We woke up at 4 am on Friday morning, in order to get to the Aberdeen airport on time for a 6:20 flight. The airport was, not surprisingly, almost empty. We flew through security and quickly settled into a quarter full KLM flight to Schiphol.
We arrived about a half hour early, and it would have been sooner, but apparently the runways at Schiphol are located somewhere in Belgium and after you land you still have to drive the plane to the terminal in Holland.
We managed to navigate through the sprawling airport to get on the train to Amsterdam Centraal Station. We made the mistake of getting on a Silent car, so we couldn't "ooh" and "aah" to each other as the canals whizzed by. We then managed to find and get on a tram to our hotel near the Rembrandsplein.
Even though we walked in at about 10am, we were allowed straight into our room. The hotel is great, with individualized rooms and great art on the walls. We just dropped our suitcases and headed out towards the museum district. Our plan was to hit a couple of museums the first day - the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum.
The RIjksmuseum is a magnificent building that unfortunately for us is going through a renovation. Several of the exhibits were unavailable. But what we did get to see was magnificent. I think our favorite had to be Rembrandt's Night Watch, but I imagine that would be most people's impression as well. We did gain a new appreciation for some of the art from that school and time - although the overall impression is somewhat dark and depressing, Rembrandt especially was amazing at including bright, detailed faces or pieces of clothing that, when you're standing in front of them, jump off the canvas. It is really quite remarkable.
We then went out for lunch and decided on an Indonesian restaurant close to the museum. We were basically the only ones there and received great service. The waiter suggested the Nasi Goreng special, which was spectacular. I have to be very careful here, when talking about Indonesian food, because any comparisons will reflect on what gets served when we're at home. Mom, we have some good news and some bad news. Good news: we love you and you're awesome. Bad news: there is a place that makes slightly better chicken satay and peanut sauce.
After lunch we hit the streets, to see what sights there are to be seen. We saw an embarassingly small fire truck. We saw ice on the canals - yes, it's absolutely freezing here. We saw a wonderful art exhibit in front of the Rijksmuseum, beside the busy temporary skating rink. But it quickly became too cold and we headed inside, to the Van Gogh Museum.
Van Gogh has always been a personal favorite of both Fiona and I. And all our favorites were there, hanging on the walls. Sunflowers, Self Portrait, Irises, Wheatfield with Crows and more. We also found a new favorite, the Bedroom. We both had quite a reaction to being there, in front of the actual results of this man's genius. Although it was expensive, I highly recommend it to anyone in Amsterdam.
Shortly after leaving the museum we received a call from my Tante Willy, who was visiting here daughter Annemarie close by Amsterdam. Shortly after that we were picked up by my Ome Ad and on our way to dinner with them all. I hadn't seen Annemarie for many, many years and it was nice to talk with her again. She and her husband (Ronald, who was is a pilot for KLM and out of town) have a gorgeous home and three fantastic children. The youngest, Giel, was celebrating his fifth birthday. He was thoroughly enjoying his presents, and took pride in showing us all the options on his SpiderMan house. Stan is a great, energetic young man who had an unlimited supply of jokes to tell, songs to sing and great goals to score when we played soccer on the Playstation. While I tackled everyone in sight and got two guys thrown out with red cards, he was scoring the goals that kept us in the lead. Manouk is a wonderful young lady that made Fiona a fantastic cappucino, managed to hook us up with my mother on Skype, performs in a long running, nationally presented musical and had grand time singing Karaoke with Fiona. We had a great meal and a great time.
We got back to the hotel and had pretty good night's sleep, although it was a little hard to control the heat. I guess the heating systems here aren't designed for cold snaps like this. We did get a nice Dutch breakfast in the morning. Lots of bread and meat and cheese. No soft boiled egg, though, so not quite authentic enough for me.
We decided Saturday would be our shopping day. We started at the Bloemenmaarkt, where, even in the cold of January, the flower merchants had their stalls well stocked with gorgeous cut flowers and bulbs. We went out and purchased some Delft blue - can't claim to be Dutch and not have some Delft blauw in the house! We went book shopping. We bought an Indonesian cookbook at one book store where the cashier was absolutely a horrible little man. But karma balanced things out at the next book store, where we were buying some children's books for Fiona to read as she learns Dutch. The lady was super friendly and insisted we take a free copy of her favorite children's book. She thought it had to be in everyone's bookcase. We found an American food store and managed to pick up the Aunt Jemima syrup that we have been missing in Aberdeen. And we picked up some Dutch staples - chocolate hagel for on sandwiches, peperkoek, borrelnootjes and nasi kruiden. We are currently resting up in the hotel, trying to get warm. The cold is not too bad when the wind is down and the sun is out, but otherwise it has just been intolerable.
Our overall impressions of Amsterdam are mixed. It's a nice mix of old and new, and some of the museums and antique shops are great. Fiona's thought is that "it's not a pretty city, but it has a lot of character". I agree with that and would add, "it's quite nice as long as you keep your eyes up off the ground." The architecture is nice, but the streets tend to be dirty. Generally, I think there are better places to visit, but if, like us, you enjoy museums or have a personal attachment to the city/country, it's well worth the time and money. And don't forget that last point. Amsterdam is bloody expensive.
Anyway, I think it's time for a snooze.
