Amsterdam...amazing

Greetings:

Well, I’ve been pretty busy staying on top of my Psycholingusitics preps and twenty minutes ahead of my graduate students, so, it’s taken awhile to get to the Amsterdam post. Nelson, my travelling buddy to Istanbul and Egypt last year, called in a minor panic wondering why I hadn’t posted yet! Thought I might have walked into one of the famous “coffee bars” and couldn’t find my way out! Nope, just busy.

My April 17-23 trip started with a stop in Elbasan to connect with old friends and then that evening Mitesh and I met up with some PC volunteers Aydah, Adrian, and Crisitn for dinner in Tirana at a favorite place.

Immediately got mugged by Klajdi and Linda at the Coffee House -- and then did the same to Andi down at Bledi's bar!

Just as I am writing this Andi called me from Elbasan wondering when I am coming back for a visit. He just got named as the second coach for the Elbasan men's volleyball team! YAY! And then he tells me he's putting my name into the federation as third coach!! He asked me if I knew anything about physical conditioning - we both laughed. "No problem, you are coach over positive mental attitude!!" So damned funny.

Megi brought me up to speed on all her stuff - job going great! Ervin, a trainer on the Peace Corps staff wasn't too happy with the pic: "Bill, please don't post this until the pre-service training for the new volunteers is over! I like my job and being seen with you is always a risk." I think he was serious, really. Well, Ervin, PST ended yesterday!! XO

If you can imagine, we left our Tirana digs, the famous Pik Loti Hotel, at 2am (!!) to catch our 4am (!!) flight to Amsterdam. We arrived a little beat Sunday morning, but ready to go! Here are a bunch of our first photos, and a few others to give you an idea – plus a map, right?

Train direct from the airport to Centraal Station and grabbed a map to see where we were and where we had to go - BAM!

Yeah, two Americans in Amsterdam....and bikes!!!

First stop, lunch and cappuccinos...of course I ordered large, had to be a pint and a half!

We turned a corner one day and stumbled on this; a candidate for any tourist book of Amsterdam - it was a very rare experience, the only graffiti we saw the entire week, and a bit artsy at that.  

Some serious tulip business in the markets - and without exception the proprietors would not let us take photos - Mitesh snuck these shots hiding behind me!

And some serious cheesage!

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We headed to our bnb after we got in, somewhere near the red star on the map. A super place with coffee on the corner right next to the rail stop straight to the city center. After a few hours of exploring we called it a day.

Our neighborhood right outside our front door.

Some serious steps, mitigated by the great view.

One thing we both agreed on in planning the trip - tracking down a good (!!) bacon-double-cheese with shakes - and just two blocks from our place - I love this country; I'm comin' back - only a half-continent away from Albania!

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Quite often we would get off the train at the Rembrandt Plaza; a pretty cool place to hang out. And with a sculpted life-size bronze of his famous "Night Watch"

These pics are included only because Mitesh insisted - he could not quit laughing about the look I was getting from the local in the background! Yeah, I almost included the one with him arm-wrestling the Saskia-like watch-girl-mascot rather than the polite handshake. 

Our first full day, Monday, we hit the Amsterdam Museum – not one of the big ones, but we were lucky to start here: we were able to catch the pretty impressive “Amsterdam DNA” exhibition. The museum’s blurb on this reads, “Based on the four core values of entrepreneurship, free thinking, citizenship and creativity, and divided into seven periods, you will learn all about this city's fascinating story.” And it was outstanding – you know, but I didn’t, that not only is Holland famous for its dikes, but Amsterdam itself is built on a veritable forest of pylons! Had no clue. Consequently, high tower buildings aren’t prevalent in the old city center – of course, I doubt the locals would have tolerated that anyway.

A short walk from Rembrandt Plaza to the Amsterdam Museum. The museum proper is a bit eclectic – kind of my impression of Amsterdam – a little bit of everything.

OK. This is the museum entrance, a bit strange with this massive wooden figure of Goliath and the life-size David next to it. I didn't read the card except to note that it's 17th century - I supposed it commemorates Dutch independence from the Spanish in 1648 at the end of an 80-year struggle.

Kids with cameras - selfies!!

Much of what we saw in the museum was  educational with video and displays. I certainly recommend this as anyone's first stop to the city. It was quite impressive - and made me want to beef-up on my Dutch history.

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 One of my tasks on the trip was to buy a PowerPoint projector. The university faculty I work with has one – and a bit problem on the scheduling. So, at the end of this first day we hiked back down to the Centraal Station area and hit one of the major stores: success!!

Yeah, this new projector, small, easy to carry and powerful ("No. 1 in Europe!!"), was going to solve my biggest classroom pain and suffering. I was euphoric. Mitesh was almost speechless, all he could say was, "Doc, before you put the knife away you may think about cleaning your nails." Dude.

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Our trip to the Rijksmuseum was beyond, what, infinity? One of the great museums of the world. Probably the main reason this post has taken so long coming. The museum has over a million pieces in its collection - only a fraction on display at any one time, of course. But Mitesh took photos (multiple in most cases) of every one that we saw!! Holy hell!! Here are the pics: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and on and on. This is not an art blog, so as much as I'd like, with a couple exceptions I'm not giving you details - just some of my favorites. But I would guess that all of these are familiar to you. What a trip.

The Louvre has the Mona Lisa, the Prado - maybe Guernica? the Vatican - Sistine Chapel? Well, here it's Rembrandt's Night Watch - hands down. 

Rembrandt and his son Titus

This is the interesting van de Venne painting Fishing for Souls - in 1614, about thirty years before independence from the Spanish Crown. Protestants on the left, Catholics on the right. 

Ahh...the museum library

So, in the words of Napoleon “Able was I ere I saw Elba,” right? In more ways than one of course, he got it backwards: banishment to the Mediterranean island was not in the cards – so, he took off and over the next hundred days made another grab for the big prize. And then… Waterloo on June 18, 1815 – BAM – holy hell, 201 years ago next month! Anyway, the painting below, the most massive canvass in the Rijksmuseum (probably in all of The Netherlands), shows the moment when the British general, Wellington, hears the Prussians were on the way in support – pretty much all she wrote for Bonaparte (and then later that year off to the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena for good). 

The guy in the left hand corner – looking a lot like Ashley in Gone with the Wind – is the Dutch Crown Prince, the future King William II. Wounded in the battle, his countrymen favored him with the nickname the “Hero of Waterloo.” 

Thirty three years later, William returns the favor: in the wake of the 1848 revolutions sweeping Europe, he moved his country toward a constitutional monarchy – William II may have been a pretty face, but he wasn’t stupid: “I changed from a conservative to a liberal in one night.” I’ll post your essay question later.

We got one look at a van Gogh - but not too dissappointed, that museum was coming up. So, a full and fulfilling day at the Rijksmuseum. What a blast.  

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One day we’re out walking around and we hit this outdoor market – tons of cool stuff.

And what do I see but a second hand Brooks Brothers outlet!! I am ecstatic...I regain my composure and we settle on the perfect Harris Tweed for 25 Euros - a cool savings of around 250 simoleons! The which Mitesh duly records.

And the stylin' lessons I learned from my grandkids, Parker and Hayes, kicked in!

Mitesh didn't see anything he wanted - or couldn't live without...until just as we got back to the house...

He made some great arguments for taking this baby back on the plane - until I reminded him that he still had one year left in his Peace Corps service and the rod would have to be parked out back - under wraps.

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Except for the Amsterdam Museum, we bought our tickets on-line for the Rijksmuseum and the van Gogh - the people we talked to at the van Gogh impressed upon us to schedule our visit early in the day to beat the crowds, we pegged the opening hour. When we got there we passed the long, long line for tickets and walked right in. 

Sunflowers and me - about the fifth pic Mitesh took of this, you can see it on my face!!

Now, Vincent died in the summer of 1890, his brother Theo died at the beginning of the next year. Theo’s wife gathered the unsold pieces and over the next decades Vincent is gaining appreciation. His nephew, Vincent Willem, inherits the bulk of his work and it ends up getting passed to a state-sponsored foundation in 1962. The museum opened in 1973. The collected work here is phenomenal. Fortunately (or not) taking pictures was prohibited – otherwise this post wouldn’t be finished until sometime in the fall!!

A day here (or two or three) is an absolute must. And by all means get the audio guide. I was really struck with the number of young people in teaching/learning groups – in fact I tagged along with a couple fortunately in English since my only other language is Albanian!

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So, that’s it. Neither of us had been to Amsterdam and it was trip to remember. The people were great – and not all we met were stoned. We lucked out with the weather; more than a few of the locals commented on our good fortune in having seven straight days of sun in the middle of April. Yeah, well we’re Americans and Mitesh is with the Peace Corps. Looking forward to another visit.  Meanwhile, back at the coffee office…

My best to all of you. Later. XOXO