Notes from Amsterdam
Spent Jan 2 - 4, 2005 in Amsterdam with Steff & Tim. It was my first trip to Amsterdam and hopefully not my last. Took these notes while I was there...
Flew into Amsterdam from Luton - we were all very tired (not at all surprising given that the day prior was New Year's Day).
Jan 2: We spent a large part of the day lost. Found Dampkring, a coffee shop with an exceptionally cool and energetic vibe. (FYI: the term "coffeeshop" in Amsterdam is a rather euphemistic term used to describe the places where it's legal to smoke weed.) Had Indian food at Shiva. Then collapsed!
Jan 3: Got a late start, but found yummy breakfast @ a place called Letting: a cute cafe with good coffee and lovely toilets (the lady's featured free feminine goodies!).
Visited the haunting Anne Frank House and Museum. The museum and house tour was very well put together - seeing her room with the magazine cutouts still glued to the wall was strange and fascinating. Well worth the 7.50 euro and the long queue.
Seeing the Anne Frank "Huis" gave us an inside look at a classic old Canal house. These houses are incredible - many lean forward ever so slightly to allow pulleys at the top to pull large items like furniture up and through the windows. Inside, the stairs and corridors are so steep and narrow that it would be impossible to manipulate furniture from within.
Lunch was had at Bolhoed, a veggie place on the Prinsengracht canal. The place reminded us of Mother's in Austin - but with a more tenuous hippie flair. Tim had a De Koninck (a dark lager) while Steff sampled Dentergems wit blanch, a white beer. Their pumpkin soup was delicious, and the salad was unparalleled: fresh crispy greens, garbanzos, sprouts, beet, apple, tomato, bulgur wheat, carrot, hummus - I think it officially qualified as "the works". The resident cat was most adorable. A low point was had when Tim found an Authentic Dutch hair in his soup.
The Van Gogh Museum - I wish I knew more about the artist and his relationship with his brother, Theo. And what was that argument with Gauguin all about anyway? (This was the fight that facilitated Van Gogh's descent into madness and the cutting off of his own ear!) Despite my ignorance in art history, the museum was very cool. Many thanks to Tim for sharing his audio guide with me. What struck me most was learning that Van Gogh was only 30 when he shot himself to death, and yet he portrayed himself as such an old man in his art. He seemed to see beauty in the world, and yet was tormented in his relationships. I could be completely wrong here - one of these days I shall read the letters written between Vincent and Theo.
After the museum we chilled out at the neighbouring Cobra bar (err, "cafe-restaurant") situated near a melting ice skating rink (upon which foolish children continued to skate). Aside from celebrating the Cobra art movement, the place was overwhelmingly average - and slow!
We sampled Amsterdam's famous Indonesian cuisine at Orient. Ordered a "ricetable" - think an Asian version of tapas. Pretty tasty, but not blow-your-mind awesome. Indonesian food seemed like a mix of Indian and Thai. Lots of sweet soy and chilli sauce - yum! As our guide stated, they catered to veggies very well, even including tempeh in some of their dishes. I've never really gotten the hang of tempeh - some veggies swear by it, but I maintain that is weird. After dinner I was full, but yay - not uncomfortably so!
Stephanie and I had the night mostly to ourselves. We roamed the streets and popped into a couple of coffee shops. Good lord ... (if you say it comically, that pretty much sums things up). We found a coffee shop near the red light district. It was what it was: a young crowd immersed in a haze of smoke and reggae. Downstairs, people sat at tables smoking and sipping tea. Upstairs, dirty hippies sprawled themselves on pillows (a disgusting site indeed). I considered indulging (what else does one do in such a situation?) but couldn't get past the nauseating prospect of smoking. And dope has never been my bag, so to speak. More off-putting than my ideals, however, was the lack of energy in the dive - a chemical buzz seems like such a waste when there is no social buzz to go with it.
After sufficient people watching and a Heineken, we met Tim and took a requisite stroll through the Red Light district, past the prostitutes, many beautiful, and the men, always seedy. The men are more shocking than the women. I mean, who are these guys?
Good lord!
By the time we were finished gawking, Amsterdam had seemed to shut down. So sad - a drink would have been nice. I was surprised that things died down so early. London is the same way. I am sure that there are pockets of life - a club here, a brothel there. But the eeriness of the empty streets is enough to send me to bed.
Jan 4 - our last day. Few notes were taken, primarily because we spent a very large chunk of time at Het Molenpad, one of Amsterdam's treasured "brown cafes". It was the kind of place you could really settle into, which we almost did. But after lunch, postcards, and 3 Hoegaarden's, we moved on to the Rijkmuseum to see the Rembrandts. Soon after that we were off and away. But not before stopping for soup and toasties.
Oh, and in case you missed them, here's another link to the photos.
