Mandy was smart enough to prepurchase tickets for the Van
Gogh museum months in advance. Good
thing as the line is crazy to buy tickets.
We have breakfast at the Café Small Talk, a diminutive two-story corner
place that allows us a perch to watch the city come to life. Amsterdam is a bike town, with what appears
to be 10 bicycles for every car. Every
block is crammed with bike parking racks, every one jammed full, then bikes
locked to any other stationary object. Bikes
lanes are way more busy then sidewalks or car lanes and have their own set of
traffic control, so it’s funny to see the crush of rolling stock out of the
gates each time the light changes. The
bikes themselves are mostly tall, upright standards with 3-speed hubs, but the purpose-built
variations are fascinating. There are
family bikes with wheelbarrow-like buckets in front with seats for 2, 3 or even
4 kids. Working bikes with heavy toolboxes
and rigged with trailers. Single bikes
with multiple friends riding at once Bears
On Wheels style.
We have 9am tickets so the museum is not crowded when we go
in. Van Gogh’s career only spans about
10 years and the museum is arranged as a sort of timeline by floor. Going up in order lets you see the
experimentation and evolution of the artist as he tries on various styles,
studies diverse influences. I’m more
taken with his odd stuff than the more popular pieces, like the Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette
or his Asian influenced work like Almond
Blossom. We get the impression that
if his brother Theo didn’t save his letters, Vincent would have been lost to
history as just another tortured soul. We
normally have a 90-minute tolerance for any museum, but this one is enthralling,
and we stay much longer to take in every gallery.
A few minutes stop at a sidewalk café and we’re
recharged. We try to visit a Marc Chagall
gallery we past on our first walk in town, but we’re rejected by the owner who
asks us to make an appointment despite the posted hours. Guess Chagall isn’t meant to come home with
us. As this is our last day in town we
just wander, exploring, enjoying. We
take increasing notice of the leaning houses.
Not one or two, but 8 or 10 on every block. Four story or taller townhouses tilting on
their neighbors at crazy angles. It
seems that after a few hundred years, the underground water has eroded the
foundations so extensively that only the will of god and some support of their
neighbors is the only thing keeping these tall structures standing. We think of Pisa, Italy, where one leaning
tower made the place world famous, and wonder why there aren’t organized tours
of these structures. I’d certainly pay
5€ to roll marbles down some of those living room floors.
We're always in for local fare, so we make a mandatory street
food stop at a little kiosk specializing in local fish. The pickled herring is delish, served simply with
a few pickles on a soft roll, and the mackerel is just as yummy. Looping through the red-light district we notice
the Thursday afternoon crowds growing and understand why. Saturday is Kings day, the annual celebration
King Williem-Alexander’s birthday, a kingdom wide party on scale with Marti
Gras and just as wild. As the rain
starts, we duck into a welcoming cheese shop (ain’t they all? 😊). Poking toothpicks into the many samples, one type
better than the next. They offer a cheese
and tea tasting, explaining that the tannins in the tea work just like the ones
in wine, so parings have become very popular.
It’s warm and cozy watching the rain on the canal through the shop’s
back window, the steaming liquid and savory kaas mellowing us despite the
growing throngs outside. We leave to
find the closest grocery with a liquor store.
It’s an adventure buying a good bottle of wine in a beer town, but we
get the job done. Now in full downpour,
it’s a cab back to the hotel for a predinner nap.
Our hotelman has made a reservation for us at John Dory, a Michelin
Star restaurant famous for their local fish dishes. The chef offers a mesmerizing 10 course
surprise tasting menu they call Fishtronomy, but we opt for the (slightly)
saner 6 and 8 course options. Each artfully
plated dish pairs the fish with local seasonal vegetables and is expertly presented
with a nice description from the very professional and lively staff. All-in-all a great last night’s dinner
experience in Amsterdam.
(click on the pictures to view full screen)
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