Amsterdam

To, and in, Amsterdam

20th - 23rd May

Two days cycling to Amsterdam - 20th & 21st May

It was a public holiday (Whit Sunday) when I started to cycle towards Amsterdam. There were hundreds of cyclists on the cycle paths enjoying the sunny weather and I think everyone had cycled to the restaurant where I stopped for a lunch of fresh asparagus soup, which Lucy enjoyed.

I intended  to stop at Leiden, an old university town and the birthplace of Rembrandt, for an afternoon coffee, but it was far too crowded, you could hardly move. 

Luckily I had a good look around Leiden last September when I was cycling back to the ferry. 

So I continued to Lisse, where I stopped for the night at a cafe / restaurant that had a few rooms. The owner gave me a free beer and, although the restaurant was fully booked, he let me eat at the bar, which was good as I was able to chat to the woman who was working there. 

Lisse is one of the Tulip Towns of Holland and from Mid-March to Mid-May hundreds of people visit the nearby Keukenhof Gardens to see the spring bulbs and to cycle around the tulip fields. I was a week too late  and the gardens were closed, so I had to make do with a postcard of the tulips, but at least it meant I was able to find a cheap room for the night. There is also a tulip museum in Lisse.

Amsterdam 

The next day it was cold and overcast as I cycled into a head wind to Amsterdam.  I checked into the same hotel where I stayed last year, bought a travel card and planned my stay in this wonderful city.

Two days in Amsterdam - 22nd and 23rd May

Day 1

I caught a tram into the centre and my first stop was to visit the Van Gogh Museum. It was annoying as you couldn’t buy tickets at the entrance, but had to book on-line and down-load an e-ticket. There are quite a few places here that won’t take cash, including the cafe at the Tourist Information Centre in Den Haag. I only wanted a coffee.

In addition to the museum’s collection of Van Gogh’s work there was a special exhibition devoted to his ‘Japanese Period’.  During his fairly short painting career he had a lot of different influences and styles. He he didn’t start until he was 27 when he taught himself to paint. He wanted to be a traditional Dutch peasant artist and one of his first paintings was  ‘The Potato Eaters’. He died ten years later aged 37, but during that time he completed almost 900 oeuvres and changed styles many times.

‘The Potato Eaters’, Vincent van Gogh -  1885

In the afternoon I went to het Stedelijk (the  Modern Art Museum) which I really enjoyed and wished I had got there earlier. It has examples of the major art movements from 1880 to the present time. 

Apartheid 1984 - Keith Haring (Acrylic on cotton)

My favourite photographs were a series taken by Claude Raimonden-Dityvon in Paris, May 1968. I probably liked these because I lived through it. 

There were also two special exhibitions, one of various light installations that moved as you walked around them.

 And the other was ‘Ik ben een Geboren Buiten Lander’ (I am a native foreigner) , which told the story in photographs of Dutch migrationan  and immigration.

Descendants of Dutch migrants returning in the early  where their story has been similar to the Windrush Generation at home. 

Bibi has given me a lot of suggestions of things to do while I am in The Netherlands including a walk around the Jordaan District, an area of canals, narrow cobbled streets, independent shops and businesses. And lots of bicycles. So, as it had stopped raining, I caught a bus there and spent the evening wandering around,  finishing up at Cafe Saarein, where I went last year, before getting a train back to my hotel.

Day 2 - Lucy goes to the seaside.

As I had a regional 2-day travel pass, I decided to head out of Amsterdam for the day, and caught a train to Zandvoort aan Zee.

Lucy started her day with a beer at a beach cafe before 

I walked along the beach to the next village, Bloemendaal aan Zee.

I stopped several times to sit and look at the rough sea and watched Lucy as she joined the people who were surfing.

Not sure why she did this, she never takes her jersey off  and hates getting wet.

After her exertions she had to have a tray of frites met mayo, while I waited for a bus to take me to Haarlem. 

Haarlem is a beautiful historic town with some great architecture. It dates from Medieval times and was an important port. It became wealthy from revenue collected from ships and travellers. It was occupied by the Spanish for many years and was a leaving point for Durch emigrants to the New World. 

Part of the massive organ in the Kerk 

I visited the church, the Grote of St-Barokerk and saw an exhibition of the work of Marten Toonder. He was a Dutch comic strip creator who had a great influence on the Dutch language by introducing new words and expressions.

Marten Toonder is best known for his series Tom Poes (Tom Puss)

After a drink in the Market Square I caught a train back to Amsterdam from the Art Deco railway station.

Haarlem railway station built in 1908

Tomorrow I will start cycling North through Noord-Holland.