Monday was the first day I truly explored the beautiful city of Amsterdam. The city is really cold this time of the year, but it feels like paradise to Windy, Frigid Paris. If the canals, colorful homes and pretty Dutch landscape were not enough, the scenery was made even more attractive by snowfall. This wasn't like snow that I'm used to you. Normally when I see snow falling it's in New York, where it falls to the ground and becomes brown, muddy slush. The snow in Amsterdam is straight from a gorgeous painting. It's picture-perfect.
I was unware of this, but Amsterdam offers a plethora of museums. In fact, there are more museums per meter in Amsterdam than any other city in the world. (That's Amsterdam Fun Fact #1. Stay tuned for Amsterdam Fun Fact #2.) Knowing that I was going to be in Amsterdam for just under a week, I decided to purhase a Museumkaart, a 22 euro, year-long pass good at 37 different museums and sights in Amsterdam.
My first stop was at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam ("Amsterdam's State Museum"), which I found really impressive. The museum offered a really good introduction to Dutch history and Dutch art, especially during the Golden Age. On display were a number of Rembrandt works and those of his pupils. My favorite work happened to be "Amour Menacant", a sculpture by Etienne Maurice Falconet. The structure is of Cupid reaching for an arrow while simultaneously motioning someone to "sshhh". Adorable.
After paying a visit to the museum, I continued to walk around, hoping to get a good feeling for the city. I soon realized that it is very easy to get very lost, very quickly in this city. It seems like every street looks alike and sounds alike, while all of the canals appear more or less identical to one another. That being said, I stumbled upon a delicious and cheap Turkish restaurant for lunch.
While we're here, I think I should I mention how surprised I have been to find so many Indian, Pakistani and Thai restaurants throughout Europe. Virtually every single city I have visited, from Lisbon, to Barcelona, to Paris, to Amsterdam, has had its fair share of such cafes and eateries. The nice thing about this is that these places tend to be very cheap. What's really odd, though, is that they are expensive in Amsterdam. A falafel in Spain or Paris, for example, would run around 3-4 euro, but here they are 8-9. I'll keep you posted as I continue to uncover more of the continent.
[Editor's Note: Gyros and the like are all over Prague as well. And they're even cheaper here than they are in Western Europe.]
Anyway, I eventually made my way back to Leidseplein only to uncover Max Eurweplein Square, which is named for a famous Dutch chess master. In the square lies an enormous chessboard with pieces the size of small children. I sat and watched for a few minutes, as two guys squared off against one another. I found it comical how they literally took a step back to contemplate their next move. Once they made their decision, they would walk across the board, pick up the selected piece, walk over to its desired space, place it down and walk back off of the board.
Later that night I had what seemed to be my first dinner alone in weeks. It was nice to have some alone time during the day, but I felt a little awkward walking into Il-Palio, a local Italian restaurant whose claim to fame is that all of their pizza and pastas are only 5 euro.
The next day I paid a visit to the nearby Albert Cuypmarkt. The market is located on the longest street in Amsterdam and offers virtually everything under the sun. The different vendors sell electronics, clothing, souvenirs, watches, fresh meat and fish, produce, cheese and nuts. You name it, they probably sell it at Albert Cuypmarkt. I spent my time trying a spinach and cheese-filled croissant and the best sugar peanuts of my life (imagine warm and fresh Boston Baked Beans) while attempting to figure out what Amsterdam-related gifts I was going to buy for you people, and well, me.
I justified to myself that what I had eaten at the market were merely "snacks" so I had yet to have "lunch". I knew my rationalization of the situation was terribly flawed, but that certainly didn't stop me from eating more food. I felt like trying some authentic Dutch food so I ordered a herring broodje ("sandwich"), which is something I would NEVER order in the US. The sandwich was surprisingly really tasty, which means that I don't have to swear off trying the respective local food just yet.
After lunch, I made my way into my first Amsterdam coffeshop. In case you were wondering, I have yet to see coffee served in an Amsterdam coffeeshop. Let's move on.
Feeling good, I decided to feel a little less good by checking out the History of the Dutch Jews Museum. The award-winning museum was as impressive as it was depressing. I read stories of a long struggle to assimilate even before WWII, the atrocities of the Holocaust and the sad realities of post-war life.
I walked out of the museum feeling pretty down...until I realized that my visit to the museum unquestionably won me the Son of the Day Award, March 25, 2008.
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