Amsterdam in Photos

September 21 - September 23

In reality, these pictures will more likely accompany Max's G-rated Amsterdam blog. Though Amsterdam is decidedly less strict than our country on matters of drugs and sex, it does have one unbreakable rule: no photos in the Red Light District. As such, I will continue our story with a more wholesome exploration of our experience in the city.

After our first night, which Max explains in his R-rated post, we started our first full day in Amsterdam with a canal tour.

Amsterdam's landscape is defined by its canals. As the city expanded, it dug canals in a semicircular pattern outward around the center of town. There are also a few canals that intersect perpendicularly to allow easier movement by boat through town. The canals are lined by both boats for transit, and sedentary house boats.

Here you can see consecutive bridges from the canal, the famous "seven bridges" view.

The tour also explained the reason for Amsterdam's characteristically tall, narrow houses - buildings were taxed based on width, and this design minimized the amount the owner was required to pay. Because the buildings were so tall, they were equipped with a pulley system at the gabled roof. The pulley was used to move furniture and belongings in and out of the house when a family moved. The front facade is also slightly slanted out into the street so that nothing slammed against the wall as it was being pulled.

West Church overlooking the canal at dusk.

In addition to the lovely canals and architecture, we discovered some fantastic food in Amsterdam. Here, Max is devouring a traditional Dutch pancake made with apples, cinnamon, and whipped cream. This one was very yummy, but the true treasure is the one sitting immediately before him as it is ingeniously stuffed with BACON! The crispy bacon and the fluffy pancake were wonderful with maple syrup. It was unexpectedly delicious and even better than the apple one!

Innovative and yummy food is not only found in fancy restaurants. FEBO is a fast food chain that has hot krokets dispensed in what is basically a large vending machine. You put in a euro and take out a breaded morsel filled with anything from creamy chicken and potato (kipkroket), to noodles with vegetables (bami), to melted cheese (kaassouffle). We have not seen FEBO dispensers with krokets anywhere else in Europe, but I hope they catch on soon.

We spent the morning of our second day visiting the Van Gogh Museum. Unfortunately, photography is prohibited there too, so I will substitute his masterpieces with this photo of Max playing with bronze iguanas in a park nearby (the city has some very interesting public art along with its museums). The museum's collection spans the entirety of his short career, starting with his drawings from 1880, continuing on to his first paintings from 1883, and ending only days before his suicide in 1890. In such a focused exhibit, the development of his work is very apparent. His early painting are surprisingly dark in color, as was typical of Dutch artists of the time, and it was not until he went to Paris that he started experimenting with the vibrant colors that make him so well known (neat to see having just visited Paris). The museum also had sketches and studies, particularly interesting with his line and brushstroke experiments, and records of correspondence with his brother Theo that gave an insight into his life and a context for his paintings. After visiting the Louvre's inconceivably vast collection, it was really interesting to focus on one amazing artist's ouevre from start to finish.

After visiting the Van Gogh Museum, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around along the canals. Throughout the city, we encountered Amsterdam's most ubiquitous public art exhibit, "Elephants on Parade". Over a hundred painted baby elephants are on display throughout the city, each designed by a different artist. The elephants are scheduled to be auctioned off later this month, and the proceeds will benefit Asian elephants. I liked this one because the artist painted a map of the city on its back - the blue parts are the canals and the red parts are the buildings. The campaign reminded me of similar shows in the US - the cows in New York, and the Mr. Potatoheads in Rhode Island.

More public art? Refer to Max's previous post for an explanation of this curious green spiral.

We finally made our way back to the train station and hopped on our overnight train to Lucerne, Switzerland. We paid for a cheaper 6 berth option, and luckily were able to sleep in a compartment with only 4 beds (imagine trying to fit 2 more beds in this space). Though a little cramped, I actually slept very comfortably until our couchette-mates exited the train at their stop in Germany at 4 am. The next time we woke up, we were in Switzerland!