Amsterdam. It was so wonderful to visit my daughter when she studied abroad eight years ago in Amsterdam. I travelled there with my son and his boyfriend, who is now his wonderful husband. We arrived in Amsterdam as I turned 60. We went to our houseboat that I rented via Airbnb by Uber. It was a great houseboat parked amongst many on this canal. Many canals have many houseboats that people live on. It was great and I remember the orange front door-orange for the Netherlands. So welcoming. We went right to the Van Gogh Museum on our first day. We had the rice table meal that I forgot the Dutch name for at this moment. It was delicious. The art work was beautiful. That was our first day and evening.
If you are wondering, the houseboat did not rock at all like a cruise ship. It was spacious. It was like being in a large apartment.
The architecture in Amsterdam is so very charming. I loved our tour through many canals via a long sightseeing boat.
The Anne Frank Haus was gone through in silence. Sweet pancakes a few doors down help neutralize some of my feelings, for the moment only. The Resistance Museum was very intense. It was very horrible to think of the Nazis walking around there and so much more. The Riijks Museum had just been redone. It was beautiful. The Stedjelink for modern art was excellent-I hope that I spelled it right-I am so tired right now that I am being lazy to walk into the other room to see its spelling on a framed poster of Ellsworth Kelly’s work of like Red, Blue, Green. It just hit me now-I framed it in an organe frame that hangs on a navy blue wall in my dining room-when I picked out the orange frame , I chose it years ago because I liked how it looked-i did not even associate the orange with the orange for the Netherlands. The Jewish Quarter and the Portgegeuse sp? Synagogue was one of my favorites. It meant a lot to be there for many reasons and one of them was that my parents were there years ago. Did I mention that I miss my parents mostly everyday.
The above plate is from our second day where we travelled to Delft. We went to the Vermeer Museum and learned a lot about the usage of light and painting. We enjoyed a cheese store and lunch at a cool restaurant. The antique store at the corner was where I purchased this plate that hangs in my living room on the wall. Bicycles and bridges everywhere. I loved being there and maybe I will write more about my trip to the Netherlands another day.
Thank you for reading my piece today. I appreciate that.
6 responses to “The Netherlands”
Visiting there is on my bucket list. I enjoyed reading your piece and learning about your experience. The houseboat sounds lovely and I am adding that to what to look for when I go- someday!
Hi JoAnne, I enjoyed your memories from this trip. I notice you tend to alternate museums and galleries with food! We all love to read about food. And you include the serious and the charming places. I commend your courage in renting a houseboat; it sounds so lovely.
What a lovely trip. I’m intrigued at the idea of staying in a house boat.Amsterdam is certainly an amazing place. I was only there a short time but went to the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, two places that are must sees for different reasons. I hear your voice as it comes out in your writing.
I’ve always wanted to visit Amsterdam. One of these days I’ll get back to Europe… Your post is making me want to get there sooner rather than later.
Thank you Stacey. I would love to go back to see more. It is a very cool city. I know that there’s more culture to see in Amsterdam than I saw. I would like to get to other areas too like Haarlem, Rotterdam and Utrecht-where I spent six great hours on my first trip to Israel. My friend that I was travelling with had a cousin from New York who lived in Utrecht. We had breakfast there and visited with the family before going to get over next plane to Tel Aviv-this was like in 1979-this would not happen now. It was Gary Schwartz that we were visiting with and he writes intense Art History books. When my daughter studied there I was in touch with him all those years later via his sister in Boston and my daughter met up with him and his wife and children and grandchildren. When I met his children back in 79 they were little kids. I love how that worked out. Thank you again for your comment. The tulips were sleeping when I was there in February so Kukkenhoff would be a hope too.
Reading your post made me remember bits and pieces from my trip to Amsterdam (40 years ago!). How lovely that you stayed in one of the houseboats. That’s so cool!