Trip to Delft and the opening of the Rijksmuseum

The weather finally was nice this weekend, so we decided to use our day train ticket and go to Delft and Haarlem for the day.  Our plan was to go to Delft and hit Haarlem on the way home, then rest a bit and get in line to enter the Rijks.  It has been under renovation for over 10 years and Saturday was the opening.  Queen Bea was there and it was quite a celebration.  Since we are here we figured we really needed to go on opening day, just so we could say we were there when the darn place reopened.  Most of our plan for the day worked.
Delft is the home of Johannes Vermeer, so really wanted to go there.  That's about all we knew about Delft other then the Delftware which you see everywhere...the blue stuff.  It is a lovely little Dutch town with a really nice market square.  A nice museum and a old church and new church, a Saturday market with Kibbeling and that makes for a great weekend.  Ray's pictures really tell the story better then a narrative.  I never know which then (than) to use, so I just alternate.  Where is Lynda Jerit when I need her???

Mar 13, 2013 Delft

By the time we were leaving Delft we realized it was too late to stop off at Haarlem.  The Frans Hals museum is there.  We have been there, but it is a really nice one.  We will go back again before we  leave.  It is only about a 20 minute train ride to get there.
So, we got home and rested a bit.  Decided to go out for pizza and beer before we would head to the Rijks.  Our first pizza stop was too busy, so we headed for our alternate place.  The tourists have really hit town.  We finished eating around 9:15 and took the tram to the Rijks.  It was misty out and the line (an orange carpet, appropriately) didn't seed too long.  The folks we were standing with said they were told it would be an hour and a half wait.  Piece of cake!  We got into the building in  about 45 minutes and into the galleries in about the same time.  The place is really magnificent.  Massive.
For the special opening day and night they had a planned path to follow.  In the gallery with all the great works you couldn't get realy close to the paintings, but in the smaller galleries, you could.  We were totally satisfied.   

Apr 13, 2013 Rijksmuseum

Ray has already returned since Saturday night.  Ray here, I went Monday at about 3PM and just walked in.  I went to get photos of some of the portraits on a scarf got for her birthday. 

 Apr 15, 2013 Rijksmuseum