Amsterdam 31/03/06 - 05/04/06

Whoaa where has the time flown? Exactly two weeks ago I was enjoying my first day in Amsterdam, capital of Holland and canal city of the north... and now for the long-due update! Link to photo album is at right under Photography; do click on the photos to enlarge as well as the links in white text- you're missing half the enjoyment if you don't. (p.s. skip the lofty long-winded artsy descriptions if this post seems too long ya.)

Follow me, on our very own mini-Eurotrip...

Friday 31st March - Arrival and exploration of Museumplein
Shyan being the only excusable exception to our "let's stay up all night!" plan, 4.45am saw us wannabe glamorous jet-setters trundled into a dodgy Wilmslow-based cab, bleary-eyed and hoping desperately no one left anything behind. Lynn pulling out of the trip to go home, there were no last-minute replacements to be found... and voila! our own (ahem!) menage a trois:

Shyan

The most experienced traveller, veteran of dingy hostels and rough camping, the aged, cynical seen-it-all navigator and rock of the trip.







JJ

The rookie on his first visit to a European country, the cool dude forever hungry, dragger of the unnecessarily massive luggage. Which then leaves...










Yours truly, me

The above image should represent the very embodiment of tranquility, peace and harmony with the natural world. In reality it's just another bloedige toerist (Dutch-slang for, of course, "bloody tourist") arsing about on the man-made lake in Keukenhof. Very cool wooden floating circles. But wait! I get ahead of the story.



Easy-peasy journey from Amsterdam Schiphol to the lovely Amsterdam Centraal though the flight itself was slightly delayed due to the French strikes; decided to get three-day passes for 13 euros each instead of the mind-boggling stripenkaart. Despite Shyan's adventurous spirit, a half-hour walk complete with luggage into our yet-undiscovered city in search of Hotel Abba seemed more like a search for El Dorado, so onto the tram it was. Info nugget: the central Amsterdam public transport system is indeed quite a wondrous thing to experience. Smooth, clean, relatively regular and very proper, plus you can sneak in from the back for FREE if you'r nifty enough; *insert appropriate derogatory comparison with a) Manchester buses, b) Malaysian buses/LRT/trains/taxis. enuf said.* Got off at the strangely-named 1e Con. Huygenstraat stop, less than a 10-minute walk from the Leidseplein eating district yayy!

Staff at the 1-star Hotel Abba directed three clamouring bellies to the nearest "in" place to eat, the Irish pub Tig Barra. Had a comforting English breakfast that brought back memories of boarding school, with a Baileys mocha... mmhmm...... After lunch it was off exploring to the museum area. After familiarising ourselves with directions and buildings, we decided to get the joint ticket to the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum. (Info nugget: Didya know that the architect of the former's new wing - the curvy thing in the photo below - also designed our very own KLIA?)

The few hours spent in the musuems were hugely enjoyable, albeit very tiring. The first floor of the Van Gogh Museum held a chronological retrospective of the Vincent's life and works, with very informative write ups and an excellent logical layout. It was quite absorbing seeing some of his most famous paintings (such as The Potato Eaters, The Yellow House, some of his Sunflowers, many portraits and self-portraits, and landscapes), as well as the smaller, more intimate works. Unfortunately, especially for Shyan since it's his sister's favourite painting, the ever-iconic Starry Night lives in the far West. Personal favourites include the series of peasant portraits, the Japonaiserie studies, The Pink Peach Tree, both versions of the Sower with Setting Sun, Church in Auvers, Sprig of Flowering Almond in a Glass, Almond Blossom, and of course A Pair of Shoes.

The Rembrandt-Caravaggio comparative exhibition jointly held with the Rijksmuseum was one of my personal highlights of the trip. The very cool, atmospheric entrance to the exhibit was the underground link between the old and new wing of the museum. Complimentary audio guides, dim passageways and intimate ambience, plus great spotlighting on the paintings made the whole thing thoroughly enjoyable. Caravaggio's colours were crisper and bolder, Rembrandt's tonal and jewelled with more chiaroscuro. The verdict? In retrospect, I still prefer the "Caravaggio of the north" to the "Rembrandt of the south" (haha). Might have something to do with the satisfying painterly quality of Rembrandt's style compared with Caravaggio's cleaner and harder execution, as well as the humanity of the flawed and approchable people in the former's work instead of the exalted, slightly-aloof feeling of Caravaggio's subjects. There's also something rather contrived about the latter's infusion of drama in oft-depicted scenes.

Favourites included Rembrandt's small early portrait, the memorable ugliness of the baby in Abduction of Ganymede, the tightly controlled drama of The Feast of Belshazzar and The Blinding of Samson, the surprising loveliness of Bathsheba with King David's Letter far more apparent when you see her "in the flesh", so to say. The Angel Stopping Abraham from Sacrificing Issac to God (long-winded title!) reminded me of Ghiberti's Sacrifice of Isaac panel (1401) which won the competition for the Florentine Baptistery east doors. The classically heroic, idealised body of Rembrandt's Isaac is quite a lot like Ghiberti's of 2 1/2 centuries before, but the suspense of Abraham's falling knife that seems about to kill Isaac anyway is entirely Rembrandt's own.

Perhaps the Rembrandt painting that moved me the most was Titus at His Desk, a small-ish, quiet and earthy portrait of the artist's son daydreaming over his homework, head resting on his hand and the imprint of his thumb distorting the shape of his mouth. The dreamy visage of the boy emerges into a shaft of light that dances on his golden hair, his empty brown surroundings almost a canvas that plays out the far-away images that only he can see. In comparison, Caravaggio's Boy Bitten by a Lizard is a wonderful and amusing study, but somehow one can't get "lost" in his work like Rembrandt's. In all, I preferred Caravaggio's quieter, contemplative paintings such as Penitent Magdalene (love how her turned-away face projects such emotion and how her sleeve shines out of her dusky surroundings almost as if the Holy Spirit's about to lift her up; note her contemporary clothing and jewelry as well as her status) to the larger and more recognisable subjects. Judith Beheading Holofernes was a rich but subtly coloured take on the OT story - the flowing curve of her body and strength in her arms almost seems to combine the grace of early Renaisance Botticelli and monumentality of High Renaissance Michelangelo.


The whole exhibition was pretty darn amazing in the way it brought together some of the most incredible paintings from all over the world to commemorate Rembrandt's 400th birthday year. Shame Danae's still in the Hermitage in Russia, would have loved to see it again. Really, ya just had to be there.



After resting our terribly sleep-deprived bodies along the Museumplein, it was a hop, skip and jump over to the Rijksmuseum. After about an hour's wandering about, I finally found it! The bigshot of the museum, grandly lording it over all the other punitive little paintings - The Night Watch! Goodness, to think of Rembrandt's genius in conceiving and completing this colossus within four years. Originally titled The Company of Captain Frans Cocq, the work really shows off his skill with light and shadow in creating emphasis and exciting composition throughout the scene. Highlight of the Rijksmuseum definitely had to be Vermeer's works especially The Milkmaid (use Artchive's image viewer to give you a sense of Vermeer's colours). Oh my that blue of her skirt! You simply have to see it in person to appreciate that deep joyful irisdence, lovely beyond description. I can't rave about the painting enough - it's the heart-stopping folds of her skirt and the sheer physical realism of the milk spilling from the earthen jug that makes the whole thing simply breathtaking. Also really enjoyed exploring the very detailed Street in Delft and the atmospheric Woman in Blue Reading a Letter.

It was too late for a restaurant dinner by the time we returned to the hotel and showered. Domino's takeaway right across the street suddenly seemed rather attractive and so it was pizza for a rather belated and sleepy dinner. One by one we fell asleep in front of the TV and over our reading materials. 'Twas a long, long day.



Saturday 1st April - Koningsplein, Anne Frank Huis, Red Light District
Like clockwork Shyan got out of bed when his alarm rang and went down to breakfast. Dunno where he gets his energy from. Followed him after twenty minutes of lazing in bed. We had a typical Dutch breakfast, rather close to the Continental meals we have in Asian hotels, but I suppose we were, after all, on the Continent. The spread included coffee, tea, orange juice, milk, cornflakes, whitebread, brownbread, sesame ryebiscuit-like bread, Dutch "breakfast cake", jam and chocolate spread, ham, salami, cheese, and hardboiled eggs.

We waited until about 1pm (yes, you read right) to finally get JJ out of bed. Turns out the flu-riddled Shyan had kept JJ awake all night (ahem!)... with his snoring la. Took the tram and got off at the Koningsplein stop to explore the floating flower market and beyond. Spring's arriving later and later each year - as a result there were honestly more orchids to gawk at than tulips. Had our first encounter with Dutch pancakes along the flower market - I had a normal and satifying chocolate pancake, Shyan a wonderful banana one, and JJ decided to experiment with the vanilla icecream and whipped cream with eggnog pancake! Whoaaa his was decidedly very alcoholic and proved too much for the poor fella to finish.
After walking across a maze of picturesque canals, trusting Shyan to lead the way with his map and tantalised by the shopping(!!) around Koningsplein, we found our way to Anne Frank's House. Very interesting tour around the narrow converted warehouse, office and hidey-hole where her immortal characters lived so many months in hiding from the Nazis. The ghosts of the past long at peace, and it being years since I last poured over her diary, I had to rely on my imagination and the commentaries provided to reconstruct what it must have been like for the refugees. The Free2Choose interactive display at the end made the whole tour truly meaningful and worthwhile. The audience is shown short clips on different themes (the right to demonstrate and the right to religion, for example) and then asked to vote on current issues. Results of the votes are then compared between the current audience and all the visitors. Brilliant idea, great display.

The boys being hungry and desperate for Chinese food (c'mon we're in Amsterdam!) we headed to a large-ish Chinese restaurant. After that it was off to explore Chinatown (as it was still light); we discovered a Malaysian restaurant called Wau! haha.. seriously pricey satay. Parallel to Chinatown is the world-infamous Red Light District, so-called because of the red lamps lining the long, long street as well as red lights adorning pleasure shops and "theatres". Oggled both the seriously hot and not-so-fanciable girls (haihhh why no gorgeous gigolos waannnn??) and sated our (esp JJ's) curiousity in a video/accessory shop. (@o@) My god there were some MASSIVE dildos! No joke, they were so big as to be almost scary leh.

Headed back after a night of experiencing the more "exciting" area of central Amsterdam; chilled out with some chor dai di and then the boys attempted to teach me to play mahjong! And that was the end of our second day.

Sunday 2nd April - De Oude Kerk, Botanic Gardens, Rembrandtplein
Found our way to the Old Church and discovered the "Black Corner", rather aptly named as the prostitues were only "women of colour". A very satisfying afternoon was spent wandering by ourselves in Amsterdam's Botanic Gardens, featuring a magnificient plethora of flora and fauna. Highly recommended, if you ever go to Amsterdam. A large open area with patterened beds featured different species and types of flowering plants and small shrubs, as well as a pond with ducks, frogs and frogspawn. The first greenhouse I went into was specifically for palm trees; the 2nd one had a high gallery walkway - spent a couple of minutes camwhoring there. The next greenhouse was really lovely with flowering shrubs, sculptures, mini fountains and delicate plants. From a hanging walkway one enters the next gallery and is hit by a hot, sultry blast of humid tropical air. Walking through the "rainforest" greenhouse, I could have been deceived by the realness of the setting - it was as if merely walking through the doorway transported me 8,000 miles back home to Taman Negara. Wonderful, wonderful humidity! At once I felt utterly uncomfortable in my jumper and thoroughly at home. There was even a really nice pond amid the lush greenery with a funny sculpture man with his arm all streched out. With a backward look of regret I returned to Europe. Smaller greenhouses contained cactuses from the mini to the gigantic, and fiendishly hard-to-photograph butterflies.



We returned to the city centre and indulged in some Haagen-Dazs icecream =P along Rembrandtsquare. Fooled around with the larger-than-life sculptures from the Night Watch (see headless impaled JJ at left). Dinner was at Leidseplein - after much deliberation we chose Zorba de Griek - yes, you guessed it! Greek food. I choose a simple but perfectly made vegetable chicken soup and a starter plate of dolmades - herby rice with minced meat wrapped in wineleave with a light Greek yoghurt dressing. Shyan had a really good beef stew with vegetables, and JJ chose roast lamb with rice and salad. And it was all simply scrumptious.


Monday 3rd April - Zaanse Schans, St Nicholas' Church
An early start and we were on the train to Koog-Zaandijk. It was a fifteen minute walk to the windmills; on the way we passed through a pretty town and a chocolate-making factory! Whoaa the smell of cocoa beans was simply everywhere, and to be honest I'd be completely sick of it if I had to live there for long, chocoholic me notwithstanding.













Sure enough we came to the bridge over the River Zaan, eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of one of the most breathtakingly beautiful views in Holland. Sure, it was pretty enough, but staggeringly picturesque? Hmm... But anyway, it was a lovely day to be out leisurely strolling. Took plenty of touristy photos with the windmills, browsed the souvenier shops with dazzling arrangements of blue-and-white pottery and dizzying rows of multi-coloured clogs, had more over-priced pancakes, and of course sampled enough cheese at the cute little cheese farm to make Malaysia proud. Free waaht. In the end, I still prefer cow cheese over goat cheese - Shyan begs to differ.











Back in Amsterdam, we paid a spontaneous visit to the Gothic-looking church near the station. St Nicholas' Church it was, and a rather well-hidden gem it turned out to be. Despite its dark, colourless and rather uninviting exterior, the building featured some truly lovely stained glass rose windows, engaging apostles on the well-preserved dome's pendantis and beautiful coffering all around.





Dinner at Leidseplein again saw us spoilt for choice, but in the end we chose to go to an Argentinian steakhouse. Hah, budget eating's only for poor British students who spend it all on drink haha! Oh my, another memorable meal. This time the steak was marinated to perfection and just nicely medium rare the way I like it, the salad was fresh and sweet, the herby rice cooked to the right consistency, the red wine complementing the meal in every way, and of course what's a good dinner without wonderful company?

Tuesday 4th April - Keukenhof, Leiden
Another relatively early wakeup call to catch the train to Leiden Central, and from there the shuttle bus to Keukenhof, world class flower gardens. As I mentioned earlier, our trip was a bit too early to see all the tulips in their most magnificent outdoor state, but the gardens were a great walk in themselves. Unfortunately it decided to drizzle for a while, but we found the huge greenhouse soon enough, and it was nice and sunny by the time we came out again. (Info nugget: there are many, many, many, MANY different kinds of tulips.)

And oh my, the flowers were amazing. Temperature in the greehouse is controlled all year round so the tulips and hyacinths and crocuses and hydrangeas and cyclamens bloom gloriously, scattering their faintly intoxicating scent through the air, proudly showing off their stunning colours and perfect petals. If you're a flower girl - or flower boy, for that matter - go to Keukenhof. Need I repeat myself? Go to Keukenhof. And bring a good high resolution camera with plenty of battery and lots of memory cards. Let the photos speak for themselves.

After an overpriced lunch of Ajinomoto-vege soup and cold apple pie - the boys had tomato soup, rather interesting herring roll, smoked salmon roll, apricot tart and yummy chocolate cake - we headed out into the sunshine and the themed gardens. As hard as we looked, the Japanese garden remained elusively unfindable. Which brings me back to the spoiler in my initial introduction. Like true Malaysians we camwhored for a while on the wooden circles peppering one side of the lake, then decided it was time to head out. The afternoon drawing on, there was no chance for a last-minute trip to Deflt - Vermeer's home - so we took a leisurely stroll around Leiden itself, birthplace of Rembrandt.












Headed back to Amsterdam and Leidseplein again for dinner, and bumped into the Singaporean group on our way to the Dutch restaurant. JJ had an excellent beef roast with young jenever (Dutch gin) followed by dessert, I chose herring on a bed of mixed salad with Dutch pea soup; Shyan's dessert choice of buttered poffertjes with vanilla icecream washed down with Jaegermeister was undoubtedly one of his personal highlights.













Wednesday 5th April - Shopping, at last!
Perfect weather on the last day, of course. With our flight scheduled for 8pm, there wasn't quite enough leeway to satify the shopaholic in all three of us, but time sufficed for a detailed exploration of the long shop-filled street parallel to the Koningsplein canal. For those of you who love European fashion, sigh and go green with envy. Esprit, Mexx, Zara, Morgan de Toi among the bigger names, the stuff was classy European, oh yes. None of that trashy slutty cheap quality English stuff, thank you very much.













A quick nibble on our last journey to 1e Con. Huygenstraat, another quick bite at Amsterdam Schiphol's Wok to Walk (yes, our last meal in Holland was Burger King and Indon-Chinese takeaway), and we were on our way back home again. The silly French delayed our return to reality by more than an hour, and so by the time the cab dropped us back at our cribs, it was truly time for another holiday to recover from our holiday.

What a superb time I had despite our minor cash setback, and the credit goes to my two guys who made it remotely possible and thoroughly worthwhile. =D