I wanted to share some of what I learned on my recent trip to Amsterdam. Though it's much smaller than mega-cities like London or Los Angeles, there's still a lot to see if you get up early, pay attention and read your tourist manual. It's one of the most important cities in all of Europe and was home to some amazing figures from history. The most amazing feature, in my opinion is the city itself. It's not like anywhere I've ever been before, which made my short visit a real crash course.
This map can give you an idea of where Amsterdam and The Netherlands
are relative to The United Kingdom, and the rest of the world.
Amsterdam, formerly Amstelldamme, derives its name from the river Amstel and the dam that was built to provide an estuary for fishing. In the 12th century it may have been just a tiny fishing village, but today it is the largest city in the Netherlands, and also serves as the country's capital. As the village expanded to a city it took over marshland, which was transformed through a system of horseshoe shaped canals (grachtengordel). Between the canals the narrow slivers of land were built upon with the help of piles (massive wooden poles) that prevent the whole of central Amsterdam from sinking into the mud.
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| You don't notice it at first but many of the buildings appear to be slanted or crooked. This happens when the piles holding up the building are so old and weak that they begin to sink. |
Amsterdam is made up of 90 islands created by the more than 100 kilometers of canals and criss-crossed by around 1,500 bridges. The four main canals are called Singel (which was used for defense of the city and import/export of goods), Herengracht (the Gentleman's Canal), Keizersgracht (the Emperor's Canal), and Prinsengracht (the Prince's Canal).
As you can see in these photos there are a lot more than just those four canals. From a tourist's point of view all the streets, canals and bridges look the same. We were only in Amsterdam for 3 days, not nearly enough time to be well acquainted with the city, so we got lost a lot!
Me, consulting a map for the hundredth time that day.
Once we were finally able to figure out the map in our tourist guide books we got to see a lot of really amazing things. Amsterdam has a lot of beautiful, well maintained churches. The most impressive of which are Oude Kerk (Old Church), Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), Sint Nicolaaskerk (St. Nicholas Church), and Westerkerk (Western Church). Our hotel was near the New Church and Dam Square.
Though most of the churches in Amsterdam are Protestant,
they are also places for celebrating and diverse culture.
The motto on the coat of arms (seen above), "Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate" was first coined in 1941 by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands when the city of Amsterdam held the first protest in Europe by non-jewish people against the persecution of the Jews during World War II. It's obvious in walking around the city that Amsterdam has carried on the tradition of welcoming any people who seek religious freedom or freedom of life-style.
One of the most important figures from recent Amsterdam history is Anne Frank. She was 11 years old in 1940 when Germany invaded the Netherlands, and only 13 when she and her family went in to hiding. They hid in secret rooms in office building, their presence kept secret thanks to friends who like thousands of non-Jewish inhabitants of the city aided their Jewish neighbors. While in hiding she kept a very detailed diary. When I was in high school I read sections of her diary while learning about World War II. The Anne Frank House, as her hiding place is called, now stands as a museum.
The Anne Frank House is the center building, to the right
of the red shuttered windows. It is so plain looking I almost overlooked it.
Artistically speaking Amsterdam had an incredible history. Two of the most famous museums are Rembrandt House and The Van Gogh Museum. Rembrandt House is a museum that was the Renaissance artist's actual house from 1639 to 1656. They had to recreate a lot of the interior for the museum, but it still faithfully shows how the man lived and worked. They even had a room with an old printing press where they have demonstration by a professional on printmaking, and a similar set up in another room on how Rembrandt did his incredible paintings. When I spoke to the woman in the paint studio of the house she showed me how paints were maid by grinding up rocks and stones in to powder, then mixing them with oil to make paint.
This was Rembrandt's paint studio, where he
created some of his most famous masterpieces.
That's me next to the lamppost, standing in front of the Rembrandt House.
Behind me is a gallery space showing many of his drawings and etchings.
Possibly my favorite museum in Amsterdam was The Van Gogh Museum. This museum is home to the largest collection of the Impressionist painter's work. Vincent Van Gogh life, as much as his art is on display. After his death in 1890, his only relatives (his brother Theo, sister-in-law Johanna, and nephew Vincent Willem) dedicated their lives to making Vincent one of the most celebrated artists in the world.
I found this photo on the internet. It shows you how much space there is here.
The building is 4 stories of Van Gogh's work as well as work from artists who influence him.
Because you can't take photos inside many museums, especially this one, the best way to see the works of art up close without having to spend the money on flights and hotels, is to visit this website: http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/vangogh. You can take virtual tour and zoom in super close to the paintings. This is definitely in my top museums ever. I wish I could have had you guys with me so I could show you some of the paintings that have influenced my own art, and my passion for art history. It was so cool to see in person paintings that I've seen in my text book or in slideshows from lectures. There was one painting there called Peasant's Shoes, which I remember studying for a few weeks in one of my recent art classes at University of Hawai'i. It's hard to explain why seeing such a painting in person is important, but I can tell you for sure it was powerful experience for me.
One of the things I was surprised to learn was how important the relationship between Vincent and his brother Theo was. It was really moving to see two siblings who loved each other as much as they did. Their letters to one another are on display in the museum as well.
The last place in Amsterdam I'll tell you about is the incredible Tuschinski Theatre. We went there to see "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", and while I don't recomend that movie to you, my young readers, I do highly recommend catching a movie at this theatre if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam. The theatre is gorgeous! It was built in the 1920's and is a stunning example of Art Deco and Art Nouveau architecture and design. The carpets, walls, doors, ceiling, light fixtures are all richly decorated. Plus it's a real movie theatre, where you can go see modern movies. We sat in the love seat section near the back of the small theatre, which meant we sat on a comfy sofa, with waiter who took our complimentary food and drink orders. It was a fantastic experience! It made me think that this was how all movie theaters should be.
I'd rather watch movies here, than Big Newport for the rest of my life.
It's definitely the best movie theatre I've ever been to.
It's hard to believe this is just a movie theatre that plays normal movies.
It's more beautiful than some opera theatres I've been in.
Now I know this was a very long blog, so thanks for sticking with me. I feel like I covered all the big stuff I learned on my short trip. So now I'll leave you with a bunch of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoyed this entry. Maybe one day you'll come here and see all this incredible stuff and more! Love, Auntie!
This might look like a royal palace, but it's actually the train station.
Here we are goofing around in the kid's section of the
Amsterdam Historical Museum. We asked a rather grumpus faced
security guard to take the picture.
On the left is St. Nicholas Church and on the right is a massive
floating Chinese restaurant called the Sea Palace.
The Van Gogh Museum lies on the Museumplein, where there
are dozens of other museums. Here you see the Rijksmuseum
which was so big we couldn't have had the time to do it justice.
This is sort of a motto for the tourist industry.
If you buy a I AMsterdam Card you gain access to loads
of museums, public transport, and discounts all over the city.
It's a good deal if you do touristy things like we did.
Randomly saw this as we were walking along. Even thousands
of miles away in a foreign country you can find a bit of American history.
This gives you and idea of the architecture.
All the buildings are tall and narrow to maximize space.
There are also over 250,000 house boats lining the canals.
This is the best example of the randomness of public art in Amsterdam.
There were like a hundred of these life sized big lizard statues in a tiny strip of park.
I still can't figure out why but when you're just walking along
they sure to give you a surprise. I thought they were real at first!
P.S.~ Occasionally we referred to Amsterdam as "Hamster Jam" only because it rhymed, was totally random and sounded silly. So in honor of that silliness and randomness... I give you a Hamster Jam:
Warning: This video has NOTHING to do with Amsterdam
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