Saturday was a beautiful day! We spent it walking miles through Amsterdam with our fantastic guide, Marten Koerse. Marten has an incredible knowledge of art and history, and we’re glad we chose him to guide us through the day.

Marten met us in the lobby of our hotel at 9:00, and we set off on a leisurely stroll to the Rijksmuseum.

Marten is a gifted storyteller, and I repeatedly saw us gathering a crowd inside the exhibit areas! I probably should have passed the hat to let those people pay their share of our tour!😂

The Night Watch is currently being restored. It sits behind giant sheets of thick glass which provide soundproofing so the experts working on the painting aren’t startled by noise from the museum guests.

As we were leaving the museum, Marten pointed out a long metal plate in the ceiling of the porte cochere. It is an emergency escape to lower the priceless masterpiece to safety in case of fire.

After we left the museum we made our way over to the Albert Cuyp Market for samplings of some of Marten’s Dutch favorites!

We started at the fish market, although both Jim and I politely declined the Pickled Herring!

By this time we were stuffed and tired, so we decided to head back to our hotel to freshen up before dinner. We were going to take the tram, but unfortunately there was a service interruption due to a large demonstration in Dam Square. Thankfully Marten was able to navigate a different way back using the Metro, and we got back to the hotel about 4:00.

Our day with Marten was exceptional, and we would love to tour with him again when/if we return to Amsterdam.

Dinner Saturday was something new to us…we arranged dinner in a private home using the “Eat With” website (https://www.eatwith.com). What a fantastic experience! We chose an Italian meal in Luca’s canal home, and are so glad we did that instead of going to a restaurant. Luca was a gracious host and an excellent cook. We enjoyed the meal, watching the chef in action, and Luca’s personal story of growing up in southern Italy and how he came to settle in Amsterdam. I highly recommend Eat With to anyone who likes to explore a different culture and get a taste of what life is like for the locals!

We didn’t have much energy left by the time we finished dinner. We knew we still needed to get back to the hotel and get packed up to leave in the morning. We were finally cruising the next day, and we couldn’t wait for 2 weeks on a ship exploring new places!