Month: September 2011

A full night’s sleep and then some — 11 hours. Now, back to the grind. Up first: the Van Gogh Museum, which covers his whole career, including examples of the art that inspired him. Rather depressing at times since he was quite alone and unappreciated by most during his own time, but his brother Theo was very dedicated to him and supported him his entire life (and named his only son after him).

After Van Gogh, a walk through the park towards and around the Rijksmuseum. Then a leisurely Canal Bus (boat) ride past canal houses to Centraal station.

Near the station was a huge parking deck for bicycles.

As with many of our trips we scouted out a place to see cats, in this case, the Poezenboot, or Cat Boat. The boat houses a cat-rescue agency. Inside are cages with adoptable cats and scurrying around the floor are the cats that live there permanently. Sharon donated money and bought a silly cat t-shirt.

Then a walk through the cozy Jordaan nieghborhood, with stops at a few shops.

Tram over to Munttoren, where behind the Bloemenmarkt is the Torture Museum. Rather shabby and even a bit silly (if you can imagine torture being silly) but still interesting. Here’s the skull cracker.

Then a walk over to the Museum of Bags and Purses, which just about caused Sharon to faint. Housed in a gorgeous canal house, which used to be the mansion of one Cornelis de Graeff, 17th century big shot including mayor at one point.

Then on to the Anne Frank Museum, the house where she and her family hid for two years during the Nazi sweep of the Netherlands, which has a large museum built around it. Cannot be missed.

We had dinner at a small restaurant nearby with the resident cat named Timba.

Drinks at a nearby bar. Walk through the old town back to the tram and back to the hotel.

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Miscellaneous Bonus Pictures:

Canal scene

Cat boat

Art in the city center

Boat purse!

The flight from ATL to AMS was uneventful. Sharon read a book and slept, Chris watched movies via the on-demand system (can’t sleep on planes). Cedar Rapids (pleasant Ed Helm vehicle), Limitless (reasonably entertaining Bradley Cooper hollywood product), Just Go With It (couldn’t bear it beyond 15 minutes) and Battle L.A. (for shame Aaron Eckhart, OK to watch for the shoot-em-up eye candy, but horrid script, gave it the fast-forward treatment for 30 minutes).

Arrival in Amsterdam … train from airport to huge Centraal train station; tram to hotel in Vondelpark neighborhood. We stayed at the Hotel Zandbergen, a lovely B&B-esque place. An hour of rest and then hitting the streets.

Took the tram to the Old Amsterdam city center and the iconic Munttoren. Just around the corner was the Bloemenmarkt, the flower market with tulips of every color and shape. We grab a bite to eat (including a crepe-like pancake) and some coffee at a cafe. Wander through the Southern Canal Belt neighborhood and, stumble upon an awesome monument to Spinoza, across the Magere Brug bridge, and end up at the Waterlooplein street market. Catch a tram over to the huge Dam Square, and plow through the throngs of tourists there and in adjacent National Monument square.

Two things to know about Amsterdam at this point. Prostitution is legal. Growing and smoking pot is illegal but it’s not punished so people do it. A cafe is a place to get coffee and food; a coffeeshop is a place to get coffee, food and buy and smoke pot. So as you walk through the streets every now and then you smell something, that we’re told, smells a lot like pot.

Onwards to the Red Light district where scantily clad women stand behind floor to ceiling high windows beckoning you to do business with them. We saw the “Belle” statue, a tribute to the local sex workers which reminded us of R. Crumb, and the condom store with its freaky wares. It’s weird to see that at 2pm in the afternoon, even weirder when in an alleyway only 3 feet wide, and weirdest when directly across from a church.

Specifically, the old church, or Oede Kerk. No longer an operating church, stone walls leap up to a wooden vaulted roof with painted ceiling, painted in medieval days. Strange things to be see in all six directions, from the gravestones underfoot to the freaky carvings on the wooden seat bottoms in the choir.

Bikes. Bikes. Bikes everywhere. Bikes threatening to kill us poor lost pedestrians. Bikes are outfitted with very large carrying baskets, almost like carts in the front for groceries, and are also set up with extra seats so entire families can ride.

Back to our hotel’s neighborhood and a nice dinner, and sleep for the first time in 30 hours or so.

Miscellaneous Bonus Pictures:

Oede Kerk Grave, in the floor of the cathedral

Oede Kerk choir seat

Art on the sidewalk celebrating the Red Light District

Condom shop in the Red Light District

Simpsons shaped French ticklers!

We are spending two weeks in Europe. Munich is the anchor of the trip, as we’ll be meeting up with family to celebrate Chris’s aunt’s 70th birthday.

As you can see from the map above, we’ll be hopping around a bit. Two days in Amsterdam, four days in Munich, four days in the Camargue area (west edge of Provence), and finally two days in Paris.

As we did for our trips to Tokyo in 2005 and New Zealand in 2008, we’ll try to post here daily.