Amsterdam is the question. No, I did not. Is the answer.

Amsterdam

40,000 steps, 2 days:  3 churches, 0 castles, 5 culture

We traveled to the Netherlands for a week in August 2015.  We landed in Amsterdam via  a Viking Rhine River tour, stayed with a friend in Wassenaar, drove through the country and also visited Belgium, and left by high speed train to Paris.  The weather was rainy and warm, the people were friendly, we were surprised at every turn by the tradition-laced modernity of the country, and we were charmed by the tolerance for all lifestyles.

We were excited to get to Amsterdam to see the city but the real draw was meeting with Maureen’s daughter Melody who lives in Wassenaar, about 1 hour from Amsterdam and next door to the Hague.  Once our Viking boat docked, we stayed at Melody’s comfortable home for 7 nights and explored The Netherlands and Belgium using her house as a base and her car for transportation.  Melody went way, way out of her way to make us comfortable – just a great hostess.  Here’s Maureen with her daughter Melody in Wassernaur.

As our boat docked, we realized we didn’t have our Amsterdam Museum passes – they were at Melody’s house.  So we rushed through the Captain’s good-bye dinner (delicious!) and grabbed public transportation to meet Melody at the Amsterdam airport.  Kisses, hugs, introductions…. then back to the ship to spend the night.

In the morning, we packed up our suitcases, I enjoyed one last yummy breakfast aboard the Viking ship Hlin:  scrambled eggs and sausage and a sweet roll with home-made jelly and sweet, sweet yogurt and Diet Coke.  Then we rolled our suitcases about a block away to the train station where we stored them in the luggage lockers.  Best of all, we met back up with Rachel who had come in from Bruges where she had spent the week while we Viking cruised.  The 3 P-Nuts are back together again!

We stopped at the Tourist Information building directly across from Amsterdam’s Central Train Station (Bahnhof), picked up maps, and purchased a day card for public transportation (7.50 Eur).  Then we were ready to explore Amsterdam.

Amsterdam Traffic

I think video games were invented after a game designer made a trip to Amsterdam.  Crossing the street is a major challenge as you dodge pedestrians, cars, baby buggies, taxis, buses, skate boards and bicycles.  The bicyclists follow no rules and come at your from all sides out of nowhere, shouting as they pass within a breath of you.  They ride their bikes across plazas, sidewalks, streets…anywhere you are.

The trams travel atop grass because it deadens the sound of the trains on the city streets plus adds some green to the cityscape.

On the other hand, one charming mode of transportation is these baby buggies.  The first is driven by a bicyclist with baby seated in the bucket-like front seat – complete with plastic weather gear.   The second is a day care wagon for 8 kids powered by what looks like a  Segway.  Sometimes babies are in car seats but most often, they’re just kind of hanging on. The third bike can be used for carting kids or groceries or anything else that will fit.

Food is a problem in Amsterdam because everything is delicious and it’s hard to decide where to spend your appetite.  We read great reviews for the teeny-tiny Upstairs Pancake House on Trip Advisor so we secured reservations at the Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs and took ourselves up a very, very steep staircase to the second floor to a little restaurant that perched like a nest in a tree.  To reach the toilet, you needed to cross the two story staircase that was more like a ladder.  We wedged into one of the four tables in the place and anticipated a great treat.  Because we wanted to taste everything on the menu, we ordered three pancakes and split them among ourselves:  Ham and tomato, pineapple and bacon, and strawberries and cream.  All, spectacular.  I want to do it all over again.

We continued to eat our way across Amsterdam at the Albert Cuyp Market.  Getting there was an adventure as we knew we were near but couldn’t seem to find the huge market street because we always seemed to be on the wrong side of a canal or behind a canyon of buildings that blocked our view.  So I asked myself, is it about the journey or the destination? then settled down and enjoyed the adventure.  That’s when I discovered the quirks of Amsterdam.

First, a gorgeous doorway – I wanted to step inside just to look around then realized this was one of many, many doorways and  I’d never get to see the other sides.  Still, wouldn’t you just love to see what’s behind the door?

Some folks displayed their treasures in their picture windows.  I wonder if this collector is sharing her wedding-toppers or if she’s the merry widow?

Can I just say I love the houseboats of Amsterdam?  How romantic to live on a canal and bicycle to work.

It’s always a treat to spy my favorite brewery and the delivery truck just down the street.

A hotdog seems just the right thing to go with a cold beer on a very, very hot day in Amsterdam.  What’s with the winter coat?

Albert Cuyp Market  

We finally found the long, winding street just off the canals  that is the Albert Cuyp Market.  It’s lined with small shops and temporary stands selling baked goods, vegetables, blue jeans, Chinese kitchenware, scented candles, shoes, fruits, honey, scarves:  you name it, it’s there.

We were advised to try the poffertjes.  The little pancakes sprinkled with butter and powdered sugar were melt-in-your-mouth sweet bits of heaven.

We were also advised to try stroopwafels, which we did.  But the little waffles glued together with a sweet paste were so sweet they made your teeth squeek.  So I ate a couple bites and found a trash can for the rest.  More pofferjes, please.

The good news about food is that you get to eat it all through the day.  The bad news:  I seem to have taken all photos of sweets.  Here are a few of our other temptations.

Van Gogh Museum  

 It probably sounds churlish to say I expected more.  Maybe I was just hot.  Maybe I was just tired.  After all, the Van Gogh Museum has the largest collection of his works in the world.  The Cleveland Museum of Art has outstanding Van Gogh paintings, and so does the Louvre. But this museum was created by Van Gogh’s sister-in-law and nephew and provides a loving description of his life with examples of many of Van Gogh’s 900 paintings (not always the originals).  Vincent only lived to be 37 but he created a hell of a lot of art in that time:  1,000 drawings, 150 water colors, 10 graphic works, 9 lithographs.  

 A visit to the Van Gogh Museum was more about spending some time with Vincent in a beautiful museum than it was about seeing a good restrospective of his art.  I saw an extraordinary retrospective exhibit of his art at the Toledo Museum of Art 30 years ago – I really liked seeing Van Gogh’s progress as an artist and also it was interesting to see his descent into mental illness.  The Van Gogh Museum of art is, instead, curated to share the happier parts of Van Gogh’s life.  As Van Gogh wrote, “To do good work, one must eat well, be well housed, have one’s fling from time to time, smoke one’s pipe, and drink one’s coffee in peace.”

Here are a few of the paintings I loved seeing in person at the Van Gogh Museum.  In the entryway, was a whole collection of VanGogh’s self portraits.  It was interesting to see how he painted himself as he aged.

The intense colors and angry brush strokes create a pastoral scene of violence. Sumptuous to look at, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have been there when he was painting this.  What was happening in that field 125 years ago?

I do absolutely love this painting which Vincent gave to his brother as a gift; it hung over his brother and sister-in-law’s bed.  This photo does not do justice as the actual painting is horizontal, not square, and very large.  But the blue is dreamily gorgeous and the sensuously twining branches are extraordinary.

It was difficult to get near this painting because of the crowds of people.  But it was worth the wait as the burst of sunshine emitting from this painting was stunning.  I’m more used to seeing light from an external source shining onto a subject, such as in a Caravaggio.  But this painting seemed to push sunlight out of itself.  Wonderful!

I love seeing how the painter lived in this portrait of his bedroom.  One of the things I love best about art is that not only do you witness technique, but you also get to see the artist’s interpretation of the world.  Everyone knows what a bedroom looks like, but Vincent made this room his own, complete with quirky persepctive.

The museum, itself, is worth visiting even if you aren’t a fan of Van Gogh.  It is light and airy and fun to move around.  From time to time the navigation was confusing but friendly guards were happy to help out.  However, you know how you might visit a new friend and their house is gorgeous but not at all what you expected because it’s nothing like their personality?  That’s the feeling I got with this building.  The paintings seemed like they (the paintings) were just visiting.

Dutch Resistance Museum 

The Dutch Resistance Museum has been named the best historical museum in the Netherlands.  I was impressed with the resilience and the quiet fight conducted by the Dutch during WWII. In thousands of ways – from compromising bridges to hiding Jews, the Dutch people resisted during their five year occupation by the Nazis. This museum focuses not just on the thousands of people murdered by the Nazis but also on the hardships endured by the people of the Netherlands from hunger to cold to the conscription of citizens to feed the Nazi war machine.  The museum also looks at what freedom meant when the “Allies came calling” (their words, not mine).

Dutch Resistance Museum – Amsterdam

The Dutch Resistance Museum took on current political prisoners and steps that need to be taken to support those who are incarcerated for their beliefs or their heritage.  In a special education area, the Museum posted:  “Even today, 70 years after World War Two, people are still imprisoned because of their opinions or because they oppose the powers that be.  Frequently, this also serves to intimidate the rest of the population.”  Dutch students wrote biographies of three such prisoners from Saudi Arabia, China and Eritrea.  The following photo is a picture of a box stuffed with wishes for these political prisoners.

Anne Frank House 

It was fascinating to visit the Anne Frank house – I was inspired by her book when I first read it as a young teen and I continue to count it among my most interesting reads. Every single page brings to mind, “this is a life,” and people matter.  This little statue stands near the Anne Frank house, as does the headstone.

The Westerkerk  is very near to Anne Frank’s house – she writes in her diary that hearing the churchbells helped her to keep track of time.

On August 10, 1943, Anne wrote:  We’ve all been a little confused this past week because our dearly beloved Westertoren bells have been carted off to be melted down for the war, so we have no idea of the exact time, either night or day. I still have hopes that they’ll come up with a substitute, made of tin or copper or some such thing, to remind the neighborhood of the clock.  (Source:  Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida)

I was surprised at the size of the Anne Frank house – I always imagined a tiny area the size of my own attic.  It was actually quite large with several rooms, running water, and a beautiful Delft bathroom.  I was also surprised to learn that the Frank family did get to roam around the very large building after hours.  However, this does not begin to pardon those who stole their freedom and their lives.  And it also does not acknowledge the incredible sacrifice of those who hid the family and friends.  The tour was emotional and humanized the story of the holocaust.

No photos (or bags or backpacks) were allowed in the house so I freely borrowed some from the internet.  Thank you to the Anne Frank organization and to IaminAmsterdam.com for the photos.

We left our luggage at a drop off place (Dutch: bagagekluizen) .  We paid a few euro and left the luggage for several hours.  It was a bit random — we had to look for the attendant when we returned for our luggage — but it only took a few moments to find him running from down the street to meet us.

The Hermitage Amsterdam

 The Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam is branch of the more famous museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.  For more than 300 years, this building was used to house the elderly as the Amstelhof  but it was  thoroughly modernized as an art museum in 2007.  There is an excellent permanent exhibit of the Golden Age of the Netherlands but we had already seen nearly the same thing at the Rijksmuseum.

Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam

The real reason for our visit the Hermitage  was to view a visiting exhibit of Napoleon.  Photography was forbidden which was disappointing because many of the artifacts were beautiful.  More interesting, the Hermitage had recreated whole rooms filled with the treasures of the Napoleonic era for the temporary exhibit.

The following is an image of the exhibit borrowed from the New York Times.  The New York Times website also includes an excellent story about the exhibit with additional photographs.

This history of the museum building as a nursing home is really interesting.  You can read the whole story at Amstelhof.  “Old age” for women in Amsterdam in 1681 started at 50.

Stumblestones 

Before the Holocaust, if you stumbled on a cobble stone, people would say, “There must be a Jew buried here.” Today nearly 50,000 small memorials have replaced cobblestones throughout Europe to represent the places where Jewish families lived before they disappeared. The artist Stolpersteine inspired this emotional tribute of stumblestones.   Later on in our journeys, I also discovered stumblestones in other cities once occupied by Nazis.  As I discover my photos, I will post them in my blog.  Meanwhile, from the blog posted by the HollandHockman’s, this photo illustrates my point:

Pot

I don’t drink coffee and I don’t smoke pot.  So I didn’t see the need to visit a coffeeshop while in Amsterdam.  That’s why the answer to my question is, “No, I did not.”  Coffeeshops can only have about one pound of hash on hand at any one time and there are rules against export.  But Amsterdam seems to turn their eyes away when it comes to weed.  I’ve never smelled so much pot on the street except at a rock concert.  Maybe that’s why the atmosphere is so chill.

Rijksmuseum  

The Rijksmuseum has the best collection anywhere of the Dutch Masters — Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer, and Steen — in a spectacular setting.  We didn’t have time to examine hundreds of items at every museum and art gallery we visited, so I made lists of what I really wanted to see, visited the stand-outs, and enjoyed the items I came across on the way to my destination.  You can read about my experience in my Rijksmuseum blog.

Here’s what I didn’t want to miss at the Rijksmuseum:

Rembrandt, The Jewish Bride

Rembrandt, The Syndics of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild

Hals, The Meagre Company

Vermeer, A Street in Delft

Rembrandt, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem

Vermeer, The Milkmaid

Rembrandt, The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch (Nightwatch)

Random images of Amsterdam

 Escher Museum

Here’s a preview of an upcoming blog on The Hague:

Went to the very cool Escher Museum today and I was blown away by the …. chandeliers made by the Rotterdam artist Hans van Bentem. Every room sparkled and shined.

Author: barbgrano1

Just let me see the world! I'm currently focusing on the US and Europe and invite you to share my travels. I teach ethics and political science at St. Petersburg College part time; I retired as a college administrator in Ohio. I am a total geek about government with huge wishes for continued freedom and respect for the individual. We must each do our part. View all posts by barbgrano1