Amsterdam – BabyPenguin

It’s a strong, possibly self-contradictory opinion, but the capital city, Amsterdam, is not the Netherlands. It’s a beautiful thing in its own right, but it’s not Dutch. One of the country’s most admirable traits is openness, with their attitudes and policies embodying a mantra of “live and let live.” That has attracted droves of people from all over the world, especially those who felt unwelcome, or even persecuted in their home countries. Sourcing some data about the city from the World Population Review:

49.5% Dutch and 50.5% foreign ancestry (2012)
people of non-Western origin account for 35% of the population and over half of children
residents have 176 nationalities

Amsterdam, and the country in general, extends the spirit of tolerance to virtually every aspect of life, including religion and sexuality. The city’s mayor even performed the world’s first civil ceremony for same-sex marriage in 2001, and the city has long been considered a safe space for non-cis/heterosexual people. On the religious and humanitarian front, a large number of Muslims, many being refugees, have been welcomed into the country, with the multicultural capital being a popular place for settlement. Unfortunately, this group has clashed with the LGBT+ community, but it’s to be expected when one group’s religious views range from strong disapproval to supporting hadith that prescribe the death penalty for the other.

Fortunately, people in Amsterdam mostly seem to get along. This isn’t a blog about conflict, nor is it intended to cast judgment on the city or any of its residents. It’s simply impossible to communicate what the city is like without explaining its incredible diversity. If anything, the story about Amsterdam’s recent history is one of offering people a better life than they could have had where they came from. On the whole, that can only be a good thing.

Tourist Experiences

In no particular order, the city is known for: canals lined with a particular style of architecture, coffee (marijuana) shops, flowers (mostly tulips), prostitution, and museums. With the exception of prostitution, which is mostly isolated to a small red-light district, all of these things are inescapable within the popular tourist areas. Taking them one at a time:

Canals: As someone who was just in Bruges and Ghent, and who has been to Venice twice, the canals were nothing special to look at. The best way to experience them is to hop on one of the many canal cruises to see a lot of the city in a short period of time. The boats seem to always be crowded, though it may have been a one-off that the tour was hard to hear over people talking loudly, including the closest neighbor who was on the phone for 90% of the trip. Canal cities are great and Amsterdam has its own unique character, but if canals are the primary reason for visiting, go elsewhere.

Coffee Shops: “Live and let live” is a great philosophy, but pot smoke doesn’t know not to bother people who don’t want to smell it. At least it wasn’t quite as bad as expected, possibly due to visiting in the shoulder season. It’d be nice if everyone stuck to edibles, or if smoking was only allowed inside coffee shops, but that’s not the case. As advertised, Amsterdam is a haven for cannabis tourists, and (at best) somewhat annoying for everyone else.

Flowers: This is an obvious fact, but one that local advertising seems determined to suppress: tulip season lasts mere weeks. The vast fields of Keukenhof Gardens, located around 25 miles southwest of Amsterdam, are only open for eight weeks in the spring. It’s hard to say whether it’s worth braving the swell in tourists and inflated hotel prices without seeing it personally. The autumn setting still included a variety of other flowers, and vendors along the canals were selling seeds, rooted plants, and all varieties of tulip bulbs.

Prostitution: This is an overemphasized aspect of the city. It’s easy to miss the red-light district entirely. Signs for a sex museum are a little more obvious and apparently there was at least one window with a half-dressed woman advertising herself (missed it personally). If you wander into a particular area, there will be many such windows, but they’re not so widespread as the coffee shops.

Museums: There are countless museums vying for tourists, but this trip just included three: Rijksmuseum (National Museum), Van Gogh Museum, and Anne Frank House. Comments on each are located within the photo series.

Photo Tour

This is by far the longest photo series of the trip, encompassing everything within the city limits from a Monday-afternoon arrival to a Thursday-morning departure for home. With two excursions to neighboring areas and a lot to say about each place, it didn’t feel right to split posts chronologically. Make yourself comfortable and prepare to scroll through nearly 150 images.

From the south train station after arriving from Utrecht – the area is filled with quirky, modern buildings

It takes ten minutes on the tram from the south station (or under 2 from the central station) to cross the water to Amsterdam-North. From there, it was a ten minute walk through this residential neighborhood to a Holiday Inn Express.

The neighborhood was filled with domestic cats! 😻

View from the hotel room – the city center is to the right across the water

Inside a chain called “Wok to Walk” – food was just okay, but convenient

Vendors line some of the major canals, blocking any view of the water behind them

Succulents were also on hand for anyone who wants to do less work

The Dam Square

The next few shots are all from this large square with a national monument at one end and the Royal Palace at the other.

The New Church – Yes, there’s also a place called The Old Church. No, this is not a scene from a Hitchcock film.

Leaving the Dam Square – the building with the clock tower is the Beurs van Berlage event center

Amsterdam Central (Train) Station in the background – the tram connects above ground, but there’s also a metro station below

The tallest structure is the Basilica of Saint Nicholas

Looking from one canal-cruise to another

Even grocery stores in a foreign country can be an interesting cultural experience.

It seems like it’d be inefficient to make an entire room cold, but that’s what they did for dairy products.

Vla (pronounced more like “flah”) was on the list of foods to sample. It’s a thickened dairy product that most closely resembles Jello pudding. Maybe they don’t expect people to drink it from the carton, but it was easier than finding a bowl and a spoon. Verdict: not bad, but too overwhelming to finish the carton.

Anne Frank House

Cameras aren’t permitted inside, so there’s just one image to share from the exterior. Upon reflection, it’s better that visitors contemplate their experience quietly and without the distraction of a camera. It’s not clear whether that’s the intent of the restriction, or if it’s to keep the line moving. Even with an 8:30 PM entry time at the end of October, it was packed full of people walking single-file through the narrowest portions and up “staircases” that more closely resemble ladders. They’ve taken to selling tickets for the entire month on the first Tuesday, and in the busiest time of year, most time slots are filled within minutes.

This place won’t make you feel good, but it will make you feel. Even for the most stoic of visitors, it’s a sobering experience calling for reflection on the depths that humanity can sink to. There’s also hope to be found in knowing that some people will risk everything to protect others, but it’s mostly a place of overwhelming sadness. Despite that, it’s not to be avoided. It serves an important purpose in saying, “Never again.”

Anne Frank’s story is well known, but it was only through the persistent efforts of her father, Otto, that her writings even got published. He was the lone survivor and instead of hiding away for the rest of his life, he helped to associate the face of his bright, kind daughter with the tragedy of the Holocaust. As part of the tour, there are audio and video recordings of him and other people close to the family telling about their experiences. It’s one thing to hear that millions of people died in the abstract. It’s another thing entirely to see the face of a mourning father and read his daughter’s hopeful words on handwritten pages in a display case.

This exterior display shows how they escaped detection for so long. The higher floors at the rear weren’t visible from the front, so concealing the entrance was enough. It’s still unknown how they were discovered.

When a light turns green, an army of bikers is unleashed. Even zooming in on the original, high-quality image, it’s near impossible to see the end of the line of bikes or to count all of them.

Rijksmuseum (National Museum)

The Rijksmuseum was a spectacular display of art, with the best pieces belonging to the “Dutch masters” (e.g. Rembrandt, Vermeer). There were many works by lesser-known artists, including sculptures, painted ceramics, and even a model ship. The place is huge, so not everything is going to be the most famous piece. What was remarkable was walking through a room and being immediately drawn to a particular painting only to read the placard and see that it was indeed created by a famous artist. It demonstrated that their fame was warranted by skill and not the result of some historical accident. Overall, the Rijksmuseum now sits at #2, just behind Paris’ Louvre, on an admittedly-limited personal list of art galleries. It’s a must-visit.

One of Van Gogh’s original self-portraits

The folded fabric created in such thinly carved pieces of stone was incredible.

The depth created in this and the next painting to look like marble reliefs was mesmerizing.

“The Night Watch” – one of Rembrandt’s most famous works

It’s huge; note the person on the left in the background

Definitely a tourist street; McDonald’s was just opposite from Starbucks

Van Gogh Museum

This was a rather disappointing visit. He was a broke artist who mostly painted various versions of a self-portrait for a long time, so there wasn’t much variety. His most well-known painting, “Starry Night,” hangs in New York, and there wasn’t anything nearly as interesting in this museum. It would have been better to spend more time in the Rijksmuseum.

Again with the gift shop toward the end of the museum route – at least this one had items with Van Gogh’s art instead of random, unrelated knickknacks

Passing Rijksmuseum on the way out; it was much busier than it had been at opening

Underground transit is sometimes *really* far underground

This is a wet-napkin from a restaurant with a sense of humor and unbelievable rotisserie chicken. The host cringed at the lack of reservation. Pro-tip for Amsterdam: make reservations before going anywhere other than McDonald’s.

Poffertjes (small, airy pancakes) – sadly, these weren’t very good despite the strawberry and Nutella topping

Nutella and bananas didn’t save this undercooked pancake either. Sadness.

Just another shot from underground transit

This place was way too crowded, and all of the labels were too difficult to read to figure out what to buy. Despite not trying it, the photos are fun and quirky.

On a first attempt to visit this bakery the day before, a line formed on both sides of the street and continued on the next block across a canal bridge. This time, an online order for scheduled pickup meant walking right by the poor souls in line.

Van Stapele Koekmakerij (Cookie Factory) makes *one* type of cookie and sells something like four thousand of them a day.

The pickup bag and all of the packaging seemed overdone. This seemed like a lot of care for six cookies.

Rich, dark chocolate on the outside with a white-chocolate filling – they really were good cookies, but people are insane to wait in line for 45 minutes

In case that was making you hungry, a nearby pizza shop left their trash on the curb to be run over.

Having made a reservation for a return visit to The Chicken Bar, it was time to sample more of the menu. This bread was incredible.

After the bread: a whole chicken (WOW!), corn (quite good), fries (from a place across the street; garbage in comparison to the chicken), and a spicy chicken sandwich (major regrets; most of the ingredients were pickled)

From Cafe Winkel 43, which is known for their pie despite it not appearing on the menu – it was okay, but other than a well-spiced version at one bakery in Rotterdam, Dutch apple pie was overrated

One last train ride to Schipol Airport outside of Amsterdam

Six weeks earlier the line had been several hours long. It seems like cancelling tons of flights and trying to increase staffing did the trick.

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that the enormous airport mall set some records.

On a last-minute stop to spend the last remaining Euros on chocolate, this sign in the duty-free store stood out. Soda is really expensive in Europe, and beer is sometimes cheaper than bottled water.

It’s Not Over!

Congratulations on making it to the end of this enormous post, but there’s still one more to go. Though this was technically the end of the trip, the prior two afternoons included visits to the tourist-haven of Zaanse Schans and Muiderslot Castle. Stay tuned for the final entry.