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unforthWell, so soon after arriving, I'm almost done in Amsterdam; I leave early tomorrow morning to go to Cologne in Germany, where I'll meet my mom.
Due to lack of outlets, I've yet to be able to plug anything in. This should change in Cologne, but for now it means that I can't upload any pictures (nor, very soon, will I be able to take any more, since I've already used up one of my camera's batteries and my spare sucks and runs out of charge very quickly.) However, there are plenty, if not as many as I'd have wanted. Yesterday was in many ways awful; I was very tired (I ended up staying up nearly 32 hours all told) and jetlagged and such. At the same time, though, I did manage to do a lot, and so it was good.
I selected my first destination based entirely on opening times. The atmosphere here is generally VERY relaxed, and this is made evident by, among other things, the fact that many business and attractions don't open until 11 or even 12. This, needless to say, does not really fit my personal traveling style, nor was it in line with my actual schedule, which had me arriving here very early indeed. Fortunately, one of the things I wanted to see most opened at 9. So I wandered to my "hotel," found my way to my first stop, the Rijksmuseum, and then tracked down someplace to get a light breakfast.
At this moment, let me add here that everything here is EXPENSIVE and it sucks.
the Rijksmuseum is the largest art museum in the Netherlands, and boasts of a splendid collection of Low Country (Dutch, Flemish, etc.) art. This would be phenomenal if I could have actually seen most of it. Sadly, most of the museum is closed for remodeling at the moment. I'd probably have blown a lid - Flemish and Dutch are pretty much my favorite art styles - if I hadn't had advanced warning. As it was, I was pretty excited that I'd get to see some at all, they've got a fine collection of Rembrandt's, but the fact that photography is forbidden was compounded by my exhaustion and left my grumpy. That said, I entertained myself by eavesdropping on the Japanese tourists and their guides, and was proud that I don't seem to have lost the breakthrough I had right before I left - I don't get it all, but I get more than I used to. I also got to startle the hell out of a few of the tourists by speaking to them in Japanese (mostly asking them to get out of my way with a polite "sumimasen" more than anything else). All in all, though, I wasn't as happy with the Rijksmuseum as I expected to be. The Rembrandt's weren't more impressive (I thought, anyway) than the ones at the National Gallery in DC which blew my mind, and while there were some fine Vermeer's, I'm not a huge Vermeer fan. Some of the other stuff was pretty impressive, though. I liked it enough that I was pleased to find the book in the store which, for 5 euroes, showed pretty much everything that they currently have on display. It was a fine surrogate for my own photos, too - I think I might take pictures of my favorite pieces from the book and put them up, it's better than nothing even if it is lame as can be, and if I don't do something like that just having the book won't remind me, that's how my brain works (ie, stupidly).
After the Rijksmuseum (the other disappointing aspect was that my 10 euros to get in ended up being only a little over an hours worth of entertainment) I headed to the Van Gogh Museum, where I almost didn't go in because they, too, don't allow photographs. Since I don't even LIKE Van Gogh all that much, it seemed like a huge waste to spend another 10 euros to see art by some one I don't really care about. Still, I decided to go for it - it's the biggest collection of Van Gogh's in the world, and they do have some other pieces as well, including some of his influences (paintings in styles I actually like) and followers (less so). There was one painting there which I absolutely fell in love with, which I think was called the Dragoon. I wanted to post a link to a picture, but I can't find one, which just furthers my frustration on this topic. But I'll get there in a moment. At least they've got this one, another favorite, on their webpage. Anyway, the favorite depicts a lone, dark rider on horseback in a really bleak, tundra-esk landscape, and I just thought it was great; I went to look at it a second time before I left and it was even more awesome than I'd remembered, took my breath away. Anyway, over all the museum had a fine collection, and I now know more about Van Gogh then I ever wanted to. I was hoping that they'd have a book like the one at the Rijksmuseum - I'd actually snuck a photo or two, but security was tight and I'd gotten virtually none of my favorites. The books, however, almost entirely contained few or none of the non-Van Gogh pieces (read: most of the paintings I'd liked) and I got increasingly frustrated, because NONE of them contained the Dragoon - no books, not even a damn postcard!! I'm surprisingly upset about this, because now I'm going to forget what it looked like, and I might never go back to that museum, and even if I do it might not be on display, and all and all I was very unhappy as I left. Dang them and their Van Gogh loving ways!!
From there, I decided I needed some consolation, so I headed for a place which my travel guide suggested would have the greatest blueberry cheesecake in the Western Hemisphere (really, that's what it said). This was located in a small gardens called the Hortus Botanicus where I was thinking about going anyway, so I went over and had a nice stroll through there. After the looking (and photographing, finally!) flowers, I settled down to eat, only to discover that they no longer had the blueberry cheesecake!! Having been thus thwarted for the third time, my exhausted brain decided that Amsterdam clearly sucked. At least the people spoke English for the most part, but that alone was not enough to overcome the sheer degree of suck.
I had chocolate mousse cake instead. It was alright, but a little too bitter. I was displeased.
Sleepy, I decided that I'd start wandering back and do my best to stay awake until at least 6. As 6 approached, I sat in Leidesplein, which is right by my hotel, and read a book. I ate dinner to put of the sleepiness even longer - a tried the other dessert I was promised tastiness of, Dutch Apple Pie, which is in fact as good as advertised. I came back to the hotel, finished my book, and finally went to bed at 9 PM. Even exhaustion didn't enable me to sleep that well, though - with 5 other people in my hotel room, it seemed inevitable that between comings and goings, snoring, coughing, and motion of my bunkmate, sleep was interrupted at best.
This morning, I got up determined to like Amsterdam better, and it's gone damn well over all. I headed out first to do a little sightseeing, because once more I was up far too early to actually do anything. I walked passed Westkerk and Ann Frank Haus (where I had firmly decided at an early point in planning this trip NOT to go, because I'm NOT here to get depressed about the Holocaust, I got enough of that just reading my travel guide) and took some pictures, and finally wandered to my planned first visit, the Amsterdam Historisch Museum. This was by far the coolest place I've been. First, they allowed me to take pictures, which I'll admit made my morning and certainly influences my opinion. However, they also had a fine collection of art and artifacts and very interesting descriptions that were just the right length; for once, I read lots and lots of them. I was for a long time over all, and I liked it a lot.
From there, I was hungry, so I ate at the small cafe outside of the Nieue Kerk (New Church, which is in fact about 300 years old or some such) before going to Koninklijk Palace. Something wasn't right, though, and brief rereading of the travel guide made it clear what - the Palace isn't open except in July and August. Thwarted, I realized this was my opportunity to do what I hadn't done yesterday, and visit De Amsterdam.
De Amsterdam is a full-scale replica of a Dutch East India Company trading ship. I really wanted to go, but it was kind of out of the way, and thought I wouldn't be able to make it. As it turns out, though, it wasn't that far (the maps keep confusing me; Amsterdam is actually quite small, it suits my travel style of "walking every where no matter what" very, very well) and I was very happy I went, it was damn cool, though it gave me the constant challenge of trying to take pictures without getting bored high school students trying to do some stupid class assignment in my shots. This lead to the draining of my primary camera battery, too - but I have lots of cool shots. I just wish we could have crawled in the bilges or climbed up to the birdsnest, but otherwise nothing was off limits, it was awesome. :)
From there, I did a bit more sightseeing. All in all, I wandered around all kinds of landmarks and neighborhoos and have seen large swaths of Old Amsterdam (pretty much the inner parts radiating out around Centraal Station (note the two a's, this is typical of Dutch, much of which looks a lot like English just kind of misspelled, and which causes me to laugh far too oftne). I happily braved the Red Light district in order to get some views of Oude Kerk (Old Church), the oldest building in Amsterdam, having been built in the late 14th century. This is a fascinating visit, for literally across the street there are prostitutes scantily clad in booths ready to offer their services (prostitution, even more so than marijuana, is fully legal here).
All in all, I think I like it here. The inner parts of the city are universally old, as unlike many other cities Amsterdam wasn't demolished in World War II, there are no earthquakes like in Tokyo, and fires ceased to be a big issue when, in the 16th century, the towns governors got sick of the city burning down every few years and passed laws requiring all new construction be stone and brick. The majority of the buildings seem to date from the "Golden Age" of Amsterdam in the 17th century, and as always happens when old stuff is EVERYWHERE, people don't seem to care much. Grafitti is endemic, and attitudes are casual. I find the casualness frustrating, in fact, but I think I'd get used to it given a bit more time. For example, when you go to a restaurant, no one pays any attention to you. You seat yourself, wait for someone to notice your existence, and hope to god that the menu was on the table, because if it wasn't, what with the time it takes to get a menu, it'll be at least 15 minutes before you get to order. From there, food comes out slowly (though drinks come fast, the only thing that does) and don't expect to get checked on, cause it won't happen. Indeed, if you don't ask for a check, one will never come as far as I've been able to tell. It's okay, though, because given that I'm on vacation there is actually something kind of nice about not being hurried away from my table, and places seem pretty empty in general - it's not prime tourist season here yet, that's next month. Almost everyone seems to speak English, and there are a lot of American's around too. The city feels pretty safe in general, and the only real problem that I see is that there isn't actually all THAT much to do - I could probably occupy another few days, but I've already seen all of my high priority sights. Except maybe the Palace, but that's closed.
Anyway, I've been on the "Internet Maximum 30 minutes" computer for an hour (hey, no one was waiting!) so I should probably go. I'll update more from my next stop where, from what mom tells me, there's pretty much nothing to do. I think I might need that. :)
Due to lack of outlets, I've yet to be able to plug anything in. This should change in Cologne, but for now it means that I can't upload any pictures (nor, very soon, will I be able to take any more, since I've already used up one of my camera's batteries and my spare sucks and runs out of charge very quickly.) However, there are plenty, if not as many as I'd have wanted. Yesterday was in many ways awful; I was very tired (I ended up staying up nearly 32 hours all told) and jetlagged and such. At the same time, though, I did manage to do a lot, and so it was good.
I selected my first destination based entirely on opening times. The atmosphere here is generally VERY relaxed, and this is made evident by, among other things, the fact that many business and attractions don't open until 11 or even 12. This, needless to say, does not really fit my personal traveling style, nor was it in line with my actual schedule, which had me arriving here very early indeed. Fortunately, one of the things I wanted to see most opened at 9. So I wandered to my "hotel," found my way to my first stop, the Rijksmuseum, and then tracked down someplace to get a light breakfast.
At this moment, let me add here that everything here is EXPENSIVE and it sucks.
the Rijksmuseum is the largest art museum in the Netherlands, and boasts of a splendid collection of Low Country (Dutch, Flemish, etc.) art. This would be phenomenal if I could have actually seen most of it. Sadly, most of the museum is closed for remodeling at the moment. I'd probably have blown a lid - Flemish and Dutch are pretty much my favorite art styles - if I hadn't had advanced warning. As it was, I was pretty excited that I'd get to see some at all, they've got a fine collection of Rembrandt's, but the fact that photography is forbidden was compounded by my exhaustion and left my grumpy. That said, I entertained myself by eavesdropping on the Japanese tourists and their guides, and was proud that I don't seem to have lost the breakthrough I had right before I left - I don't get it all, but I get more than I used to. I also got to startle the hell out of a few of the tourists by speaking to them in Japanese (mostly asking them to get out of my way with a polite "sumimasen" more than anything else). All in all, though, I wasn't as happy with the Rijksmuseum as I expected to be. The Rembrandt's weren't more impressive (I thought, anyway) than the ones at the National Gallery in DC which blew my mind, and while there were some fine Vermeer's, I'm not a huge Vermeer fan. Some of the other stuff was pretty impressive, though. I liked it enough that I was pleased to find the book in the store which, for 5 euroes, showed pretty much everything that they currently have on display. It was a fine surrogate for my own photos, too - I think I might take pictures of my favorite pieces from the book and put them up, it's better than nothing even if it is lame as can be, and if I don't do something like that just having the book won't remind me, that's how my brain works (ie, stupidly).
After the Rijksmuseum (the other disappointing aspect was that my 10 euros to get in ended up being only a little over an hours worth of entertainment) I headed to the Van Gogh Museum, where I almost didn't go in because they, too, don't allow photographs. Since I don't even LIKE Van Gogh all that much, it seemed like a huge waste to spend another 10 euros to see art by some one I don't really care about. Still, I decided to go for it - it's the biggest collection of Van Gogh's in the world, and they do have some other pieces as well, including some of his influences (paintings in styles I actually like) and followers (less so). There was one painting there which I absolutely fell in love with, which I think was called the Dragoon. I wanted to post a link to a picture, but I can't find one, which just furthers my frustration on this topic. But I'll get there in a moment. At least they've got this one, another favorite, on their webpage. Anyway, the favorite depicts a lone, dark rider on horseback in a really bleak, tundra-esk landscape, and I just thought it was great; I went to look at it a second time before I left and it was even more awesome than I'd remembered, took my breath away. Anyway, over all the museum had a fine collection, and I now know more about Van Gogh then I ever wanted to. I was hoping that they'd have a book like the one at the Rijksmuseum - I'd actually snuck a photo or two, but security was tight and I'd gotten virtually none of my favorites. The books, however, almost entirely contained few or none of the non-Van Gogh pieces (read: most of the paintings I'd liked) and I got increasingly frustrated, because NONE of them contained the Dragoon - no books, not even a damn postcard!! I'm surprisingly upset about this, because now I'm going to forget what it looked like, and I might never go back to that museum, and even if I do it might not be on display, and all and all I was very unhappy as I left. Dang them and their Van Gogh loving ways!!
From there, I decided I needed some consolation, so I headed for a place which my travel guide suggested would have the greatest blueberry cheesecake in the Western Hemisphere (really, that's what it said). This was located in a small gardens called the Hortus Botanicus where I was thinking about going anyway, so I went over and had a nice stroll through there. After the looking (and photographing, finally!) flowers, I settled down to eat, only to discover that they no longer had the blueberry cheesecake!! Having been thus thwarted for the third time, my exhausted brain decided that Amsterdam clearly sucked. At least the people spoke English for the most part, but that alone was not enough to overcome the sheer degree of suck.
I had chocolate mousse cake instead. It was alright, but a little too bitter. I was displeased.
Sleepy, I decided that I'd start wandering back and do my best to stay awake until at least 6. As 6 approached, I sat in Leidesplein, which is right by my hotel, and read a book. I ate dinner to put of the sleepiness even longer - a tried the other dessert I was promised tastiness of, Dutch Apple Pie, which is in fact as good as advertised. I came back to the hotel, finished my book, and finally went to bed at 9 PM. Even exhaustion didn't enable me to sleep that well, though - with 5 other people in my hotel room, it seemed inevitable that between comings and goings, snoring, coughing, and motion of my bunkmate, sleep was interrupted at best.
This morning, I got up determined to like Amsterdam better, and it's gone damn well over all. I headed out first to do a little sightseeing, because once more I was up far too early to actually do anything. I walked passed Westkerk and Ann Frank Haus (where I had firmly decided at an early point in planning this trip NOT to go, because I'm NOT here to get depressed about the Holocaust, I got enough of that just reading my travel guide) and took some pictures, and finally wandered to my planned first visit, the Amsterdam Historisch Museum. This was by far the coolest place I've been. First, they allowed me to take pictures, which I'll admit made my morning and certainly influences my opinion. However, they also had a fine collection of art and artifacts and very interesting descriptions that were just the right length; for once, I read lots and lots of them. I was for a long time over all, and I liked it a lot.
From there, I was hungry, so I ate at the small cafe outside of the Nieue Kerk (New Church, which is in fact about 300 years old or some such) before going to Koninklijk Palace. Something wasn't right, though, and brief rereading of the travel guide made it clear what - the Palace isn't open except in July and August. Thwarted, I realized this was my opportunity to do what I hadn't done yesterday, and visit De Amsterdam.
De Amsterdam is a full-scale replica of a Dutch East India Company trading ship. I really wanted to go, but it was kind of out of the way, and thought I wouldn't be able to make it. As it turns out, though, it wasn't that far (the maps keep confusing me; Amsterdam is actually quite small, it suits my travel style of "walking every where no matter what" very, very well) and I was very happy I went, it was damn cool, though it gave me the constant challenge of trying to take pictures without getting bored high school students trying to do some stupid class assignment in my shots. This lead to the draining of my primary camera battery, too - but I have lots of cool shots. I just wish we could have crawled in the bilges or climbed up to the birdsnest, but otherwise nothing was off limits, it was awesome. :)
From there, I did a bit more sightseeing. All in all, I wandered around all kinds of landmarks and neighborhoos and have seen large swaths of Old Amsterdam (pretty much the inner parts radiating out around Centraal Station (note the two a's, this is typical of Dutch, much of which looks a lot like English just kind of misspelled, and which causes me to laugh far too oftne). I happily braved the Red Light district in order to get some views of Oude Kerk (Old Church), the oldest building in Amsterdam, having been built in the late 14th century. This is a fascinating visit, for literally across the street there are prostitutes scantily clad in booths ready to offer their services (prostitution, even more so than marijuana, is fully legal here).
All in all, I think I like it here. The inner parts of the city are universally old, as unlike many other cities Amsterdam wasn't demolished in World War II, there are no earthquakes like in Tokyo, and fires ceased to be a big issue when, in the 16th century, the towns governors got sick of the city burning down every few years and passed laws requiring all new construction be stone and brick. The majority of the buildings seem to date from the "Golden Age" of Amsterdam in the 17th century, and as always happens when old stuff is EVERYWHERE, people don't seem to care much. Grafitti is endemic, and attitudes are casual. I find the casualness frustrating, in fact, but I think I'd get used to it given a bit more time. For example, when you go to a restaurant, no one pays any attention to you. You seat yourself, wait for someone to notice your existence, and hope to god that the menu was on the table, because if it wasn't, what with the time it takes to get a menu, it'll be at least 15 minutes before you get to order. From there, food comes out slowly (though drinks come fast, the only thing that does) and don't expect to get checked on, cause it won't happen. Indeed, if you don't ask for a check, one will never come as far as I've been able to tell. It's okay, though, because given that I'm on vacation there is actually something kind of nice about not being hurried away from my table, and places seem pretty empty in general - it's not prime tourist season here yet, that's next month. Almost everyone seems to speak English, and there are a lot of American's around too. The city feels pretty safe in general, and the only real problem that I see is that there isn't actually all THAT much to do - I could probably occupy another few days, but I've already seen all of my high priority sights. Except maybe the Palace, but that's closed.
Anyway, I've been on the "Internet Maximum 30 minutes" computer for an hour (hey, no one was waiting!) so I should probably go. I'll update more from my next stop where, from what mom tells me, there's pretty much nothing to do. I think I might need that. :)
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I kind of know your pain.
Date: 2008-06-11 06:03 pm (UTC)I wonder how crass it is to take pictures of the brothels... o_O
Re: I kind of know your pain.
Date: 2008-06-11 07:19 pm (UTC)Re: I kind of know your pain.
Date: 2008-06-11 07:35 pm (UTC)Re: I kind of know your pain.
Date: 2008-06-12 04:40 am (UTC)Re: I kind of know your pain.
Date: 2008-06-12 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-11 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-12 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-12 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 08:00 am (UTC)I think they often don't come and give you the bill in other European countries too... sort of the cultural norm is to ask for the bill when you're ready, which is sort of nice, because you don't feel rushed.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-13 05:35 pm (UTC)I don't do well in places where the cultural norm is less rushed, though I'm making myself get used to it. ;)