Before I get to the houseboat part, I have to backtrack a few days. We've been in Amsterdam almost 2 weeks now, a city with dozens of phenomenal museums and other attractions for tourists. Thanks to a MuseumCard we bought that allows us access to almost anything, we've visited at least 30 places and have had one amazing day after another. Some museums are well-known and touristy "must-see" places like the Rijksmuseum, while others are hidden and/or often a bit obscure or quirky. Here are a few examples of things we've seen:
The Old Church of Amsterdam was founded as a "harbor" church that offered refuge to those who sailed the seas. Many naval heroes are buried here. It currently houses an exhibit - a tribute to refugees and others who wash up onto new shores and are wrapped in glittering metallic blankets to help them survive the cold and wet of the sea. The floors of the church are covered with these metallic blankets to remind us of the ongoing need to aid refugees around the world.
The barrel-vaulted church ceiling is wooden and reminds one of a ship.
After leaving the Old Church, we visited Rembrandt's house - the place where he lived and worked. In addition to touring the house top to bottom, we saw a remarkably detailed film narrated by a guy who made the era in which Rembrandt lived and worked come completely alive. This is the room where Rembrandt greeted guests and clients/patrons.
We also visited a museum called "Our Lord in the Attic". When the public practice of Catholicism became forbidden by the Protestants, some private home owners built and maintained Catholic churches for hidden worship. This was one such home, with a complete church - organ and all - built into the attic.
This is a photo from an upper window of that home, looking down on a canal, parked bicycles, a cafe with umbrellas and shady foliage. It looks kind of like an Impressionist painting.
One day we dropped in on a nearby exhibit of Pop Art, including, of course, the work of Andy Warhol. It is amazing to me how much American art, music, film, etc we've seen exhibited here.
A propos nothing at all, this is a cat contentedly sleeping, squashed between a pillow and a glass shop window - oblivious to the passing throngs of people looking in at her.
A message in English in a shop window. Apparently a trend right now.
Of course we went to the Amsterdam Tulip Museum. Learned a lot about the history of growing and selling tulips in Holland!! At one point centuries ago, tulips were so coveted that a single rare tulip bulb was worth the equivalent of a townhouse.
At a flea market that we strolled through, some of the stalls were painted in comical themes. This one was a modernized version of Rembrandt's businessmen drinking coffee, minus the hats, ruffles and lace collars.
Amsterdam smiley face t-shirt
Of course there's a botanical garden and of course we visited it.
These are giant rhubarb plants - huge!
The botanical garden was a nice interlude between rather gruesome museum visits. First to the Hermitage Museum, where we toured a disturbing exhibit of the Russian revolution that lead to the bloody assassination of Tsar Nicolas II and his entire family in Russia. Second, to the Resistance Museum, another sobering exhibit about the severe hardships of the lives of the Dutch during WWII. Donald Trump should spend some time in museums like these. Those ignorant of history may be destined to repeat it.
Fortunately the next day was much more fun. We met up with our Dutch/Swedish friends Birgitta and Q, who I've known for over 40 years. They live about 50 km away and took the train into town to join us for the day. First we took a walk around the Rijksmuseum, where they pointed out features that were extensively and beautifully renovated during a 10-year period that the museum was closed.
Here we are trying to figure out what parts of this enormous museum we should go see.
It was a fantastic sunny warm day, so then we walked to a garden restaurant near the Amsterdam Zoo, where it was fun to watch kids playing in a water fountain as we ate lunch. 
This is me and Birgitta in front of a pond with dozens of flamingos in it.
Next we visited a funky and totally amusing little hands-on museum called Microbia. You could learn everything you ever wanted to know (and then some) about microbes - fungi, bacteria, etc - how they live, what they do, how many live in you and around you... We all loved it!!
Then as the weather deteriorated into chilly rain, we walked to the Ship Museum and toured a massive old sailing ship
This is the area where crew slept in hammocks belowdecks
Huge wooden blocks...
Then on the way home, walking in the rain, we saw canal boats full of people sheltering under umbrellas. Birgitta and Q stayed for dinner and we all got dry again. It even cleared up enough to eat outside in the garden.
The next day we took a train to a little sailing port north of Amsterdam called Enkhuizen. I had been there dozens of years ago when Q, Birgitta, me and several other friends sailed into Enkhuizen on Q's boat. Unfortunately, it quickly turned into a cold, blustery, very rainy day so we just walked around a bit, had lunch and returned to Amsterdam. These classic Dutch boats below were moored in the harbor, where space is at a premium and boats are often rafted up to each other, lacking space at the dock.
This traditional black Dutch boat with lee boards was towing a "modern" inflatable dinghy - it looked kind of funny!
Another little sailing boat with lee boards on each side
A view from the train. Very flat, lots of little canals and ditches, lots of dairy cows. Of course, after we got on the train and headed back, the skies began to clear!
The next day we saw a houseboat museum. Very cool! There are many houseboats tied up alongside the canals here, and one of them has been made into a museum. Below are two small berths, or beds, down below.
This is part of the main salon, or living room.
Rain gear, buckets, wooden shoes...
Another view of the main salon
An old TV and lots of books
There were postings of recent sales of houseboats in Amsterdam. This one sold recently for about $320,000 US and the annual mooring fee is about $1,000.
This is the master berth
There was a short film about life aboard, including in the winter. Here is a guy putting on skates, sitting in a chair on the frozen canal
Another view of an Amsterdam canal in winter
This is the Houseboat Museum covered in snow
And as we saw it in the summer
On another note, nearby the preparations had begun for the coming Gay Pride festivities in Amsterdam, which will start just after we leave, unfortunately.
Near the Houseboat Museum is a pancake restaurant where you can order Dutch pancakes. They are sort of like a big crepe with tasty additions like ham and cheese in them. Delicious! These are the cooks...
And the waitresses - two sisters - were friendly, cheerful and efficient!
Flowers in window boxes on our route to the next spot to visit...
...which was a museum for bags and purses. Yep - one of the quirky museums! And we loved it! Who knew there could be so much to learn about the history through centuries of mens' and womens' bags, purses and other matching items (like the outrageous shoes here)?
There were bags created for traveling,. And bags created to match a fashion or trend...
For going to the opera
For men as well as women
For traveling outdoors
And to represent the Delft colors of the Netherlands
That's about it for Amsterdam - next we're off to London tomorrow. More to post soon. Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment