Art and History in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Royal Palace and Town Hall

Saturday, July 24, 2004 - Bruges to Amsterdam

While checking out we meet an interesting but slightly weird  British couple who keep asking us for recommendations on what to do and then when we give a suggestion, tell us they had already been there or done that: a particularly frustrating and new version of "The Bear Trap" from Eric Berne's Games People Play.

We ride the train to Antwerp and change for Amsterdam - a pleasant and relaxing journey.  I realize what a joy traveling by train can be compared to flying.  Except for very long trips with tight schedules, I believe train travel is the way to go in Europe.

Amsterdam Canal Across from Hotel

Our first experience with the tourist inundated Amsterdam Centraal Train Station happens when I try to make a reservation for some of our upcoming legs.  The wait is at least two and one-half hours.  We decide to try later.  We grab a taxi, driven as are most taxis in Amsterdam, by a Middle Easterner, in this case a Yemeni.  He is not carrying a knife as most of his countrymen in Yemen do but he is definitely not friendly nor is he much help as to things to do in Amsterdam.

The clerks at our hotel, Tulip Inn Amsterdam Centre, are very helpful and efficiently check us in. We get to our room on the fifth floor to find it is even smaller than our Bruges accommodations and at about twice the price.  The "Internet Disconnect" also kicks in and we find that, although they have free internet access in the lobby, if you want to connect from your room, it costs… and costs…and costs.  I had read that rooms in Amsterdam were more expensive than almost anywhere else in Europe but I am shocked at price/size ratio.  We have a delightful view of the canal across the street.  That is if we stand on our tiptoes to look out the window which is set in the roof: so much for web site truthfulness.

I may never get used to the size of European hotel rooms.  Our hotel is rated at three stars but the room is barely large enough for both of us to be in it unless one of us is in bed.  It's almost as bad as our first hotel in Japan.  We stayed in the Ueno prefecture at a so-called "Business Man's Hotel" because it was very reasonable and carried three stars.  Hah!!!!  The bed was situated so that the only way on or off it was via the foot of the bed.  The bathroom was organized so that the only way to sit on the toilet was to situate your knees under the sink and leave the door open.  We learned our lesson in Japan.  It takes us a while to learn our lesson in Europe.

I head for the lobby bar and its free internet access while, after much trouble, Pam hooks up to her company's server.  I meet a Canadian charter plane pilot over a beer.  After a 10 minute conversation, I understand why he most likely didn't fit in with the big airlines.  He has the smartest mouth I've heard in a long time and that includes a lot of smart mouths.  We discuss the Cathay Pacific pilot unrest and it turns out he has some acquaintances that were let go in the brouhaha.  He thinks they were crazy to do it given how much money they were making.  I agree with him while suspecting he would have been in the forefront of such a situation if given the chance.  

Pam joins me and we decide to have dinner at a nearby Swiss restaurant, imaginatively named the Restaurant Suisse.  The food is very good, the staff is friendly and we enjoy ourselves.  Back at the hotel, I watch a CNN special on John Kerry, who I don't know very much about.  Pam is still struggling with her computer connection when I drop off to sleep.

Vondel Park

Sunday, July 25, 2004 - Amsterdam
Our morning to explore Amsterdam turns out to be an early afternoon outing.  First we dawdle over breakfast, which is very good.  Then Pam has a one hour conversation with a colleague.  We finally get going around 11:30 A.M., forgetting that our original plan was to get started early because it's a rainy Sunday and the museums are sure to be packed.  We walk to the Rijksmuseum and note the line is very long.  "Tomorrow," we say.  We go to the Van Gogh Museum where all four lines are very long.  The young man posted to keep order tells us the wait would be at least an hour.  We decide to pass and do this museum tomorrow.  At the rate we are going we'll be doing all the museums in one day.  Frustrated we head for Vondel Park even though it's raining, figuring the park won't be so crowded because of the weather.

Amsterdam Historical Museum

Vondel Park reminds me of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  In fact, A lot of Amsterdam reminds me of San Francisco - the street people hanging out everywhere, the public squares full of slightly stoned young people, the trams, the restaurants, the neighborhoods, the harbor, etc., etc. 

We walk around the park enjoying the uncrowded atmosphere.  The only sour note is offered by a street person who keeps following us and trying to give us information we don't want, like the free concert schedule for the rest of the summer.  In spite of the rain, there are people playing football, walking their babies and dogs, which are sometimes hard to separate, jogging or bicycling.  One distressed gentleman is trying to get to his dog which is on the opposite side of a pond from him.  Neither of the parties, canine or human, thinks to use the nearby bridge.  I try to point this out but am ignored by both of them. 

Moving right along, we leave the park and walk through the Leidseplein, a touristy restaurant and small hotel area to Kalverstraat which is even kitschier.  Along the way we visit the floating Flower Market, a very crowded venue.  Lots of tulip bulbs for sale, as you might imagine.

Kalver Straat is a pedestrian only zone.  You don't even have to dodge bicycles in this area.  The street contains, record stores, souvenir shops, franchise restaurants and clothes shops selling every kind of avant-garde outfit you can imagine.   Pam and I stop at a soup and baguette place, which we agree isn't too bad perhaps because we are faint with hunger. 

We walk to Dam Square which houses the National Monument and is surrounded by many architectural wonders including the Royal Palace/Town Hall.  I take some pictures which you can access on my Photo site in the Amsterdam Album.

The square is full of young people smoking and toking, walking and talking, sleeping and eating and just hanging out.  We wander around soaking it all in.  I start to think about visiting one of Amsterdam's famous "Coffee Shops" where marijuana and hashish are sold over the counter.  Pam had earlier expressed some concern about my doing that and the more I thought about it, the less appealing the idea was.  We have so much to see and I'm afraid I'll run out of energy if I get stoned.  We consider visiting Amsterdam's Red Light District, too, but figure that, during the day, it would just be boring and ugly.

In spite of Rick Steves' lukewarm recommendation, we decide to visit the Amsterdam Historical Museum.  We are glad we do.  I learn a lot, not only about Amsterdam, but also about the history of Holland and it's relation to the rest of Europe.  The museum is well designed.  I'm especially impressed with the 17th Century and WW II sections.

The Anne Frank House in 1942

We decide to visit the Anne Frank House.  When we arrive, the line to get in stretches around the block but we decide to tough it out in the rain.  Later we find that the place is open in the evening and is much less crowded.  Nevertheless, the wait is worth the experience even though the Foundation does not allow picture taking.

I find it very difficult to manage my emotions while exploring the house.  I keep asking myself, "How could such horrible things happen?  Why are they still happening?  Why do I feel so powerless to do anything about it?"  I've seen the movie and I've read excerpts from the diary but this tour of the house is far more moving.

Anne Frank's Room

I lose it when I see the videotapes of her father talking about the diary and his daughter.  She was just a young girl yet she was forced to hole up for two years and eventually died in a concentration camp.  I just don't get it!  I also realize how brave, the Dutch people who covered for them were.  I wonder if I would be as brave.  I don't know.

The last exhibit takes the edge off.  It's an interactive presentation about Neo-Nazism and Freedom of Speech. The problem is that it is too abstract and too long.  It becomes boring after about ten minutes so I move on to the bookstore and café.  Pam and I have cappuccinos and I watch the other patrons enjoying themselves.  As I de-compress, I wonder if they, especially the young ones, are touched by what they have seen or are just part of a tour, following a guide book or tagging along with their folks and thinking it is just another museum.  I hope not but I think so.

We walk along the canals to our hotel.  On the way, Pam makes the mistake of walking in a bike path. The bike riders yell at her and one actually tries to intimidate her by steering his bike towards her and veering off at the last instant.   I'm sure I would learn some usable Dutch curses if I knew what they were saying. 

We dine at the Divinder Restaurant, a small continental place on Overtoom Straat - excellent food, attentive service and an Amsterdam-like price but worth it.  We have Irish coffees across the street at an Irish Pub.  Unfortunately, even though we are in the dairy capital of Europe, the coffee comes with canned whipped cream.

Back at the hotel Pam hits the internet.  I get my news fix off CNN.  I fall asleep to the clicking of keyboard keys and the recounting of today's tragedies in Iraq and elsewhere.

Rijks Museum

Monday, July 26, 2004 - Amsterdam

I am 67 years old today.  I don't feel like I thought I would feel when I imagined being in my late sixties, 40 years ago.  I am reasonably healthy, have few financial worries, am active, am mentally as sharp as ever, etc.  So why is it, I'm slightly depressed by the thought of being 67?  I believe it's knowing that I have a limited number of years left to do all the things I could have done when I was younger but didn't because I had plenty of time.  Got that? 

We have planned a full day.  Yesterday we discovered that the desk people at the Tulip, for a small service charge, can sell us tickets to the major museums so we don't have to stand in long lines.  The breakfasts continue to be excellent with lots of variety and fresh fruit.  We're still bummed out about the size of the room but at the rate we are eating breakfast, it will seem even smaller.

Off to the Rijksmuseum we go.  As you may have already guessed there are no lines.  They must have heard we bought tickets in advance and shortened the lines, accordingly.  The museum itself is considerably more interesting than I thought I would be.  It is under renovation so I had curbed my expectations.  There are many Rembrandts, of course, including  Night Watch but also Vermeers, Hals', Steens and numerous others.  We spend almost twice as long as we planned.

Our next stop is the Van Gogh Museum. Is it possible to get too much of Van Gogh?  We come close, here.  Fortunately we also visit the "Edouard Manet and the Sea" traveling exhibit which includes other impressionists like Pissaro, Monet and Renoir and this tempers the "Van Goghness" considerably.  The whole time we are in the museum, I keep hearing Don McLean's "Vincent" (Starry, Starry Night) in my head.  I can't stop it.  The song has taken over my mind.  I get some weird looks and I realize I'm also humming it.  "I gotta get outta here."

Resistance Museum Exhibit

We decide to lunch on the Museum Plein that's set between the two museums before buying an excursion ticket for the The Canal Company boats.  We ride the boat to Centraal Station.  We see hundreds of houseboats tied up along the canals.  We are fascinated by their variety and strangeness.  Evidently, there are very few spaces left for people to live on their boats but a lot of people do. 

At the station, we walk around the area.  We visit St. Nicholaas Church, but pass on the more famous Oude Kerk or Old Church.  We could spend every waking hour visiting tourist-worthy churches in Europe and still miss some of them.  St Nicholaas is showing its age but is still beautiful and worth exploring. 

We take another canal boat, this one going south and west on the canals.  We see a lot of the harbor including the old forts and warehouses which now make up the Maritime Museum.  The boat captain takes a chance, at our urging, and drops us off at an unused dock, saving us about a mile walk to get to where we want to go.  We have to choose between visiting the zoo and the Resistance Museum.  Zoos are everywhere.  We choose the museum. 

I lose myself in the exhibits.  I am depressed and uplifted simultaneously.  We budget an hour and spend two.  The exhibits are well done and educational.  They cover everything from early cooperation to eventual wide spread resistance.  I wish Bush and his minions could see this.  Maybe they would understand the nature of resistance to an invader better . 

At first the German's treated the Dutch as possible collaborators to the extent even, that a volunteer Dutch regiment was formed to fight on the Eastern Front.  The Germans thought the Dutch would be sympathetic.  A political party urging loyalty to the German occupiers, Nederlandse Unie-NU (the Netherlands Union) was established and millions of Dutch paid their dues and joined.  Things started to break down when the Germans started arresting Jews.  Dutch labor leaders called for a successful one day work stoppage.  Events went downhill from there.  I am especially fascinated with the exhibits showing what daily life was like during the occupation and how people hid their resistance activities.

We walk to the nearest canal boat stop through the lovely Jodenbuurt and Plantage area including Hortus Botanicus and Wertheim Park.  We ride the boat back to the Leidseplein stop near our hotel.  What a relaxing way of getting around Amsterdam.  I love it!  We still need to lie down for a short while before meeting my friend from Mattel, Phil Taylor, for dinner.

I'm not sure why but we decide to eat at a nearby Italian spot, Bice Ristorante.  I guess it's because of location, location, location.  The food and wine is O.K. but pricey.  We discuss all kinds of things through dinner from the Holocaust to how he likes living in Holland.   Phil admits he misses the pace of life in Hong Kong but enjoys the lifestyle in The Netherlands especially for the kids.  Phil is a rarity - a human resources executive who is inventive, realistic and likes people.  I believe it is because he was a line manager at one time. 

We get back to the hotel in time to catch the latest bad news on CNN.  Even Pam is too tired to access the internet so we both fall asleep almost instantly after turning off the TV.  The last thing I am aware of is "Starry, Starry Night" still playing in my head.  At least it isn't "Happy Birthday."