We made it! It is Sunday evening and we have been in Europe since late Friday afternoon. We've stayed busy so far...so the past few days are already blurring together a bit, but I'll try to pick out the highlights...
Thursday at 3 pm our dear friend Thomas escorted us to the airport – and subjected his new car to all our crazy luggage. Check-in, weighing of the bags, security, etc all went quite well. We flew from Orlando to Chicago, where we once again subjected ourselves to O'hare's convoluted layout as we braved the 100+ degree shuttle. Our flight across the Atlantic was a good one and we enjoyed the basket of fresh bread and complimentary wine that came with an international carrier (SAS). We did our best to sleep as musch as we could and arrived in Copenhagen somewhat rested, somewhat rumpled, somewhat comprehending that we were almost in the first city of our trip. Since we had sat on the runway in Chicago for nearly two hours the two hour window between landing in Copenhagen and flying to Amsterdam had been narrowed to a mere thirty minutes. We would have made our last flight just in the nick of time if the SAS crew had told us the correct gate. Instead we realized at 3:05 that our 3:10 flight to Amsterdam was at the next gate and that we had some running to do. Which would have been considerably easier if we weren't dragging our hefty carry-on packs while Daniel ran-shuffled in his Birkenstocks. We actually made it – barely – but arrived on the plane panting and pouring sweat – only to remember that security had made me dump my water our of my nalgene bottle as we simultaneously learned that all drinks (even water) cost several euros. But we were on the plane and were still going to arrive in Amsterdam as scheduled.
When we arrived in Amsterdam we had three expectation adjustments. One, our luggage had not followed us from Copenhagen and we spent twenty minutes filling out paperwork (it arrived by 10pm that night, no worries!). Two, it was 55 degrees Farenheit outside. So as the wind picked up as we waited for our ferry, I dove for the hoodie in my carryon bag. Three, our hotel was considerably further away from the city center than I thought. The hotel itself is on a pier that is the industrial no mans land of the city. There is a ferry that runs every 30 minutes or so and shuttles you from the pier to Central Station during a free, ten minute ferry ride. I was a little disappointed to discover that we were not two or three blocks outside of the city center, but were instead a wait-twenty-minutes-for-the-ferry-for-a-ten-minute-ride distance away from the city center. Ultimately, not too big a deal.
So, we arrived in the airport, took a train to Central Station, took a ferry to the pier, and boarded the Amstel Botel. We dropped our things off, showered, and set out to explore the city for a few hours. We ate dinner in a nice “authentic” Dutch restaurant and enjoyed pea soup, roast beef, potatoes, beets, very nice. The Dutch team was facing off in a soccer game so we witnessed the mania here that is European football. (They won by the way!) We walked the streets for a few hours, bought breakfast at a local grocery store, and headed back on the ferry. Adjustment number four, we also discovered that the sun doesn't even begin to set until after 10:15 pm. It is currently 11 pm here and it is not quite fully dark yet.
Our first true day in the city we started off with a three to four mile walk to the museum area. We visited the Van Gogh Museum and realized that Daniel and I have different opinions on what constitutes art. Daniel likes the more realistic paintings – the ones that look like they could be a photogrpah of a situation and I love the more impressionist-based paintings. I love looking up close at the globs of paint, only to steadily step back and realize that all the different colored globs and dashes amount to a picture that has dimensions and perspective and light and shadows. Needless to say, we enjoyed the museum – my favorite of the visit was the vase of irises. He used vibrant complimentary colors.
During our wanderings we witnessed a guy who can roll a firey ball up and down his arms and chest, a little park dedicated to Rembrant that included 21 life size figures from his famous “Night Watch” painting, and Vondel Park with huge “I amsterdam” letters. After the Van Gogh Museum, we didn't have enough time to visit the other museums so we decided to head up to the Anne Frank Hus (house).
I was worried that I would not be able to get into the right frame of mind to process everything as I walked through the Anne Frank Hus, but the museum does an excellent job of jogging your memory and transitioning you back into her story. I was struck by a series of photographs of Anne. I had forgotten how young she was. When I read her diary I had been her age – but now, over ten years later, looking into her face I realized how truly young she was. By the time I reached the book case I was fully absorbed in her story, flooded with memories of different vignettes from her diary that I have remembered most vividly. I spent the second half of the tour very choked up as I walked through the rooms imagining living there in fear, imagining the day when the Gestapo charged in, imagining the many afternoons she spent writing to Kitty, processing how young she had been and how she was only one of thousands... As you leave the secret annex you cross over into a neighboring house to watch clips on what happened to the eight individuals who hid together. I was very impressed with the way the museum drew each person back into the Frank's story and how they used each room and quotes from Anne's diary to tell her story.
Today we visited the Rijksmuseum – the national art museum. Unfortunately, a large part of the museum is under rennovation so they only had a small portion of the museum available for viewing. On a positive side – foreign males were admitted for free today for Father's Day – so thanks dads! :) The Rijksmuseum highlights? Work by Frans Hals and Rembrant's original Night Watch.
We are still at times in disbelief that we are actually here. After for planning for so many months, it often seems strange to be here. So far Amsterdam has been a fun city. The city itself is extremely diverse including people from all walks of life. The Dutch ties to Indonesia and trade routes to South Asia, South East Asia and Eastern Asia are prominent. Orange pride also runs rampant. There is a very playful air about the city. The people are very helpful and accustomed to tourists as almost everyone is a tourist. The layout of the city is quite diverse as well as on one street is the red light district with women of all ages posing in their window fronts, turn the corner to find a peaceful residential street that runs along a canal, make a right and discover an ally full of ten different ethnic restaurants, pubs, and coffee shops, to only open up to reveal a beautiful open square of churches and city buildings.
We are off in the morning to Brussels – excited to be journeying on, sad to leave Amsterdam, and having an excellent time thus far! :)
Photo Captions:
1. Sunset on an Amsterdam Canal our first night. *Note sunset is 11:15 pm
2. Posing along an Amsterdam Canal
3. Squeezing into one of the letters of the "I amsterdam" display in Vondel Park
4. One of Amsterdam's many canals
5. The book case that hid the Secret Annex in Anne Frank's House (sneak in around the right side)
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