Last Couple of Weeks: Part 2

Ciao!!

What a weekend I just had!! I headed northeast to visit Natalie T. in Prague, but more on that later. First! I must tell you all about Amsterdam!

I got into Amsterdam early in the morning on Friday, March 26th. I immediately met up with some of my friends from school who were also visiting that weekend, including NATALIE!! We reunited for the first time in many months, and it was so great to see her. Amazing how long two friends can go without seeing each other, and still be as if you were never apart except for great stories about the time in-between! We were staying on the fringes of the Red Light District, and so we "explored" the coffeeshops and crazy stores that abound in that area before heading over to Damplein to find PANCAKES. Our breakfast was delicious, but I was surprised because at the small restaurant we went to, not only was our waiter Italian, but the entire place was filled with the Italian language and strong Italian cologne!! It was almost as if I had never left Florence! After we had our late breakfast, we walked around and just got used to our new landscape. That evening we decided to trek across the city and make a light night call at the Van Gogh Museum, which was open until 10pm. It was such a great museum!! A complete range of his artistic process, it had everything from portraits, still lives, and starry nights. It also held two pictures that I had never seen before but fell completely in love with on site. There was an exhibition on his Night scenes, and while the Starry Night of fame was on display (which I was so happy about because I missed it in NYC this summer) there were two works that were spectacular! First, another starry night, though this one was much less flashy and much more contemplative on the source of illumination and the selectivity of colors. My other favorite was a Dance Hall scene that was imbibed with so much color and movement I felt like I could hear the skirts swish and swoop. After a very satisfactory museum jaunt, we went over to Leidenplein which is a nightlife center filled with clubs and restaurants. Interestingly, we ate Italian that night. I am beginning to feel that I will never be able to fully escape Italy... but then again, why would I want to? :)
That night we simply wandered all over the city, stopping in at different bars and such.

The next day, Saturday, we set off for Rijksmuseum (near the Van Gogh, though it seems a lot farther during the day when you can site see for hours just walking around) and found an ADORABLE cafe that overlooked the canals (Villa Zeezicht, Torensteeg 7) where we ate lunch and I had my first hamburger in months, it was superb! After that we head to Museumplein and to the Rijksmuseum. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for Natalie because who knows how long I would have wanted to stay otherwise) the major building of the museum is closed for renovation and they just have a "Highlights" exhibition open, but it was still an insane collection and really moving. We sat in front of Rembrandt's Night Watch for about 30 minutes just looking and talking about the work and what I had learned from Simon Schama (our god) about it. After that we strolled Museumplein, took pictures of the I AM AMSTERDAM sign, and the concert hall at the other end. While I was reading aloud about the -plein to Natalie from my Rick Steve's guidebook (who I will NEVER buy again) I happened across a passage that was very irritating and insulting to me. It goes, "Dutch art is meant to be enjoyed, not studied." Hmm, then it’s probably a bad thing that I have spent 4 semesters taking classes about Northern and Dutch art, eh?? Stupid Rick Steves. Natalie thought this was highly hilarious, as I had just finished explaining Dutch art in technical and chronologic terms, relating it to other art movements. I guess that was all hogwash. After the plein, it was getting late and we walked another scenic route back to our District where we found incredible Tibetan food near our hotel. It was a great meal, and I remembered how much I love Asian food! That night we headed to the Bulldog Coffeeshop (supposedly one of the first large coffeeshops of its kind) and then toured the Red Light District. This came with some awkward moments, such as when I, distracted by Natalie, tripped and put my hand out to catch myself on the wall beside me. This would have been unnoteworthy had the "wall" not been the window behind which a prostitute was proudly displaying her "wares." Other moments ensued including the moment that I realized there was a brothel immediately beside the Old Kerk. Church + Brothel sharing a wall? I still don't know how I felt about that. The entire experience left me shaken. I kept looking through these glass barriers at the women below the red lights and wondering what they were thinking, and whether they were there by their own accord or were being exploited by someone else. And I couldn't help thinking that whether or not they were there voluntarily, they were still exploited by a tourist trade that promotes and advertises them as if they were products and not people. Even my own curiosity about them, though completely removed from their trade, seemed obtrusive and wrong. I have yet to fully comprehend my own feelings on the matter, but I believe it is something to seriously think about at length.

Our last day was a busy one! We headed out early and went straight to the Anne Frank House. What an experience, anyone who has heard about the Holocaust but never really felt they understood the sheer terror people must have felt need only to walk up to the Bookcase that hid the entrance to this tiny annex and it hits you so hard its almost impossible to breathe. Walking up the tiny stairs and into these miniscule rooms was something I will never forget. The stories of those people were told from the perspective of a small girl, but when you read her words its hard to imagine someone so young understanding so much, yet when you see her room, it is so clear how young she was.

We left the Frank's house and walked the whole of the city to the Botanical Gardens, which were an unusual site for me. I have never considered the Botanical Gardens of any city a place I must see, but I am so glad that I was able to walk through Amsterdam's. Not only was it beautiful and contained plants that I had never seen or heard of, but also its history was so interesting! It was first created to house medicinal plants and is one of the oldest growers of some very important herbs that many medicines still contain. We walked through South Africa, Mexico, California, the Desert, and Canada. Afterwards we headed back to our apartment for a quick nap and to rest our tired feet. However, I must say that our walks, more than any single site, were my favorite parts of the trip. The streets were so vibrant, and the canals so beautiful. Our last stop was the Museum Amstelkring. It is a 16th century house that houses a 17th century Catholic church in its attic! Created in the 1640's when the city governors outlawed Catholicism, it was a hidden church where practicing Catholics could gather for Mass and the sacraments. It was so interesting to see another hidden religion and how they incorporated the entirety of a church into a house (including confessional and a pulpit!). That night we had Tibetan food again and headed back to our hotel early for our REALLY EARLY flights home the next day.

All in all I loved Amsterdam and especially its history, however I was very disturbed by its current form and am still deciphering my feelings about why I think its ok for prostitution to exist but not want to see it? Is it a moral issue for me or am I simply so entrenched in my society's view of it that I wish it to be hidden. I do not like the feeling of not knowing my own mind, but at the same time I am distinctly not ok with what I felt when I saw those women below the red lights that loudly proclaim their profession.


Still pondering,
Lydia

Amsterdam, Album 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2524469&id=8642257&l=7a304

Amsterdam, Album 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2525230&id=8642257&l=9ba2b