Amsterdam, June, 2010

Jack and I have been in the Netherlands for about a month now.
Our first job was to wander around our own neigborhood and find the usual things we needed; a little neigborhood fruit store to buy water, fruit, and various snacks. These stores are usually run by Middle Eastern or other foreigners. We found one a couple of blocks away, run by Turkish guys that were very nice and friendly and helpful. We also found lots of restaurants in walking distance that we would try later. We needed an ATM machine; we found a couple immediately. We were set.

Jack studies the guide books and maps and figures out what to explore on which day. We make a practice run of the city, figuring out the bus and tram/subway system to find out how to get around in the city. In Amsterdam the trams run north and south, north to the train station, the Centraal Station, and the Museum section, where we were staying. The public transportation in
these cities is so wonderful; they have them, first of all. Then each stop indicates which trams or busses stop there and where they go. They have a bus/tram schedule at the stop and in the big cities they have an electronic sign that gives the estimated time for the next tram.

By learning the bus/tram system we get the feel of the city geographically, so after a few days we know where we are going without having to read a map. Amsterdam is a little bit more confusing, because the major canals ring the city. So they change directions and it is harder to figure out north and south. But Jack caught on immediately and knew where we were most of the time.

We had several places of importance to see in the city: the Rijk and the Van Gogh museums, the churches, Anne Frank's house, and the tulips.

As I mentioned before, we did get to see the tulips and they were magnificent. We took the bus to Schipohl, the big airport, and then a bus to Keunkenhof, near the North Sea. It was very crowded because it was the last weekend of the presentation. This place is like the Arboretum in Dallas, only about 10 times bigger.

The Rijk Museum - in Dutch the "j" following the "i" makes the vowel long, as in "I" or "mine". Rijk is similar to the German Reich. So the Rijk museum is the State museum. Anyway, this museum is being renovated so about a third of it is in use for visitors. They have taken the best of the best, mostly the Rembrandt's and the Vermeer's and the Ruisdaal's and presented them for the public.

Jack and I did not get the opportunity to take a Northern Renaissance Art History class at SMU back a few years ago, but we did take the survey of Art History, so we studied several of the Dutch artists. We were thrilled to see the originals, especially the "Night Watch" by Rembrandt.

The lesser known Dutch painters are represented here of course, so it was interesting to see their work and figure out their style, etc.

Stay tuned for my next installment of our exploration of Amsterdam. We have yet to see the
Van Gogh, Anne Frank's house, and a walking tour of the city. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you like, don't like about my narratives. Jole