Hey, I realised that I went on a couple more trips in to Amsterdam that I haven't mentioned yet, so I'll remedy that now.
So on Friday, October 4th, I went in to Amsterdam with the express purpose of getting a museum card and finding Spui Square, which is the bookshop square. I had bought a map the last time I was in Amsterdam, so with that and what I remembered of the walking tour I headed off to find the Amsterdam museum. After a couple of half misses I found it and went in to get a museum card. This allows me to get in free at many of the museums and even some of the castles in the country, including the Rijksmuseum which has been closed for renovation for the past ten years. Awesome! After getting the card I decided since I was already here I might as well explore the museum.
First a bit about the museum itself. The building, originally an orphanage, was built in 1580, rebuilt in 1634, and stopped being used as an orphanage in 1960. It became the Amsterdam museum in 1975. What they have there now is a museum along the top floor of two wings, and a gallery in the long hall in the middle.
In the museum they take you through the history of the city of Amsterdam from the year 1000 to the early 2000s. The first are has a couple of pillars with objects that have been dredged up from the canals, and those were absolutely fascinating! I'm always astonished by the kinds of objects that have survived the centuries, and some of the places they survived in. There was a shoe, an old dagger, a pilgrims badge and a wineskin among other things. The next section was the Reformation. There were some beautiful portraits, and some old religious statues that had been defaced and a set of replica armour you could have you're picture taken in. After that came the section on the Golden Age, when the Dutch East India company was founded, and the city was run by the notable burghers and the city's reputation as a very tolerant place to live became widespread. Then came the period when Napoleon took control, which was interesting and then it moved in to the Industrial Revolution. And after that was the section on the world wars. There was a headphone you could put on that read selections from Anne Franks diary, and a wall where they showed the numbers of Jews who were in Amsterdam when the war started and the number who had survived to the end of the war. I'd never seen the numbers laid out in that way before. It was frightening. And very, very sad. One of the tram lines, line 8, was called the Jewish line because it went straight through the Jewish Quarter, so the Nazis used it to deport Jews during the war. There hasn't been a line 8 since the end of the war. And the last section was of happenings from the end of the war to the present day. Including an explanation of their drug laws, and the definitions of "hard" and "soft" drugs, and bit about the first same sex marriages held in Amsterdam.
After the museum wander I had lunch and then went to Spui Square. There was a book fair in the middle of the square, which I thought was awesome, and from there I could see at least two English language bookstores which made me very happy. I spent the next few hours browsing books. And came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper in the long run to buy my books when I got back to Canada, except that buying books is a bit like a security blanket for me so maybe just one a month.
The weekend of the 18th I went in at the usual time in the afternoon and wandered over to the library. I find libraries comforting in a way. No matter where you go there will be a certain layout and me being the book nut I am, just the proximity of that many books can make me feel better. There was also a really cool display in the kids section. Someone made a giant house for toy mice with somewhere around 100 rooms in it, each one meticulously detailed on the inside and outside, with the little stuffed mice set up in them. It was very well done. After that I went to the tourist information center to try and find a yarn store. There are convenient little computer kiosks in it for when the lines are rather long (which they were) and I managed to find one after a couple of tries. It turns out it was the one I remembered walking past on the walking tour I took, so I really did go by everything I might have wanted on that tour! Anyway, it was a lovely little place and I was pleasantly surprised by the prices for the wool. I got some needles and a couple of balls of wool, and I had told the woman behind the counter that I'd recently arrived and had forgotten all of my knitting supplies (which is true) and she said "Oh dear! We can't have that!" so when I left she said "Enjoy! And I'm sure we'll see you again!" Also true, and I thought it was sweet.
After that I went to a cafe where there was a section devoted to apple tart, so I thought I should try it. It was very, very good and it was drowned in some of the tastiest whipped cream I've had in a while. Top that of with some lovely hot chocolate with brandy, and I'm set for the afternoon!
The rest of the day was devoted to the Ming exhibit in the New Kerk. I was very impressed with what I'd seen of Chinese artifacts in Taiwan (I would strongly recommend the National Palace museum to anyone who's interested in archaeology in general, but especially if you like Chinese history) and I enjoyed what I saw here just as much. It was split in to three sections. The first had displays of items from Imperial palaces of the Ming period (which is when the Forbidden City was built) including things like roof tiles and jewelry. Second section was things from the scholars of the period, so paintings, poems, and a small room specifically for erotic art with accompanying poetry. The third section was oriented to the merchants of the time, and had some lovely pieces of china and a copy of a map made by an Italian Jesuit missionary at the request of the Emperor. If some clever person ever decides to make a copy and turn it in to a poster, I would gladly hang that on my wall! Oh, and I discovered just how useful the museum card is. Regular prices for admission range from 10 to 12 euros depending on age. I got in for 3.50. I think it was a very good investment!
Next up, the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Halloween parade!
No comments:
Post a Comment