Farewell Amsterdam, And Welcome Onboard!

After a delicious breakfast at the art deco Banks Mansion hotel, we saw our last sights in Amsterdam on Monday. First was the Art Nouveau Theater Tuchinsky, a marvelous fantasy from 1921. We took an extensive tour of Jacob Van Campen's neo-classical 17th century masterpiece, The Royal Palace. Even though it was built in the 17th century, and as an imposing Town Hall, it was converted into a royal palace for King Louis Bonaparte, a sibling of Napoleon, in the early 19th century, so the palace has the largest collection of Empire-style furniture outside of France. We then explored the Old Church of Gothic fame, built in the 14th century. Some of its wooden ceilings feature old paintings and 12,000 we buried under its stone floors. We had lunch at the Rijks Restaurant before boarding the Silhouette at 2 pm. - Dan