowers by Jan Davidsz, a winter scene by an artist who's name starts with A---- (who, btw, was one of few people with disabilities of the 15th century that was considered a master of his craft), and a picture of a mother picking lice out of her son's hair (everyday life a common depiction of Dutch art). It was weird to look at art in tiled stalls that I believe used to be shower stalls. Mark is also not convinced of the greatness of Piet Mondrian's Victory Boogie Woogie, but I tried to make a good case for it.

Overall, we did have a fun adventure!

We leave Amsterdam tomorrow. Here are few final thoughts about the city. We stayed at the Rho Hotel, which was perfectly serviceable and well located for easy access to many neighborhoods. There are a million bicycles here as well as trams and buses and consequentially there are few curbs. I kept wondering, "is this street, or is this sidewalk?". No one else seemed to mind either way, but you do need to be careful. I was also a bit surprised that we couldn't use our credit cards as easily as we do in the U.S. Here they require a PIN number and a "chip". American Express will work without these, but few places take it.

Mark here.... Just a few thoughts... While disappointed that The Girl With The Pearl Earring wasn't there, they did have a Vermeer that I really liked called View of Delft. I find myself really liking Vermeer. His use of color and light really draw your eyes to them in galleries. I also really liked Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson and Portrait of an Old Man (which based on all the Rembrandt paintings I've seen this weekend, is hardly a unique description - it seems like they are ALL old men). In reference to Heather's thoughts on bikes.... Yes the bikes move fast, move silently, and seem to have the right of way everywhere - but it was comical watching her hyper-vigilance at any and every intersection. If there was a bike within eyeshot, she stopped like a possum until the threat moved by. I knew it was getting bad when she warned me of a jogger (yes, jogger) who was half a block away... When I told her that I could run across the street and back a dozen times before the jogger got to us, and even then could muster the agility to avoid him.... She admitted maybe she was getting a little over zealous. :). Time to have some dinner (at 9:30!), and maybe do some repacking.

Tomorrow we are boarding the cruise ship so there might not be much to report. Don't worry about us if you don't hear from us for a day.

Keep leaving us messages. We love reading them (and we hope we have enough time tomorrow to try either the Cat Museum or the Tropical Museum. Thx for the suggestions!)