Amsterdam!

Last week I joined two fellow YAGMs in Amsterdam for a short ‘holiday’. It was a much needed break from Charis House, Buxton and England. We had so much fun being silly and goofing off.
I arrived Monday evening to gorgeous weather. We had dinner that night at an Irish pub and then spent the rest of the night sharing stories and catching up with each other. We discovered the I AMsterdam card—a discount card that gets you free transportation, free entrance to museums, and other discounts through out the city for 48 hours. This card cost about $60 and turned out to be worth every penny. Our other penny-saving technique was making a sandwich from the breakfast buffet at our hostel in the morning and packing it in our bags to eat while touring.
Tuesday morning we started our marathon sight-seeing with our free boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. The weather couldn’t have been better and it was such a fun way to see the city. Our next stop was the Stedelijk Musuem. This is a modern art museum that sounds great in the tour books, but turned out to be fairly disappointing. It once again confirmed that I don’t appreciate or understand modern art. But have no fear, we managed to keep ourselves entertained by being completely silly and taking ridiculous pictures. Our next stop was the Anne Frank House. It was simply amazing being in her house. So moving and powerful; just walking around brought me to tears. I’m sure it will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Seeing the bookcase, hearing the floor creak, looking out the windows, climbing the stairs, and seeing her magazine clippings she used to decorate her room—although all so simple independently were so emotional and powerful. Outside the Anne Frank House we met three sisters about 60-70 from California and the DC area. We chatted with them for a few minutes. They were in Amsterdam for a few days and then going on safari in Tanzania—so cool!!! I want to be a cool old lady like that!
Afterwards we walked across the canal to the Tulip Museum. It wasn’t so much as a flower shop with the history of tulips in the basement. But it was fun, and smelled terrific! Our final tourist stop for the day was the Neuwe Kerk (New Church) to see the exhibit of “Hidden Afghanistan”. It was the history of Afghanistan, the tribes that have lived there and the treasures they’ve left behind and the struggle to preserve them from the Taliban and others. It was very interesting.
Although the city is large, it is easily walkable and the architecture is beautiful. I discovered (with Kelly and Lindsey’s help) chocolate covered waffles that you can buy from street vendors. Very yummy!
Wednesday morning we started the day at the Rembrandt House. I was so intrigued to see that he had Gila monsters and armadillos in his art supply room. How on earth did he acquire those?!?! It was also great to see the powders that he would use to mix his paints. It made his paintings seem so much more impressive knowing that he couldn’t just squeeze his desired color out of a tube from Hobby Lobby. Following that we went to the Van Gogh Museum. It was fantastical! Once again I must say that I love art museums (but not so much modern art museums!). This was my second favorite part of Amsterdam. His paintings are so beautiful. I think the Almond Branches with Blossoms is my favorite Van Gogh piece, which I learned was painted as a gift for his nephew at his birth. Next we went to the Rijksmuseum, which commemorates the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. They had a giant doll house which was the highlight of the museum for me. It was about 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and encased in tortoiseshell. The owner paid as much for the dollhouse as a modest real house would have cost. There were also several Rembrandt pieces including “The Night Watch”. Our last museum of the day was the FOAM museum. It is a modern photography museum. Once again reaffirming how much I don’t get modern art! How is a picture of a decomposing body in a forest art?!?!
Thursday was our traveling day, returning to Buxton about 11pm. I had a lovely Valentine’s dinner with Lindsey. We sat on the floor of the Euston train station in London eating sandwiches and waiting for our trains home. But there is no other way I would have rather spent Valentine’s in England than with friends.