Amsterdam - Oct 2005
So last October, I went to Amsterdam and Brussels for a week with my brother and father. I have been very lazy about putting up a blog entry for this, so this is really going to end up as a rambling mess of what I remember, what I enjoyed....
I landed in Amsterdam at about 6am on a Sunday, so everything was closed. Having been there before twice, I had a hazy memory of how the tram system worked, but couldn't work out how to get to the hostel! I ended up wandering around in crazy cold weather only to finally give up and hail a cab. The whole time, Dad and I were texting back and forth about where/when to meet and so on. He had the ING Diabetes Marathon that day, which was why we were there. The cab driver didn't know where the place was and ended up going a couple blocks in the wrong direction. Of course, the cab was a Mercedes and extremely expensive. I arrived at the hostel, managed to cram my stuff in the closet and run out to meet up with Dad and Aaron (brother).
Once we finally hooked up, Dad ran off to the ING Direct Marathon, and Aaron and I took off to explore the city some more. Aaron and I promptly got high and wandered about the city. I found it very hard to be wandering around high (I got paranoid), so I decided to keep the smoking up for the evenings. We managed to check out the markets and some art that day (it's all a little hazy). We discovered this great soup place called Soup enzo, which we went to about 6 times while we were there. They had an amazing selection of soups, from light to heavy, in small to large sizes. Freshly baked bread, salads and fresh Brazilian fruit smoothies rounded it out. The smoothies and bread were excellent. We met up with Dad at the hostel, who was about 2.5h late from the time he said he'd be there. Finally we grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Food in Amsterdam was good. We ate at an excellent soup/noodle joint that did Asian-style food. They had an excellent miso ramen that we really loved. On one of our nights, we went for riztaffel, which ended up a bit mediocre. I had a much better one the last time I was there. Then we went out for Indian, which pretty good. Comparing Montreal's restos with the restaurants here, I'd say that Amsterdam really was better in the soup/stew department, but the selection there was not the same. I would really need to explore more of the restaurants, but I don't remember anything being amazing outside of the soup places.
The architecture of Amsterdam was really on these classic lines. Romanesque buildings, very very narrow townhouses with really high ceilings, tiny spiral staircases and each building had a solid steel beam and hook at the top of it. They have to get the furniture in through the window. The small walking bridges that go across the canals, the impossibly narrow streets, the amazing doors. Plus Amsterdam's silly SPQA (or something like that) insignia which is everywhere, in imitation of the SPQR that was all over Rome.
I have about 20 pictures of doors to put up on Flickr. I saw very pretty buildings, restaurants, shopping districts and boutiques, with businesses cleverly hidden within residential buildings that I would have automatically dismissed as houses. I didn't see any mills, buildings, factories, distilleries... I need to check out that area of town the next time I go there.
I was using Style City: Amsterdam in order to give myself ideas about where to shop, and Aaron and I ended up discovering the Jordaan. This section had some great little shops, cafes and bars scattered all over it. I could not believe that one of the corner grocers had fresh porcini mushrooms, which I had never seen raw before. We stopped at a really nice cafe which had a lamp completely covered with people's notes in many different languages and drawings that had been added to over time. Really special place.
Dad and I checked out the Van Gogh museum, which was pretty interesting and tragic. Starting at the top of the museum, you get a timeline of Van Gogh's paintings, within some context of his life. Really interesting to see his life and his paintings evolve, and how he suffered through so much tragedy, which only made his art better. When he was happy, his paintings weren't so great, but when he was suffering in some way - that's when his art really shined. It's wierd how art tends to come out at horribly tragic or maddening times - I understand that it's how the artist expresses their anguish.... But it's still sad that some people really needed that in order to express their true genius. You wonder what that person's life would have been like without that tragedy. Would Schubert have been great without his suffering? Would Van Gogh?
A couple of days after arriving in Amsterdam, Aaron, Dad and I took the train to Brussels. In Brussels, we stayed with an old family friend, Sarah. I wanted to check out the main shopping area first thing, so we did a bit of a walking tour around the large commercial district until it closed, then walked back home.
The next day, we checked out the main square. Aaron slept in, while Dad checked out the art galleries and I went shopping. The goods in Brussels were pretty much the same as the stuff to find here, but with some stuff cheaper than at home. Brussels also has a great bookstore which hosts events with local authors, readings and so on. I stopped by there, and of course went into Teuscher (the famous Brussels chocolate shop). I met up with Dad in one of the old shopping arcades, and we hit Longchamp for a gift for his fiancé plus some late birthday gifts for me. Next day, I did more shopping around a more eclectic quarter.
We cooked dinner for Sarah and she cooked for us. At different times during our stay, we all sat around her scarred oak kitchen table talking about our lives, and giving advice. Brussels was very relaxing, just chilling out with our family friends.
After Brussels, Dad went onto Paris and Aaron and I returned to Amsterdam. We spent the rest of time exploring around. Aaron would draw things while I was shopping, and we'd just walk around the city, taking pictures and talking about things. I discovered an amazing silver jewellry shop called iruka, which had great designs. At night, we'd get high and wander around the parks, talking about life and giving advice.
I wanted to walk through the red light district, which was something that I missed the last times I had been. And what is Amsterdam known for if not the legalized prostitution (and marijuana)? Sad, but true. We North Americans get so focussed on such things, it's sad. Being in the red light district made me feel uncomfortable and out of place. Uncomfortable because they weren't really catering to me (where were the men?) and out of place because this was obviously a place for men to find women, and not for women to find men. And I'm not exactly available. Of course, I would have been uncomfortable to have men selling themselves to me too. I don't know, maybe I have some puritanical leanings. Definitely something to explore with my therapist.
We found some interesting ads that had been doctored by students at one of the universities. There was an ad with CAD pictures of some new university buildings that were set to go up, and some students had put together word bubbles for most of the people in them. Those were hilarious. We hit the soup place a few more times, and Rembrandt's house.
Rembrandt's house was pretty funny, since the guy had only lived there for a few years and had defaulted on his lease pretty soon after moving in there. Seemed like the guy really liked to live lavishly. He had a large collection of curios in a room completely devoted to them. All these Roman busts, exotic weapons, stuffed animals, some drawings, old and valuable books.... Just seemed as though he was not concerned with spending money the whole time, even though he got kicked out for non-payment of rent. The collection of etchings, drawings and paintings were incredible. The people who put the exhibit together clearly indicated how his style evolved, and the different artistic techniques he was using in his work. Plus his characterization of people was really amazing. It looked as if those people were actually alive and animated in his works. That was incredible.
I stopped by the duty free for some absinthe and cigarillos and flew on home. The trip felt like it was some kind of surreal dream-time outside of work, and not actually something that I did.
I landed in Amsterdam at about 6am on a Sunday, so everything was closed. Having been there before twice, I had a hazy memory of how the tram system worked, but couldn't work out how to get to the hostel! I ended up wandering around in crazy cold weather only to finally give up and hail a cab. The whole time, Dad and I were texting back and forth about where/when to meet and so on. He had the ING Diabetes Marathon that day, which was why we were there. The cab driver didn't know where the place was and ended up going a couple blocks in the wrong direction. Of course, the cab was a Mercedes and extremely expensive. I arrived at the hostel, managed to cram my stuff in the closet and run out to meet up with Dad and Aaron (brother).
Once we finally hooked up, Dad ran off to the ING Direct Marathon, and Aaron and I took off to explore the city some more. Aaron and I promptly got high and wandered about the city. I found it very hard to be wandering around high (I got paranoid), so I decided to keep the smoking up for the evenings. We managed to check out the markets and some art that day (it's all a little hazy). We discovered this great soup place called Soup enzo, which we went to about 6 times while we were there. They had an amazing selection of soups, from light to heavy, in small to large sizes. Freshly baked bread, salads and fresh Brazilian fruit smoothies rounded it out. The smoothies and bread were excellent. We met up with Dad at the hostel, who was about 2.5h late from the time he said he'd be there. Finally we grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Food in Amsterdam was good. We ate at an excellent soup/noodle joint that did Asian-style food. They had an excellent miso ramen that we really loved. On one of our nights, we went for riztaffel, which ended up a bit mediocre. I had a much better one the last time I was there. Then we went out for Indian, which pretty good. Comparing Montreal's restos with the restaurants here, I'd say that Amsterdam really was better in the soup/stew department, but the selection there was not the same. I would really need to explore more of the restaurants, but I don't remember anything being amazing outside of the soup places.
The architecture of Amsterdam was really on these classic lines. Romanesque buildings, very very narrow townhouses with really high ceilings, tiny spiral staircases and each building had a solid steel beam and hook at the top of it. They have to get the furniture in through the window. The small walking bridges that go across the canals, the impossibly narrow streets, the amazing doors. Plus Amsterdam's silly SPQA (or something like that) insignia which is everywhere, in imitation of the SPQR that was all over Rome.
I have about 20 pictures of doors to put up on Flickr. I saw very pretty buildings, restaurants, shopping districts and boutiques, with businesses cleverly hidden within residential buildings that I would have automatically dismissed as houses. I didn't see any mills, buildings, factories, distilleries... I need to check out that area of town the next time I go there.
I was using Style City: Amsterdam in order to give myself ideas about where to shop, and Aaron and I ended up discovering the Jordaan. This section had some great little shops, cafes and bars scattered all over it. I could not believe that one of the corner grocers had fresh porcini mushrooms, which I had never seen raw before. We stopped at a really nice cafe which had a lamp completely covered with people's notes in many different languages and drawings that had been added to over time. Really special place.
Dad and I checked out the Van Gogh museum, which was pretty interesting and tragic. Starting at the top of the museum, you get a timeline of Van Gogh's paintings, within some context of his life. Really interesting to see his life and his paintings evolve, and how he suffered through so much tragedy, which only made his art better. When he was happy, his paintings weren't so great, but when he was suffering in some way - that's when his art really shined. It's wierd how art tends to come out at horribly tragic or maddening times - I understand that it's how the artist expresses their anguish.... But it's still sad that some people really needed that in order to express their true genius. You wonder what that person's life would have been like without that tragedy. Would Schubert have been great without his suffering? Would Van Gogh?
A couple of days after arriving in Amsterdam, Aaron, Dad and I took the train to Brussels. In Brussels, we stayed with an old family friend, Sarah. I wanted to check out the main shopping area first thing, so we did a bit of a walking tour around the large commercial district until it closed, then walked back home.
The next day, we checked out the main square. Aaron slept in, while Dad checked out the art galleries and I went shopping. The goods in Brussels were pretty much the same as the stuff to find here, but with some stuff cheaper than at home. Brussels also has a great bookstore which hosts events with local authors, readings and so on. I stopped by there, and of course went into Teuscher (the famous Brussels chocolate shop). I met up with Dad in one of the old shopping arcades, and we hit Longchamp for a gift for his fiancé plus some late birthday gifts for me. Next day, I did more shopping around a more eclectic quarter.
We cooked dinner for Sarah and she cooked for us. At different times during our stay, we all sat around her scarred oak kitchen table talking about our lives, and giving advice. Brussels was very relaxing, just chilling out with our family friends.
After Brussels, Dad went onto Paris and Aaron and I returned to Amsterdam. We spent the rest of time exploring around. Aaron would draw things while I was shopping, and we'd just walk around the city, taking pictures and talking about things. I discovered an amazing silver jewellry shop called iruka, which had great designs. At night, we'd get high and wander around the parks, talking about life and giving advice.
I wanted to walk through the red light district, which was something that I missed the last times I had been. And what is Amsterdam known for if not the legalized prostitution (and marijuana)? Sad, but true. We North Americans get so focussed on such things, it's sad. Being in the red light district made me feel uncomfortable and out of place. Uncomfortable because they weren't really catering to me (where were the men?) and out of place because this was obviously a place for men to find women, and not for women to find men. And I'm not exactly available. Of course, I would have been uncomfortable to have men selling themselves to me too. I don't know, maybe I have some puritanical leanings. Definitely something to explore with my therapist.
We found some interesting ads that had been doctored by students at one of the universities. There was an ad with CAD pictures of some new university buildings that were set to go up, and some students had put together word bubbles for most of the people in them. Those were hilarious. We hit the soup place a few more times, and Rembrandt's house.
Rembrandt's house was pretty funny, since the guy had only lived there for a few years and had defaulted on his lease pretty soon after moving in there. Seemed like the guy really liked to live lavishly. He had a large collection of curios in a room completely devoted to them. All these Roman busts, exotic weapons, stuffed animals, some drawings, old and valuable books.... Just seemed as though he was not concerned with spending money the whole time, even though he got kicked out for non-payment of rent. The collection of etchings, drawings and paintings were incredible. The people who put the exhibit together clearly indicated how his style evolved, and the different artistic techniques he was using in his work. Plus his characterization of people was really amazing. It looked as if those people were actually alive and animated in his works. That was incredible.
I stopped by the duty free for some absinthe and cigarillos and flew on home. The trip felt like it was some kind of surreal dream-time outside of work, and not actually something that I did.
posted by serpah at 11:42 p.m.
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