Peter doesn't like his picture taken any more than I do, but he couldn't say no to strangers as he could to me, so we do have at least one reminded that we went on the trip together!
Now, back to Amsterdam.
We've allocated three days for Amsterdam, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We don't have any particular agenda, and decide to start with the Hop On Hop Off. Of course, in Amsterdam, it is a canal boat rather than a bus, and, given the unseasonal heat, it is a great day for a boat ride, where we learn all sorts of facts -
* "The canals are three meters deep: one meter of water, one meter of mud, and one meter of bicycles!
* Amsterdam is a city of about 740,000 inhabitants.
* It is named for the Amstel River (as is the beer of the same name.
* The city had been there since ancient times, but grew with the trade resulting from Dutch (they don't mentiont the Portuguese or Spaniards, of course) exploration and trade in the 17th century.
* The canals are cleaned by closing the lockes, pumping fresh water in, and opening the lockes to flush the canals out!
and see all sorts of things....
A word about the shop shown above, in front of the Department of the Navy. Apparently, the original took 6 months to build. The replica, built by volunteers and the unemployed, took 6 years! There's progress for you!
We do, eventually, get off the ship, and spend some hours wandering around the old town, as well as the newer churches. We see the St. Nicholas church...
...and the old church....
which is, coincidentally, right in the center of the infamous Red Light District, where, just as they were 42 years ago when I was last in Amsterdam, the "girls" (no, there are no boys there yet, Wally, or at least none that I could see!) pose in the windows, advertising their wares. Bill, you would have loved, loved, loved the outfits (bustiers, garter belts, seamed stockings, push ups) and the toys on offer!
Peter and I stopped in Neumarket (okay, this is the last apology for not having a map) for coffee, then to the Waterlooplein market. We pass the town hall and the new opera house, and would have gone to the Jewish Museum, except it was closed due to a power outage, something I somehow didn't expect to happen in Holland.
We do pause at the Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square, if you will), to take in the scene...
and on to the flower market....
which, I must say, was a disappointment - I remembered more flowers than seeds. In fairness, though, tulip season is long over!
Somewhere along the way, we stopped for beer and croquettes, and now is as good a time as any to talk about Dutch food. Aside from Dutch pancakes, we didn't find any, except for the aforementioned croquettes (which were decadent, and fabulous) and french fries with mayonaisse (which were decadent and fabulous). As for the beer, you will have to ask Peter; I'm not a beer drinker.
In any event, we finished off the day with the Van Gogh museum, which we thought was kind of fitting, a bookend, if you will, for the trip, which started off with a lecture about Van Gogh in Arle. It was quite a good museum, I thought. Van Gogh only really painted for 8 years, and the museum was set out chronologically, with a lot about his life, his relationship with his brother and other painters of the period, and, of course, his death by suicide).
Quite enough for a first day, so we set off for the trolley, and to the hotel for a rest. Then on to the Bella Vista, a neighborhood Italian restaurant (as I said, no Dutch food....)
...and a well deserved sleep.
On Friday, Peter decide to "take a day off" - from each other, that is. We have actually been getting on famously, but for two independent people, we have been spending an awful lot of time together, so, well, for the sake of our friendship....
After breakfast in our hotel (both the coffee and the croissants are quite passable - as the owner said, the Dutch have been making coffee for 400 years, they should know how to do it by now!), I am off, via trolley, to the Central Train Station (I would love to provide you with a picture, but between the construction and the traffic, there wasn't a good shot from anywhere), and back on to the boat (we had gotten a two day pass, of course). This time, I took the boat that went counter-clockwise around Amsterdam, a different line, with more facts....
* the ferries going to the various islands and around the waterways are free for nothing nada.
* there is salt water from the North Sea underneath the fresh water in the canals
* we pass the Kromhout Shipyards Museum (ah, David would have been there in a flash!), and the place where Peter the Great from Russia stayed when he came to see how his city of canals, St. Petersburg, should be built.
...and saw one of the infamous windmills...
By the way, another factoid; there were formerly (at the end of the 19th century) more than 1000 windmills in Holland; now, there are only 8!
And some different views from the water....
....and the flora and fauna of Amsterdam...
...as well as some of the street life...
I then head to the old Jewish quarter, marked by the statue of Spinoza
...the most famous liberal Jewish thinker, hated by orthodox Jews and Christians alike for arguing that the bible was not the word of God, but, rather, a historical record, and that the Jews should be governed by the laws of reason (what a concept!).
...and the Portuguese Synagogue, originally built in 1675 by Spanish and Portuguese immigrants. (A bit of history: as most of you know, the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. They fled to North Africa, Italy, the Ottoman Empire and France, but were ultimately forced northward to Antwerp, and, later, to Amsterdam. As the Decree of Utrecht in 1579 had instituted religious freedom, and the newcomeres in any event and much valued knowledge of languages and international trade, the Jews were welcomed in Amsterdam. Thet called themselves Portuguese, however, because, at the time, the Low Countries were at war with the Spanish Empire. )
A few steps away from the synagogue (which, by the way, is still in use today. I still has no electricity, though, and the pictured candelabra lights the place with candles) is the Jewish History, also very interesting, for a couple of reasons. First, here in Holland, the usual Sephardic/Ashkenazi split is reversed. We in the west are used to the Ashkenazi being (or at least feeling, superior, with the Sephardic Jews acting as the poor cousins. In Amsterdam, the situation was reversed. By the time the Ashkenazi started arriving in the late 1800's, the Sephardic were established in banking and trade, and were rich; the Ashkenazi, on the other hand, were arriving from the shtetels of Eastern Europe, and were poor and needy! The second thing, of course, is the occupation during the Second World War, and the (effectively speaking) destruction of Dutch Jewry.
I head back to Rembrandt Square for a lunch of - wait for it - Dutch pancakes, and a rest.
Then on to.....The Museum of Bags and Purses (and no, I am not making this up). It is set out in a typical Amsterdam canal house, formerly the residence of the myor of Amsterdam in 1664, which is something to see in and of itself, and has a collection of over 4,000 bags and purses, dating back to the 16th century. I came just for a lark, but it was actually quite informative, and, of course, fun. (Lucky you; no photos!)
I know you guys have anxiously been awaiting my culture fix. So have I. I didn't really expect one, as Peter (a bigger opera lover than I, and, in fact, a big player in my appreciation of the world of opera) had scoped out the scene both in Paris and in Amsterdam, and concluded that there was no culture to be had. However, we saw an advertisement in our wanderings for Verdi's Don Carlo at the New Opera House (the locals call it the "stopera" house, because they didn't like the design and didn't want it to be built), and, lo and behold, there were tickets to be had for Friday night. Peter and I both thought it was a lovely house, small for a new house, with good acoustics. We thought the opera splendid as well, and even though the supertitles were in Dutch, I had seen the opera in recent memory, so the story was still in my memory banks.
All in all, a lovely day.
And now, to Saturday, May 26, our last day. Peter and I have saved the Rijksmuseum for last. It is actually in the process of being renovated, so must of the collection (thank god) was on tour and not available. However, they have left a "small" collection, of which I now provide you with a small sampling...
(Peter says, You see, Nora, not all Princesses are Jewish)
(by the way, the above two are depictions of father - top - and son - below!)
Well, that's enough for now. I will leave our last look around Amsterdam, some last thoughts, and our trip home, for another day!
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