More museums...and definitely some more cheese, please!

After waking up from a leisurely night's sleep (a bad habit to get into when you are on vacation, believe it or not), I decided to hit a handful of the city's greatest museums. When going to Amsterdam, or anywhere in the Netherlands, it is worth it to get their Museum Kaart. It's a card that gives you great discounts at most of the museums in the country, and it's good for a whole year! To get older cards, you needed a separate passport photo, which I was stupid enough not to bring on the trip. (Bring passport photos with you!) So I first backtracked to the train station to the photo booth (very Amelie-esque) and sat for my photo, only I didn't read the directions and forgot about a second flash...so I got two terrible black and white photographs of me and two blurry pictures of my shoulder exiting the booth. How mysterious if I should have left those behind...

Boarded a tram to the gorgeous Rijksmuseum. They are rennovating most of the building, so they've condensed the best of the best into one section, which is truly an amazing way to see a museum. What is best of the best? I'm sure some of the neglected portraits are screaming in storage and sunny landscapes have clouded over, but it was a good way to see the collection without closing the entire museum. And honestly, it was the perfect size for a person's attention span for a day. I found out that I love Flemish portrait painting, especially when the artist shows an entire guild and each person has a meticulous portrait done doing something interesting. It's a whole narrative that I feel other portrait painting just doesn't have. Thumbs up for the museum. Will have to come back when the whole thing opens (also because it's a gorgeous building).

From there I walked down to the Van Gogh Museum. (Note...you do not actually need a photograph to get the Museum Kaart anymore. But still...worth every penny!) I never considered myself a huge Van Gogh fan, but this was pretty spectacular. Weaving through high college students commenting on how beautiful the blurs were, I was stunned at how beautiful his technique is and how his work developed over time. That's the great thing about bringing a collection of one artist's work together. You really get a sense of time in the works and how moments in the artist's life changed the eye. (Another short example is Monet's series of the Cathedral at Rouen showing the artist going blind.) I never knew that Van Gogh was so inspired by Japanese culture, nor that he was so close to his brother Theo, or that he was so obsessed with Gaugin who, in turn, treated Van Gogh like an abused puppy. It's a great museum. They also had an exhibit on Max Beckman. I'm not a fan of Beckman, but it was a nice exhibit. Ran over to the Concertobouw to pick up our tickets to the concerts for the next two nights (thanks, David!) and decided to walk through Vondelpark before dinner. Lovely spot, but it got gold, so I trammed it back. David made great cod and veggies. And to top it all off, cheese. Yum.

Decided to hit some smaller museums today which David mentioned were in beautiful canal row houses. Got caught up in a beautiful flower market by a canal (I will have to come back for tulip season sometime!) on my way to the Willet-Holthusen, which I still can't pronounce, which has a nice collection of paintings and silver. The museum is set up as the house was supposedly kept a century ago with a lovely garden out back. Rushed over for a tour of the Tuschinki Movie Theater, the first one of it's kind in the Netherlands and a stunning example of the combination of art deco, jugenstil, and the Amsterdam school styles. Was one of two English speakers, so the guide had to give the tour in two languages, which irked the Dutchmen, especially since the other English speaker was one of the "those tourists" who video tapes everything and lags behind to take pictures. The Dutch weren't even taking pictures, so I think I snapped a few, but I tried to be as subtle as possible. If you go to Amsterdam, take this tour! The building is absolutely beautiful, and the story behind Tuschinki and the movie house is a good one! I always love hearing about the stories behind details, like the fabric caterpillar lamps that climb up the ceiling to cocoon sconces and inside to butterfly fixtures inside the big theater. What a great place to see a movie! The movie going experience is just not the same as it used to be. Ran over to the Portuguese Synagogue before it closed. Reminded me of a Georgian church. Not much to see there, but it is an interesting story behind a section of Amsterdam's population. Ran over to the Rembrant house before it closed to see a wonderful collection of paintings and Rembrant etchings. Durer might still be my favorite, but Rembrant's stuff is quite nice.

Got in line for one of the most popular tourist attractions potentially in all of Europe, the Anne Frank House. I wil say that they've done a really nice job with organizing the museum, explaining the history, and tracking the publication of the book. It was very interesting to go behind the bookcase, up the stairs, and see where the families hid...because, it's not one room, but a huge complex of rooms up there. Granted, with as many people as that cramped in for so long under such fear, it must have been just horrible. But I remember, when reading the book, it as almost a one room crawl space, but it's a whole house up there. Quite amazing how they organized it so they could all live. Of course, coming down from the rooms to the rest of the museum is quite sad, but the museum has done a nice job to educate the visitors beyond what the book tells.

Walked around a bit more before heading back to David's for great chicken teriyaki. And of course, more cheese.

Arriving in Amsterdam!

Arriving in Amsterdam meant finally meeting my cousin David. He's actually my grandmother's first cousin, but I'm not quite sure what that makes us, so "cousin" will have to do. I had been hearing about this David for years, but we had never met. Relatives are always going to visit him (he moved to Amsterdam many years ago), and they told me that he loves to travel, especially to see art, architecture, and culture. Sounds up my alley! I went to visit this cousin David and indeed he is probably one of the coolest people I have ever met! He and I got along from our first conversation, and he was so nice to take me around his city, bring me to concerts, direct me to places of interest, and cook me many amazing home cooked meals.


One such meal led to our first late night conversation. After my train ride and about my 2 months of eating out, David assumed, and quite rightly, that I would want a home cooked meal. But this was no baked chicken or burger. We started with stuffed zucchini and moved onto duck breast. He cooked me duck! And of course, we ended with a cheese plate. I think I have met my match when it comes to cheese. He knows way more about cheeses than I, which was very beneficial to my palate. I mean, I am in the land of gouda, but we tried all sorts of regional and French cheeses from De Kaaskamar, or the cheeseshop. And I met Mrs. Mavis Morris, the very cute, very intelligent, and very elusive cat who decided that she liked me one minute and then couldn't give a care less the next. But I enjoyed her company even if she didn't enjoy mine.

David has this amazing work schedule for which he doesn't actually have to wake up until 11AM every morning...so, having travelled for as long as I had, I took advantage of such luxury and slept late, almost every day. I think I needed it as much as it was luxurious. After a bunch that lasted well into the afternoon, David took me around his gorgeous city, pointing out all the architectural gems and the details of Amsterdam's rowhouses. First of all, they have a great system of moving furniture to upper floors. There's a hook at the top of every house. Using pulleys, they lift furniture up and down and bring it in through the windows. Probably they were first used for moving goods, but I approve of the invention. Second of all, there are so many kinds of gables. I love them all. Third of all, they all slant in towards the street. It's definitely intentional and not accidently sinkage of the city. David liked the theory that it's to keep rain off the lower floors and bring shade. I'll buy it for now. Saw the green copper NEMO boat hull which is interesting, and then David pointed to an amazing building, now rennovated into a hotel. It was the headquarters of the steamboat companies and it's done in an amazing combination of Jugenstil style and the Amsterdam school style. Acing cool and avoiding noisy check in staff, we made our way to the upper floors and through the gorgeous atrium which has glass maps of the world and the original ticket counter windows. Everything was a nautical theme, down to the door handles, and it's definitely worth a trip in if you are in Amsterdam! Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the church he took me to, but we walked into a gorgeously colorful church and a cellist was playing. We went into trances for awhile enjoying the beauty of it all, and headed to a different neighborhood to look at quaint courtyards. Ate at a great Italian restaurant, but had to head back for, of course, cheese. We decided that I must go for a day to Brussels and maybe to Haarlem, but not to Alkmaar, where the famous cheese auction happens every Friday. I thought it would be hilarious, but David said that Brussels would be a better choice. Oh the cheese auction, you will have to wait.