Gone Dutch

I apologize for taking forever to update, but last week was crazy. I had a presentation on Tuesday, and my parents arrived the next day. It's been wonderful to see them; I spent the weekend driving around with them in southwestern England. But before I get into their visit, which isn't even over yet, I must back up a bit and tell you all about Amsterdam!

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Amsterdam is the city of canals, museums, bikes, hookers, and legalized decriminalized marijuana. Holland is known for its windmills, cheese, clogs, and tulips. I managed to see a little bit of everything (yes, everything) over the weekend.

We flew in Thursday evening, checked into our (very lovely) hotel, and then immediately went in search of food. We luckily found a nice restaurant in the Leidseplein area still serving food. After stuffing ourselves full of steak, we went out to a bar for a couple beers. Jen has a particular affinity for Duvel, a Belgian beer, so I followed suit.

The next morning, after eating pancakes the size of Luxemburg, we visited the Anne Frank Huis. It was fascinating to see the place she lived, along with seven others, during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The tour is definitely a sad one, especially the diary excerpts displayed at the appropriate points. I found this one particularly tragic:

You've known for a long time that my greatest wish it so be a journalist, and later on, a famous writer . . . after the war I'd like to publish a book called "The Secret Annex."

In the afternoon, we took an off-beat tour of Amsterdam through Mike's Bikes. The weather wasn't ideal (chilly and drizzling), but it was still great way to see the city. Amsterdam is designed for bikes; and it's so flat that riding a bike around is easy. Anyway, on our tour we'd stop various places to learn about the city from our guide. He told us about John Stuart Mill's Harm Principle ("people should be free to engage in whatever behavior they wish as long as it does not harm others"), which led to the decriminalization of marijuana and prostitution in Holland. He explained "coffeshops" (read: places where you can buy marijuana) and the regulation of the prostitution industry. Eventually, we rode our bikes through the red-light district, where women (and men) sit in the front windows selling themselves like mannequins selling clothes.

Lest you think the tour was all sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, we also stopped by the Royal Palace and learned about the city's canal system. Apparently, some 50-60 bodies and 20-30 thousand bikes are found each year when they drain the canals. Our guide also talked about the canal houses; the older ones often start to sink (their wooden supports rot) and must be taken down and rebuilt. Many of the houses have quite a lean to them!

We also rode out of the city, stopping at Rembrandt's Amazing Transporting Windmill (see my Amsterdam pictures for details) and a farmhouse, where we learned how cheese and clogs are made. Our return trip into the city was delayed a bit by a mechanical problem on Jen's bike so the farmer's daughter showed our tour group around the barn. I giggled at the New Yorkers in our group who were having the time of their lives feeding the cows. After the tour ended back in town, Jen and I rushed home, had nice warm showers, and got ready for Boom Chicago, a long-running improv show. True to the form, the comedy was hit-or-miss (but thankfully mostly hit). After the show, we enjoyed a few more beers in the Leidseplein area.

The next morning, while Jen slept off our late night, I visited the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch National Museum. The first floor mostly holds works from the Dutch Golden Age. My favorite was the minature "bigature" dollhouse; a Amsterdam wife had a to-scale model made of her canal house, complete with marble floors, artwork, curtain, and silver tea set. The dollhouse cost as much as another canal house! I also enjoyed the silver pieces and Delft ceramics. The second floor holds an impressive collection of Dutch art, including numerous Rembrandts and four Vermeers. I love to see Vermeer's works in person. The way he paints color and light is truly amazing. (And yes, I think about Colin Firth now when I see a Vermeer painting. Is that so wrong?)

I couldn't believe how many Rembrandts the museum has, but then I never knew quite how prolific he had been. The museum used to think it had more; so many of its "Rembrandt" acquisitions have been questioned or re-attributed to other artists that they had an entire exhibit--"Really Rembrandt?"--dedicated to them. The highlights of the Rembrandt collection are two works of unquestioned authenticity--The Five Syndics and The Night Watch. The latter is particularly impressive. For one, it's massive, and it would be even bigger had it not been sliced down to fit on a wall back in the day. Moreover, it's such an active, moment-in-time piece. And I could've looked at it for an hour and still not caught all the fun details!

After meeting back up at the hotel, Jen and I had lunch at the Grand Cafe before heading to the Albert Cuyp market. Street markets are always an interesting experience; typically, anything and everything is being sold. This market was no exception. Jen bought--of all things--socks, while I just browsed. I'm too hesitant for market shopping! Next up was the Heineken Experience, which is not so much an experience as a chance to drink 3 beers and get a Heineken glass for ten Euros. And while I still don't understand how beer is made, I do like Heineken now (I was lukewarm about it before). In the evening, we had a nice dinner and kept rolling with the Heineken. We took it easier than we had the two previous nights, but we still managed to stay up until 3 AM somehow!

On Sunday, we checked out of our hotel and arranged for our shuttle to the airport before heading to brunch. We returned to the Grand Cafe for the full European breakfast--bacon, eggs, toast, cheese, fruit, yogurt, juice, tea--before hitting the Van Gogh Museum. It's permanent collection is amazing, and it had a special Rembrandt/Caravaggio exhibition showing as well. The sheer number of Van Goghs is almost overwhelming; I mostly stuck to my audio guide and avoided the crowd as much as I could. I've decided yellow is his best color because most of my favorites--Still Life with Quinces and Lemons, The Reaper, and The Bedroom, are very yellow-intensive. I also enjoyed the special exhibition after seeing so many Caravaggio works in Italy. I think the side-by-side theme was a bit forced, but I'm not complaining about the chance to see so many wonderful paintings by two genuine masters. I resisted the urge to buy several posters in the museum shop, but I did get a small print of "The Harvest" because it reminds me of home.

After the museum, we got to the airport and returned to London without a hitch. Overall, I absolutely loved Amsterdam and cannot wait to go back some day. I'd love to see it during tulip season (which is right now!), and I could always return to the Van Gogh Museum. But my favorite part was the bike tour; anyone who knew me in undergrad knows how much I like to ride my bike!