From Brussels we travelled to Amsterdam. Did I mention that we are doing our entire trip by train? It’s been a most enjoyable way to travel.
I can’t quite work out where this was taken, but it encapsulates the architecture of Amsterdam for me – a beautiful row of buildings alonside a canal.
This is the famous Damrak area, where the houses are built straight on to the water. These are one of two areas of “dancing houses”, so called because they lean. Amsterdam building rules once required facades to tilt forward, and the wooden piles on which they are built have settled unevenly for three centuries.
IWe went to the Rijksmuseum, which is the national museum. It has a Gallery of Honour, featuring masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, including The Night Watch. It is a magnificent neo-gothic building.
The day we went it was the Amsterdam Marathon and the Rijksmuseum was the starting point. The crowd of well wishers was huge and very supportive.
It’s hard to see here, but there was a stringed orchestra playing as the runners started.
The weather was not very pleasant and I felt really sorry for the runners. We crossed paths with the runners several times during the marathon. The race basically cut the city in half, which made crossing the road quite interesting. It was all very organised though. There were drummers all along the route and the enthusiasm of the crowd did not dissipate. It was quite an experience.
Anyway, back to the Rijksmuseum. We were there to see The Night Watch, which I last saw in 1975, just before it was slashed several times with a bread knife. The museum sent us a series of YouTube videos to halp us get the most of the visit and they were most interesting, and certainly informed our viewing. There was also one showing how they repaired the painting, which was fascinating, and I wondered if I could apply some of their techniques to my own mending!
The platform in front of the painting is for the restoration artists to work on. We visited on a Sunday and so they weren’t at work. My husband and I were discussing the things we had seen in the video, including identifying the Three Muskateers, when a man next to us joined in. He was fabulous! He told us how the painting was saved in WWII and that they have an evacuation plan for it if there’s a new war. He was very specific and very knowledgeable.
A closer photo and you can see the restoration work, where the varnish is being removed.
We spent several hours visiting the museum and I took about a million photos, but I’ll show just a few.
The building itself is very beautiful. with frescoes and vaulted ceilings (my favourite!)
and lots of stained glass windows – another favourite.
There were several magnificent textiles. This jacket caught my eye. It is a heraldic tunic and was carried in the owner’s funeral procession to denote status and rank. Rather marvellous.
There are a couple of dolls” houses in the museum and they are magnificent. All the contents are made from authentic materials, and the proportions are exactly correct. The minute details are fascinating and I spent quite a long time looking at them.
The houses were created by master craftsmen, and there is a cabinet made tortoiseshell (aagh!) and inlaid with pewter..
The art-historical library is a must-see, and is the largest of its kind in the Netherlands. The cast iron staircase in the corner is designed to draw the eye upwards and connects the galleries. I wouldn’t fancy going up and down it with an armful of books.
I took a slightly panoramic photograph in an attempt to show the size and scale. The walls are decorated with painted bricks and there are foliage motifs on the ceilings and galleries. It is truly breathtaking and smelled wonderful.
We didn’t get to the van Gogh museum as I was too slow to buy the tickets and it was sold out. However, we’ve both been before so not an absolute tragedy. I did take a photo of one of his self portraits though.
I had several favourite exhibits, including this one. It was a fighter plane in WW1, a Bantam, which of course, has some Tiger Moth characteristics. I love the wooden propellor, and the linen covering, everything designed to be lightweight. Apparently the engine could reach speeds of 220kph, an unheard of speed prior to this. It was built in an English aircraft factory and I find myself wondering if my father ever saw one.
There’s a rather plain Yves Saint Laurent Mondrian dress. I’ve seen these in other museums, but I rather like the simplicity of this one.
Every street in Amsterdam holds immense charm, especially the ones that run alongside the canals.
We especially loved the houses that seemingly defy gravity.
We were quite fascinated by these houses, and it appears that they have sunk over the years, but they can’t be straightened up, instead they are made safe by reinforcing the foundations to prevent further tipping. We assumed that’s what’s happening in this house below.
This is a view towards the railway station and the building in front is, I think, a terminal for some of the ferries. Rather beautiful.
This is the view from our hotel window. I love the light and the autumn colours beginning to appear.
We saw many shops selling “loaded fries”, and the queues were huge, often crossing over intersections. They were organised with portable bollards and there were security people minding the queues. They actually looked more like bouncers! We didn’t have any because I can’t deal with long queues and we didn’t know if we’d like the fries. These were all over the place.
There are many sculptures in Amsterdam, but this one resonated a bit.
This sculpture honours a slain journalist, Peter de Vries, who was shot on July 6, 2021 and died a few days later,
The sculpture bears the words “be who you are, stand up for minorities and the less fortunate, speak your mind honestly, and listen to your sense of justice.” in 41 languages. These words cam from de Vries himself. Unfortunately the plaque is very difficult to read, so I’m giving minimal information
We wandered through Vondel park and it was so tranquil.
A short distance away is Lomanstraat, where the trees planted either side of the street, lean together to form a vaulted archway. The shape is naturally formed by the trees reaching for sunlight, but the effect is sensational.
I’m so pleased we saw the trees with leaves on, as I think some of the effect would be lost if they were bare.
Our son had given us a map of sights, some of which I’ve reported above, but I got a bit excited when I saw the flower market on there, as I had a business in the 1970s, exporting Western Australian wildflowers to the flower markets in the Netherlands. I don’t think these flower markets were recipients, they were mostly selling tulip bulbs to tourists, with a few fresh flowers.
I’m including this house because I love the Art Nouveau decorations. Superb!
Our eldest son told us that we needed a Stroopwafel, as apparently they are “elite”! I don’t think I would have had one without his urging, but I have to say I did enjoy it.
I was fascinated by the houseboats. Apparently they were allowed when there was a housing shortage and they didn’t originally pay taxes. Can you imagine how delightful it would be to live on one of these? Some are quite fancy. My memory tells me that there are 2,500 of them.
Our hotel room looked out over the canal, and there is a bridge at either end of our little section, both of which are lit up at night. Such a delightful effect.
The general consensus was that Amsterdam is the place to do a boat trip, so we did! It looks sunny but it was cold! My Liz Haywood zero waste Louvre beret has proven to be fabulous as the wind doesn’t penetrate and it covers my ears. This denim beret was made by Liz and I treasure it.
We had a fabulous view of the “Dancing Houses”. You can see the various angles that they have settled into.
There are some lovely views to be had from a boat, that can’t be seen any other way. This is a straight line of bridges.
There are some very old houses along the way. I do love the gingerbread houses.
This is in contention for the narrowest house in Amsterdam, although apparently it widens out at the back. Apparently, houses were taxed on their frontage, so there are several quite narrow houses along the various canals, although this one is extremely narrow!
More random houses that took my eye!
Home owners were also taxed on the number of windows in their houses. This merchant wanted to show off his wealth by having many small windows!
I loved these houses with the shutters. They are in the Bouwersgracht locality, which is an historic canal in Amsterdam that forms the northwestern edge of the 17th-century Grachtengordel and the northern boundary of the Jordaan neighborhood. Named in 1594 for the many breweries that once clustered along its banks, the canal is lined with 17th-century warehouses and narrow gabled canal houses. I assume that these houses once lifted goods from canal barges, using the winches on top of the gables. In 2007 it was voted the most beautiful street in Amsterdam.
Back on foot to keep exploring, we walked past the Haineken factory. Sadly it is covered with scaffolding, but I could see that it’s a beeautiful building.
We walked to the Albert Cuyp open air market in De Pijp, which is reputed to be the largest day market in Europe. It has over 250 stalls, many selling prepared food.
It wasn’t all food though, and I managed to find fabric to fondle.
I took many more photos and we visited so many places, but this post is now really long and media heavy, so I’m going to end here. I shall be reporting next from Cardiff!
