Wednesday, July 2 continued
We arrived in Amsterdam a little after
16:00. We first went hotel hunting. Our first choice said his rooms were all
reserved, but to try again after 17:00. Another was full, so we went to one
recommended by an old man walking down the street. There a grey-haired lady
offered up a suite of 2 rooms with 2 double beds and a single bed for about $20.
If we came back later we might be able to get a cheaper room, but it turned out
she wouldn't rent to us for only one night anyway. We decided to try the youth
hotel where I stayed last year. We ended up taking the long way around because
we followed the pedestrian Kalverstraat to the end. We passed the Mint Tower
and the movie theater recommended by the $10 book, and the Rijkmuseum. We got
our bunks (including breakfast) for about $9 each for one night. Terry and Kathy
took showers while I went up and down the flights (2 stories) of stairs trying
to get the proper key to my locker. Then I was missing our "guidebook"
and went to the middle floor to ask the fellows in one room if I had accidentally
dropped it there when we were trying to find our room in the first place. Later
I found it behind my bed.
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| "Guidebook" |
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| Sample page of "guidebook" |
On our way to dinner we stumbled upon the Red Light District
near Den Waag (weighing station). We had meant to walk down one certain street, but
we saw only men there. We joined a large group as they walked down a street circling
a church! This street was full of red lights and women lounging in storefronts.
Once a couple men going the other way turned to follow us. With all that
display, why us?! We found a recommended restaurant and ordered Rijstaffel or
"rice-table," which is common to Amsterdam
at their many Chinese-Indian restaurants. We got a large bowl of rice with bacon
bits, ham, green onion, and scrambled egg. The side dishes included hardboiled
eggs in tomato sauce, pork meatballs, beef in ginger root sauce, maybe lamb in
a red sauce (Hungarian goulash), boiled cabbage and carrots, green beans, bean
sprouts in a pungent sauce, pickled (alcoholed?) cole slaw (?), peanuts,
coconut and sugar, also fried noodles, and finally bean curd. Very interesting
and very filling for about $5 each. We then went to the Tuschinski Cinema where
one guidebook said we would have a surprise. We bought the $4 tickets to see
the movie "10" and as soon as we entered the lobby we figured what the
surprise was supposed to be. It was a very plush and ornate lobby.
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| Tuschinski Cinema ticket |
We climbed the stairs to the top of the building to a very small theater (#4 of
5). An usher showed us to our assigned seats, but we went straight to the restroom.
When we returned to our seats we were part of a mix-up, but we had the proper seats.
The show started with several commercials; some so involved that they seemed
like movie previews until they reached the punchline. The movie was in English
with Dutch subtitles. On our way home (I mean to the hotel!) we only got the
usual "hallos" and saw the usual wild fashions. Terry accidentally
stepped in some of the plentiful dog leavings, but managed to clean it off in
the plentiful sand around tram track reconstruction. At the hotel we found only
one other girl had joined us in the 6-bunk room.
Thursday, July 3, 1980
We were all awakened at about
06:30 as our roommate left, but then proceeded to oversleep since our alarm
clock button pushed off apparently when I closed the case. So we awoke at 09:00
and quickly got ready to go. At 09:30 we went down for our breakfast of tea with
three buttered slices of bread with bologna and cheese slices. We left our bags
at the hotel and set off for the Heineken Brewery. We arrived a half hour early
for the 11:00 tour, but it was sold out. So we went to the Rijksmuseum. We were
told that Kathy could get a 75-cent pass which would allow her to enter most
Dutch museums for free. The student cards were otherwise not useful in Amsterdam. Again we saw
Rembrandts and Rubenses, also Van der Neers and Vanmeers (the latter is the
"famous" one we "know"). Included, of course, was Rembrandt’s
"Night Watch," and some gold and silver works. Silver and a conch shell
formed a goblet.
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| "Night Watch" (1642) by Rembrandt van Rijn |
Next we went to the Stedelijk
Museum to see all the modern art (Matisse, Monet, a couple Van Goghs, Koonig, Potter). We also saw a video of Koonig "at work." The "best" work was a full scale model of a U.S. beanery of the depression era, where people had clocks for faces. There were also Picassos at Stedelijk.
Then we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which also had some Japanese prints and Gaughins.
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| Van Gogh Museum ticket |
We headed for Rembrandt's house, but got sidetracked at a diamond cutting studio. A Japanese man explained to us the diamond cutting process and showed us copies of the largest diamonds in the world (Queen Elizabeth seems to own most of them). He then had us come to the showroom and actually try on some diamond jewelry. At one point Kathy had on $10,000 worth of diamonds and rubies (only a ring and a bracelet), and the man recommended that Kathy wear warm colors since cool ones would make her look too skinny. He also asked whether or not Kathy was related to us! It’s questionable even to a Japanese person? At the Rembrandt house we saw many of his sketches, etchings, lithographs, pen and inks, etc.
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| Rembrandt's House ticket |
We went to the Amstelkring Museum which was right in the Red Light District. The lights were still shining with business as usual, even at 14:00 in the afternoon! The Amstelkring was a preserved house with a church in the attic, built during a persecution of Catholics. The church, Our Lord in the Attic, was neat!
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| Amstelkring Museum ticket |
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| Kathy and Terry in Our Lord in the Attic church |
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| Our Lord in the Attic (TAT) |
We also saw Mr. Tripp's coachman's house that is the narrowest house in Amsterdam. Next we went towards the Dam Square to the Royal Palace. It started out as the city hall for the democratic Amsterdam, then the "center" of the world. Later royalty took over.
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| Royal Palace ticket |
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| The Royal Palace |
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| Terry and Kathy in the Royal Palace |
On our way to Anne Frank’s house we stopped to eat our lunch (Cokes and leftover bread and butter from breakfast) sitting on a bridge over a canal along with a variety of locked-up bicycles, some without some very necessary parts. We climbed up to the annex where Anne Frank wrote her diary. We saw some of her original work, but not the diary itself. The annex was quite extensive with windows and all, and it seems no wonder it wasn't kept a secret.
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| Anne Frank House ticket |
We walked a couple blocks to another museum -- a canal mansion being used as a theater museum. We wanted to see the mansion, but got to see costumes and videotapes to boot.
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| Theater Museum ticket |
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| Canal scene with bicycles |
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| Buildings with pulley hooks |
We made our way back to the Dam Square via the post office where we wrote several postcards. We mingled with the pigeons in the Dam Square before wandering down the pedestrian Kalverstraat.
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| Postcard of the Dam Square |
We found the Begijnhof -- the preserved square where supposedly old ladies and their cats live. We attempted to take a photo when "disaster" struck.
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| Terry and Kathy in the Begijnhof |
Kathy apparently noticed it first
when her throat became sore and dry while walking down Kalverstraat. Then as I
tried to focus for this picture my eyes started watering profusely. Suddenly we
all felt irritated eyes/noses/throats, and thought it had something to do with
the (sewer) construction within the square. We ran out into the city, only to
find it was worse, with many people holding handkerchiefs to their mouths/noses
or wiping their eyes. We saw an ambulance come to the aid of someone only a half block away. Then an ambulance came zooming down the pedestrian street, and the
driver wore a gas mask! What’s going on? The problem lessened and worsened, but
was clear by the time we reached our hotel to retrieve our bags. The folks at
the hotel didn't know what the problem was, nor did they know what the tram
fare was since apparently they never pay. We went to the tram stop prepared to
pay, but got on the extremely crowded tram without an opportunity to pay. Does the
tram system make any money? We took the tram to the train station, to await the
20:01 train to Copenhagen.
Some fellows waiting near us were spreading herbal perfume. The train had many reserved seats but no one showed up. Later a
part of a Turkish (perhaps) family joined our compartment. The German customs
officials just waved at our passports, but made a fuss over the
Turkish ones. Slept fitfully.
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| Amsterdam Map cover |
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| Map of Amsterdam |
Next: København/Copenhagen.
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