Amsterdam Part Deux (Beer, Museums, and Beer Museums)

Being in Amsterdam for a total of only three days, we easily could have spent our entire trip wandering around the city exploring the intricacies of each individual quarter. There is so much to see and indulge in just walking along the canals, or venturing off the touristy path. Coming to an intersection begs the question: left, right, or maybe just continuing straight ahead, and no matter what the final decision it seems there is always something interesting to discover around every corner and bend. This realization was made soon after our arrival. We decided to make it a point that we would not get caught up in purely the sensationalism of the cities ambiance, but to experience some of the touristy arts and culture exhibits also. This meant museums.



Growing up I was never one to get very excited about going to museums, especially ones entirely dedicated to art. In fact I can remember a specific moment in my childhood, while wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago on a fieldtrip, thinking: “Why on Earth would anybody use up their precious free time wasting hours wandering around a museum looking at paintings? They all look the same to me.” I have since (possibly in the last year or so) grown out of that mindset, and first up on our list of activities for Day 2 was the museum sector of Amsterdam located in the Northern portion of the city.

Well I should say it was first up on our to-do list, our real primary goal was getting some breakfast that in no way resembled the classic French: croissant and espresso. This was made slightly more difficult because we didn’t leave the hotel until about 9:45am. I thought we would be fine (for being on vacation this might have been the earliest I had ever been up and out), but in Amsterdam if you want a good hearty English breakfast you must be prepared to eat before 10am. We finally found a nice place in Dam Square. There was a little breakfast café situated next to a church/museum directly across from Madame Tussauds famous wax museum. The food was filling, and the coffee (like everywhere in Amsterdam) was aweful, but strong. On to the Rijksmuseum!


Three quarters of the Rijksmuseum was closed to the public for renovations. Not worth it for 20euros…On to the Van Gogh Museum!!

The museum was located in the middle of a large open grassy quad, half way between the Rijks and the Concert Hall. There were four floors each dedicated to different aspects of the painter/philosopher's work and life. The ground floor was filled with some of Van Gogh’s earliest works. His initial inspiration came from laborers working in the fields around the towns he lived in. His paintings progressed from individual worker portraits to action stills of their labor in the fields. This was his “Haystack” phase. Upstairs on the second floor was the real collection of the most famous Van Gogh paintings. It was the era when he started realizing his potential, and decided his legacy would be an expansive use of the color spectrum. This was the exhibit hosting works like his world famous paintings of the Sunflowers, as well as the painting of his Bedroom at Arles. As we wove our way around the exhibits and up the different levels we were accompanied by the story of Van Gogh’s life.

It was written in segments on the walls all throughout the museum, composed entirely of passages and quotes from letters sent between Van Gogh, and his family and friends. He was a very intriguing, passionate, and delusional individual. The third story of the museum was totally dedicated to these letters. They had hundreds of the original letters Van Gogh had written translated (he wrote first in Dutch then in French and finally towards his death in a combination of the languages) accompanied by little sketches and drawings that he included about pieces he was working on. This was one of the most interesting aspects of the museum because many of the sketches that he sent along in the letters have never been linked to known Van Gogh paintings. The top floor had a fantastic collection of artwork from artists either influenced by or influential to Van Gogh. This included Monet, Manet, Renoir, Seurat and a bunch of others I can’t remember right now. No cameras were allowed inside so we don’t have pictures of any of the paintings. While we’re on that subject though, something they did allow in the museum was my pocketknife which I had mistakenly forgotten to take out of my coat pocket and leave back at the hotel. The security guards warning, “Just don’t use it on any of the paintings.” I could only imagine if something like that would have happened in the States. I’d probably be blogging from the federal pen fighting charges of suspected “art/cultural terrorism.” It was a great way to kill a couple of hours, and experience some world changing artwork in the process.

Our next stop was for lunch at a little Japanese Sushi restaurant just a block away from our final planned expedition of the day. The food was good and cheap, rolls were half price and so was the beer. In fact it was probably some of the freshest beer in the city seeing as this restaurant was right next door to the Heineken Brewery. That’s right; our final guided excursion for the day was a “tour” of the Heineken Brewery. Well…it wasn’t exactly a tour of the actual brewery, but it was a museum about the history of the brewery, the beer and the Heineken brand.

We were also given beer along the way, one halfway through the tour along with a presentation about everything from Heineken quality, to tips on determining if you were given beer in a clean glass. Then we had vouchers attached to our admission wristbands good for two beers at the “museum bar” located at the end of the tour, what could be better? In fact I happen to think that is a brilliant marketing strategy for all museums. I would be much more adept to going to museums if I was guaranteed 3+ beers along the way. We learned all about Heineken: how they were started, why they expanded and began exporting, how the beer is made from the time they receive the ingredients through cooking and processing on to bottling and finally shipment around the world. It was an all around great time, and one of the best museums I have ever been to.

By the time we exited the Heineken Experience it was starting to get late so we headed back to our hotel to rest for a bit, change, and go out on the town. Our first stop was a Spanish tapas restaurant that we passed on our walk home. The food was decent, but way overpriced. Plus we were tricked into ordering items we were made to believe were on the 4euro tapas menus that in fact were not. This contributed to our bill being slightly higher than anticipated. We followed dinner with a long walk along some of the canals stopping every now and then at little bars to have some drinks and watch the people passing by. The night concluded with a midnight stop at a little Shoarma (it’s a cross between a kebab and a gyros) stand for a snack before bed.

The final day of our trip had, without a doubt, the best weather. All day the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. We spent our final hours in Amsterdam wandering streets we had yet to explore, coupled with extended pauses on park benches to relax and watch the crowds. Amsterdam has such an open society, it doesn’t matter what district or area of the city you’re in there will be an assortment of different personalities and cultures. Walking together in large groups were men and women in business suites, tourists on vacation (we heard many from France) hippies dressed like they were on their way to the Eugene Saturday Market, and every ethnicity you could imagine. The highlight of our last day in Amsterdam was one final stop to Bird Thais restaurant for two more helpings of chicken with red curry sauce before the four hour ride back to Lille, and our room in the Cook household in Wasquehal. We have already experienced enough to make this whole assistantship worthwhile, and we still have six months to go. I can’t wait to see what our future holds. It’s starting to look like a second year may be a part of it.

A Bientôt,
 

Jor and Kathryn