Last Monday we went to Amsterdam for a visit to the Rijksmuseum, and some general sightseeing in Amsterdam. The visit to the Museum was what you would call memorable.
First, I hadn't been there before. The times I wanted to go it was closed for renovations (which took more than 10 years to complete). Second, the museum got evacuated around 10:45AM.
The evacuation in progress
The evacuation itself was just a drill (according to the media). Which was a good thing, since none of the emergency exits could be opened (at least the ones we tried).
After spending about half an hour outside (the weather was fine), we were aloud back in.
During our visit I created the following photos;
NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED IN THE OLD LIBRARY!!!
It is allowed to photograph in the museum just as long as you don't use flash or a tripod (I don't think that you're allowed to bring one). The only place where it's not allowed to photograph is the ground floor of the old library (no mention of video though...).
The best time to go is early in the morning (the museum opens every day at 09:00). Avoid weekends and (public) holidays. Then it is possible to encounter empty hallways in the museum.
You can safely ignore this tip if you like to have a gazillion people between you and the exhibits.