Amsterdam: Sunday, April 10, 2011 to Friday, April 15
As we’ve posted before, one thing the French do not lack is breaks from school. Abby’s school resumed near the end of February after we did our two neat trips, but after six weeks it was time for another break! This time, a two week break leading up to Easter.
So how to make use of this? Joe had a possible conference in Rotterdam, so we decided to go to Amsterdam for a while, a Sunday-Friday trip.
We arrived in the early evening by train from Paris. This is just under a 4 hour trip and very pleasant. We arrived into Amsterdam’s Central Terminal train station and headed for the Tram to where we stayed in a friend’s apartment close to the Museum Plein. (Thank you, Kieke!) It was a lovely neighborhood with many shops and restaurants but being Sunday most were closed. We did find a spot called Burgermeister with 2 women eating outside who assured us the burgers were great. They were right. Immediately you notice how pleasant and helpful the Dutch are to visitors. Also they all speak English having learned it since the age of 10.
Monday, April 11
We had breakfast at another friendly and comforting restaurant, called Bagels and Beans, a short walk from the apartment and near the famous Albert Cuyp streetmarket. Then we walked off to find the Keukenhof which is like the Disneyworld of flowers outside of Amsterdam. It is open from mid-March to mid-May every year, and is sponsored mostly by the flower industry – which is a big industry in Holland. To get there, we took bus 197 to Schipol Airport and then changed to bus 58. A schlep, but not too bad. Abby and Joe rented bikes and road out to the tulip fields and countryside until they reached the sea! I went immediately into the park of flowers.
When you enter you see a circular pond with a water fountain and lots of stores so you buy souvenirs and food. Then you begin to walk around the park. There are pavilions along the way with a unique exposition in each one. The landscape is just beautiful as you can see in the photos. The pavilion that impressed me the most was Orange Nassau where they had amazing flower arrangements. Also the pavilion called Willem Alexander had every kind of bulb flower imaginable. There was also a playground and petting zoo for the kids. When Abby and Joe found me after a couple of hours we walked around for at least another hour before heading to the buses. Lots of “wows” from them.
When we returned home we tried to get into a nice-looking bar next to a canal, but it was too busy. So we kept walking and eventually found a nice-looking Chinese restaurant called Nam Kee, in a square just behind The Heineken Experience. It was really good. Good burgers, bagels, and Chinese food – plus canals!
Tuesday, April 12
We went to the Van Gogh Museum. This is a great museum that traces the artist’s life from when he began to paint until he died. Originally Van Gogh was an art dealer in Paris but left his job when he became obsessed with religion. He was an evangelist for a short while and then, finding himself without work, began to paint. The exhibit gives you a sense of his influences and the stages of his work. Joe had been there before but hadn’t remembered, he said, how competent the early paintings were – but you could really see how Van Gogh became Van Gogh as he first moved to Paris and got to know painters like Toulouse Lautrec and Bonnard, and then moved to Provence. When you see that many paintings you can really see his influences (such as Millet with his paintings of peasants), and the progression of his art in style and use of color. His earlier works were darker. And you can see how his latest paintings get more extreme, almost abstract.
We bought a souvenir poster and a Van Gogh comic book, and headed off to the Albert Cuyp streetmarket to check it out. Which takes a while. It’s a lot of blocks with meats, cheeses, fish, fruits, vegetables, clothes, toiletries, bedding – everything!!!! We were very good and didn’t graze. Then we went home to rest before heading off to the place Joe had been genuflecting at every time we walked by.
That is the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam’s famous orchestra hall. Joe’s friend Tom Oliver from the University of Wisconsin was in town to go to the same conference, and we met up at the ticket office, got our tickets, and asked where we might find a good light dinner. The person behind us recommended a Tapas bar called Pompa that was delicious! The Concertgebouw Orchestra was not playing but the Netherlands Philharmonic was, and that, with the hall, was just fine. Joe was beaming the whole time. They played the Schubert Unfinished Symphony and Brahms’ Fourth, and the sound was just luscious. The place is gorgeous, too. We love Severance Hall, which is also one of the best in the world, but this was special. The acoustics are fantastic so no matter where you sit the orchestra sounds as beautiful.
Wednesday, April 13
Today and Thursday were big walking days. We walked everywhere and used no trams!!!!! First we walked to Central station where we took a one hour train to Delft then the Hague. Delft is a charming city also with canals, an old church and an old town hall. We visited the factory where Delft pottery is still formed and hand-painted in the traditional ways from the 18th century. We saw how the ceramics were molded and how they are painted. There are 4 different techniques used for delft ware. There are more styles than the classic blue and white. There is an oriental style and modern style delftware. We walked around the town and ate lunch at another Bagel and Beans in the large major square in Delft.
Then we went to the Hague (or Den Haag) so Joe and Abby could go to the Mauritshuis, a smaller museum that is famous for its great collection of Dutch classics. For the first and only time in Holland Joe had trouble getting directions from someone and we walked a bunch after all the Delft walking, so I sat in a pretty square and had coffee! Joe and Abby reported the Mauritshuis was really good. It’s most famous painting is Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring, and they say that it totally lives up to the hype (unlike the famous portrait of a woman here in the Louvre, which is sort of “eh”). Then we went back to Amsterdam and went looking for a restaurant with “traditional Dutch food”. Which meant spare ribs. Barbecue is sort of sparse on the ground here in Paris. We followed the guidebook to a place called Stoop en Stoop which was cheap, friendly, good ribs, good fries – very satisfying!
Thursday, April 14
Joe went off to Rotterdam for the semi-annual meeting of the European Health Policy Group. Abby and I were on our own. I was wondering how many times I would get lost. It turned out to be a lot fewer than I thought.
We began our day with a canal cruise. Abby and I were the first on board then a tour group of Japanese came on. Their guide started talking into the microphone so Abby and I were afraid it was just us on the cruise. Fortunately other people came aboard. The commentary was delivered in English, Japanese, and French.
Here is some interesting information we learned:
Amsterdam was officially founded October 27, 1275. It is where the Amstel river reaches the North Sea. The buildings are built on piles since the city is below sea level. The Amstel locks date from the 17th century. The locks are used to correct the water level of the canals. The main canals were dug in the 17th century and form concentric patterns.
Most people get around using bikes so there are parking lots for bikes with 2 levels of bikes. It’s an amazing sight. The port of Holland is very modern. Many ferries transport pedestrians and bikes. There are 2500 house boats anchored in the canals.
Many canal houses date from the 1800s. Some of the grandest homes were built in the 17th century. One of the most distinctive features of the local architecture is all the gables. The gables served as recognition for a house until there were house numbers. Each house has a hoisting hook used to hoist furniture and goods into the house. The houses are very narrow and tall with 3-4 flights of stairs. We knew all about that because the house we were staying in was the same way, and our room was on the third (European second) floor! Originally taxes were charged by the façade width. Which is one reason houses were so narrow! Now taxes are based on the amount of space inside. One house is only one window wide – this is the narrowest house. The oldest house dates from 1590. There is one Double House built 1618 during the Dutch renaissance.
The cruise was about an hour and a half. Then we were off for some lunch and the Jewish Museum.
The Jewish Museum was terrific. The first exhibit is on Esther scrolls by an Italian Jewish artist named Salom Italia, who came to Amsterdam in 1641, at the height of the Dutch golden age. The next room contained artifacts from a synagogue destroyed during WW2. The ark and torah scrolls had been preserved in this room. There are lots of artifacts organized by the Jewish life cycle. Several movies are running describing how the Amsterdam and Dutch Jews were affected by the Nazis. The museum continues until present day. So the observer can get a good perspective of Jewish life in the Netherlands from the beginning until now.
Next we went to the Portugese Synagogue. Unfortunately there is some work being done to the inside sanctuary so it wasn’t as impressive as I remember from 1995. Still it is a gorgeous. Very calm, beautiful wood, no electric light – all candles, just as in the 17th century.
We then toured the Gassan Diamond Factory. GORGEOUS!!!!!! We were shown how diamonds are crafted from raw graphite to their sparkly beauty.
The Anne Frank House
Finally we walked to the Anne Frank house. What can you say about this? The house is very much of a museum with information about the Franks and the Von Piels and an exhibit about Anne’s sister Margo. There were also interviews with women who knew Anne as a girl. So moving and heart wrenching. We could climb the stairs behind the bookcase into the first floor attic of the factory where the Franks lived. So tiny…………………………….. The Von Piels lived another flight up in an even smaller space. The hiding place was in the attic of Otto Frank’s factory.
The museum shows a lot of personal effects of Anne and her family such as letters and Anne’s notebooks where she wrote her journal as well as stories and quotes she wanted to remember. There was an interview with a woman who was in school with Anna. They saw each other in Bergen Belsen. This was a month before the camp was liberated. Anne told her she was all alone – she had nothing to live for. She didn’t know that her father was still alive in Auschwitz. To think that Anne might have lived….!
The attic was very small. The first level of stairs went to the Franks apartment. They only showed Anne’s room and the bathroom. There was a model of the house when they were in hiding so we could see how they lived. The Von Piels lived in one room with their son in a separate tiny room.
When we left the Frank house, we headed for the Pancake Bakery for authentic Dutch pancakes. These are large like crepes but thicker than crepes but not as high as American pancakes. Of course we discussed what we observed that day. How could you not????
Finally we walked back to the apartment with a fast detour to see some “red light houses”. They’re not just in the “red light district.” We had a great day and walked everywhere!!!!! But we saw everything we wanted to see without getting lost. It helps that the Dutch speak perfect English and are very helpful and kind.
Friday, April 15
Joe returned from Rotterdam around 3. It turned out that Abby and I were enjoying the nice sunny weather at a café where Joe met us. They have good coffee in Amsterdam too! Then we went to the Rijksmuseum. This is the main Dutch art museum, sort of their National Gallery. But it was undergoing very major renovation, so they only had a small section open with “the masterpieces.” The most famous paintings were in it – like “The Night Watch”. But man, was it crowded.
We had a 7:15 train back. So what to do about dinner? Picnic! We bought cheese and apples and nuts and a little Dutch corned beef (“pickelfleish” – not so great) and herring (yum!) and ate it on the train. It was a wonderful trip. We came back to Paris full of admiration for the Dutch people and their society.
