Day 21- Amsterdam Day 3!

Today we employed the same wander-towards-things-and-maybe-stop-along-the-way tactic as yesterday, which was really nice again. We ended up visiting the Van Gogh Museum, the location where a scene from The Fault in Our Stars was shot, and a grocery store to buy stroopwafels, along with going on a boat tour and just wandering some more.

The Fault in Our Stars (TFIOS) by John Green was pretty trendy a few years ago, and a scene from the movie adaptation of the book with Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley was shot in Amsterdam on a bench by a canal. Apparently the original bench was stolen, but it was replaced and there were a bunch of hearts with names on it. It was quite cute, and a lovely spot to stop and have a snack. 

We spent most of the day walking around again, and stopping here and there to go into a store or sit down at a bench. Every street was picturesque and adorable. :)

The Van Gogh Museum was absolutely beautiful and very much worth the €18 entrance price. I’m not usually into paintings that much, but seeing so much of his work in one place, with very specific stories behind his motivations and inspirations, was such a neat experience. There were two sections of the museum, one 4-story section of his paintings in chronological order with his life story as you walked through, and a smaller temporary section called Van Gogh Dreams, which made for some sweet pictures!

Above: a glimpse into Van Gogh’s creative process, a statement about his purposeful use of color and his unique style of short lines in his paintings.

Below: “inside” Van Gogh’s brain right after he cut off his ear, symbolic of the mental turmoil and unhappiness he was feeling at the time.


I tried to pick a favorite painting of his, but I just couldn’t choose... here’s one of the ones that held my attention for a solid few minutes, it’s called “Cypresses and Two Women”, painted in 1890:

I just adore the motion throughout the painting, and the sense of nature being greater than mankind. The individual brushstrokes are purposeful and striking, and it’s overall a visually pleasing image. This landscape style is classic Van Gogh, and there were tons and tons of similar images. However, something different that caught my eye was this small piece titled “Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette”, painted in 1886:

I love the dimension in this piece, and how the shadows and highlights are defined. It’s pretty dark and dissimilar to what you expect when you think of Van Gogh. 

After the museum, we went on a canal tour, which was a relaxing way to end the day. All of Amsterdam is so photogenic, it’s almost impossible to find a house that won’t look adorable in a photo. Here are some of my favorites from the boat tour:

After that, we grabbed a waffle for dinner and then hopped back on the plane to Berlin.

 It was funny to realize that coming back to my hostel room felt a bit like coming home to somewhere familiar... I’m definitely going to miss Berlin when I leave.