Category: Netherlands

A perfect Saturday in Amsterdam

Sep. 25 Netherlands, Other adventures 3 comments

This is a continuation of Friday night in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

After an interesting Friday night of mostly the Red Light District, we were tucked in early and also up very early to have a full Saturday of exploring Amsterdam. The weather forecast was perfect and our plan was to spend as much of the day outside as we could. After a great breakfast at our hotel, The Pulitzer, we checked with the very friendly conceirge and were given a good map and a plan of attack for the day.

To bike or not to bike

We debated getting bicycles to start the day but ultimately decided not to because we love walking and didn’t want to worry about where to lock them. In retrospect, this probably wasn’t a reasonable concern, as Amsterdam is rumored to have over four million bicycles for its less than one million inhabitants. The risk of getting a rental bike stolen is very low, but more importantly, the bike is the top of the Amsterdam food chain. What we mean by that is that a bicycle seems to have the right away over red lights, pedestrians, including small children and the elderly. Bicycles fly around the city with little regard for traffic rules or crowds of people, and you ignore them at your risk. Since they approach quiety most of the time, we referred to bikes as “silent death” and had several close calls throughout the day. It wasn’t the sheer number that made them dangerous…it was the speeds they attain as they fly through intersections and even up on the sidewalk. Bicycles rule Amersterdam.

The Noordermarkt

There’s something about a European street market that never gets old. There are always the freshest breads, cheeses, seafood, flowers and specialities of that particular place. The Noordermarkt was no different and there was plenty of free sampling to be had. Strolling through the market on a Saturday morning tasting the local products is one of the absolute best ways to get to know a city or country.

Moving furniture

Something we’d witnessed on The Amazing Race but never in person was the way the tall and narrow canal houses of Amsterdam present a particular problem for moving furniture. With steep and narrow staircases, large items must be hoisted from the street using hooks attached to the top of every house and brought in the large front windows of the upper levels. It was only after we saw the movers in action that we realized that every single tall, narrow house had the same mechanism. In Amsterdam, that means nearly every house in the city.

The Rijksmuseum

If you have any interest in the Golden Age of The Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum is mostly dedicated to the art of the early to mid Seventeenth Century. Even though we saw paintings by Rembrandt, Degas and others, our favorite of the day was The Kitchen Maid by Johannes Vermeer. The subleties of movement, still life, shadows and light all come together in this piece in way that makes it distinct and almost a blend of many great painting styles. Despite our cultural backgrounds, we easily settled on this painting as our favorite of the day.

Beers on the canal

The remainder of our afternoon was spent enjoying the sun on the patio at the Aran Pub at Max Euweplein, a short distance from the museums and in an excellent place for people watching along the canal. There were people from all over the world and we were pleased to meet a great couple from the UK that had recently moved to Amsterdam from Santiago, Chile. Our kind of people.

We made our way back to our hotel along many of the most beautiful streets we’ve every walked. It is an amazing city of canals, bikes, easygoing people and elegance. It was truly a perfect Saturday.

Friday night in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Sep. 24 Netherlands, Other adventures 1 comment

Our first time together in Amsterdam and of course we had to check out the Red Light District, locally called De Wallen. From Dutch coworkers to the concierge at our 5-star hotel, we were told to make that one of our first stops. It wasn’t hard to find as we could follow the significant number of tourists making there way there in the early evening. Once we arrived, it was somewhat surprising to see that it was just like other parts of the city, with canals, beautiful canal houses, restaurants and coffee shops.  There was a scent of marijuana in the air and a New Orleans-like odor of stale beer, old vomit and pee that make us feel like we seeing something a bit seedy and undignifited. There were drunk people and homeless just as you’d find any any other melting pot of tourists, opportunists and hard-partying people.

Famous red windows

The famous red windows were mostly grouped together on the narrow side streets and at 8pm, most of the windows were curtained, making it seem like we were still early in the evening to see the oldest profession hard at work. The girls that were working were an expressionless variety of older and younger, nationalities and states of dress. What was common, though, was the effect of enormous amounts of makeup and purple and black lighting that made them look like mannequins in the windows. They mostly looked bored, which was understandable as the vast majority of the people walking by were not prospective customers and were couples and groups of men who were taking in the novelty of Der Wallen. The windows were often an opening to a room with a bed, meaning that the traveling distance to choose, negotiate and complete the transaction was just a few meters.

Architecture

The first thing to notice in Amsterdam is the sheer number of grandiose buildings. Every block has a remarkable example of human’s need to create massive structures. These buildings are churches, train stations, hotels and every kind of government building and reflect a very prosperous past. They make Amsterdam feel both elegant and old. It feels like a the gateway to Europe that it has been for centuries. To make the point even better, churches are located on the same streets as the brothels, demonstrating a coming together of ways of satisifying human needs that is a bit jarring but almost makes sense. Debauchery and confession can be ten meters apart.

Looking forward

We were back early and looking forward to a day of cycling, canal cruising and art. While the sights and smells of last night were what brings people here, we’re pretty sure that we’ll enjoy Saturday more that Friday night. Up next…Saturday in Amsterdam.

For a continuation of this story, see A Perfect Saturday in Amsterdam, Netherlands.