From microbes, animals and plants to Rembrandt

Today the sun should shine and so we were happy that we had booked tickets for the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam for this day.

After a short walk past the animal enclosures, we went to the 'Microbia' exhibition.

Here everything revolves around the particularly small organisms that populate us humans and everything we touch throughout the day.

Back in the zoo, we strolled along the beautifully landscaped enclosures.

In addition to the many exotic animals, we also saw a lot of herons that had discovered the zoo as a habitat with good food supply.

Then we went to the Hortus Botanicus, the botanical garden.

The facility was smaller than expected and unfortunately not many flowers were blooming at the moment.

But the greenhouses were beautiful and lushly overgrown.

Not far away is the former Jewish quarter.

We paid a short visit to the Portuguese Synagogue.

Since it closed an hour earlier than we thought, we didn't have much time.

That's why we also visited the (longer open) Jewish Museum, which is housed in a former synagogue complex.

Not far away is Rembrandt's former residence.

His former living and working rooms can be visited as a museum today.

Since he apparently couldn't handle money well, he had to sell all his possessions and this house.

Because he noted everything that belonged to him in a list, we now at least know what the furnishings of his house must have looked like.

For an evening walk, we took the tram back to the city center. In front of the royal palace there was a large police presence and many blockades: French President Macron was on a state visit here.

We didn't see Macron or the king and we didn't feel like waiting for them like the other onlookers.

We walked along the Herengracht and circled the old town.

We crossed the Blauwbrug from 1874 and headed north again.

Our walk took us past the Maritime Museum and ended at the main train station.