A day trip to Amsterdam

On Saturday, Dec 13, we took the train into Amsterdam for a day on the town. Amsterdam is only an hour and 40 minutes away by train, so it makes a nice uitstapje (little trip).
We started our tour with a visit to a half-size replica of Noah’s Ark. A Dutch builder felt compelled to build Noah’s Ark as an evangelistic tool, and after finishing the construction he has sailed the boat to several ports in the Netherlands. It is currently docked in Amsterdam.
Inside the ark are several displays about various stories from the Bible, as well as fake animals. After the ark, we visited the Rijksmuseum, the most famous art museum in Holland. It contains a large collection of masterpieces by Dutch artists such as Rembrant and Vermeer, including Rembrant’s famous “Night Watch” (this picture is from the Rijksmuseum website).
We also got to see a piece of modern art called “For the Love of God” by Damien Hirst, on display for only a limited time. This piece is a casting of a human skull, covered with 8601 diamonds. It is said to be the most expensive piece of art ever made. We were not impressed. It got its name from what the artist's mother exclaimed when he told her he was going to cover a skull with diamonds. This picture is from Wikipedia.
Next we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I enjoyed seeing how his artistic style developed through the course of his career.
Night comes early at this time of year, so we enjoyed the many Christmas lights before heading back to the train station for our ride home.