I FORGOT MY CAMERA!
Yes, we have a check list of things we have to do before we leave the house. And yes, we include all of the important things in there. But putting my camera in my pocketbook just never struck me as a thing I had to have in writing.
So these pictures are really bad. They were taken with a throw away camera developed on a disc. Bad!! It really was that dark and gloomy though. But they do not do any of the atmosphere of Amsterdam justice. I got an overall impression that it is the most European city we had ever visited, in terms of stereotypes of places that I have in my mind. For example, the train station is a most satisfying train station. It is not like the others I have seen and used, like the Gare de Nord in Paris, which is busy and 50s looking, the Venice train station (which does have showers and haircuts [I got one] in the toilette area), and the modern and American looking Frankfort Germany station. In Rome, Naples, and Palermo, the stations are just the pits, so we do not even need to discuss them.
Every aspect of the canals of Amsterdam is fascinating. The leaning buildings and the art deco facades give it as much interest as Barcelona and Florence or Venice architecturally. Yes there is Baroque and rococco and much of the overemphasis on the size of the building and its grandeur, just like in Vienna, but not nearly as overwhelming as there, and the scope of the ornateness was concentrated mainly around the Dam, the government buildings and the royal palace. I think the tiny size of the area saved it from becoming ugly. In fact I was struck by the sense of style of everything just like I was the first time I was in Paris. The Dutch sense of design is everywhere, and to me, most charming in the way everyday things are designed. I am afraid I spent too much time and money in the kitchen shops, but I just could not get enough of affordable stylish kitchen gadgets. The shopping in general was fabulous and we had a wonderful time dropping into stores and leaving with incredible buys. Hey, its Christmas time!
As mentioned, in Amsterdam there is a huge problem with space. Since everything must be fit into the small area allotted for transport, pedestrians take a backseat to bikes. You must be very careful about crossing streets or coming into intersections. If the cars or trams dont get you, the bikes will. Tourists overwhelm the Dutch in their pursuit of everyday life, so there are sometimes problems caused by lack of tolerance. Most of the people we met and talked to were just wonderful. It is a cold northern city that is mostly friendly and appealing to tourists.
The museums are absolutely wonderful. We got to three of them, and saw a good part of the city that way. The Rijksmuseum was my favorite, and most of it is closed for repairs except for one wing. What they did was concentrate in that one show area the master works of art that people would be coming to see anyway. And it was a truly satisfying experience for there was just so much wonderful stuff to see. If you see a lot of Dutch masters like Vermeer or Rembrandt hung, you will look over a room and see splotches of light here and there that represent the artists portrayal of light on each of his subjects.
On Sunday we took a train out to Harlaam, and there were no black people and no jazz! This area is about 5 miles from Amsterdam, and on the way, you see suburbs, small villages and farm lands as well as less tourists. The houses were farther apart and the streets wider and it looked like a small European city anywhere on the continent when you got away from the canals. The Christmas Fair in the middle of town was so crowded that we did not attempt to get into it. We watched an old fashioned band, saw Father Christmas, and bought some little pancakes made out on the street in little round grill containers and ate them with butter, powdered sugar, and plastic forks. I laughed and got powdered sugar all over my black coat! Of course!
Roz and Mike did a great job of leading us around the city and showing us all of the things they had discovered before us. Thanks, sis!
So these pictures are really bad. They were taken with a throw away camera developed on a disc. Bad!! It really was that dark and gloomy though. But they do not do any of the atmosphere of Amsterdam justice. I got an overall impression that it is the most European city we had ever visited, in terms of stereotypes of places that I have in my mind. For example, the train station is a most satisfying train station. It is not like the others I have seen and used, like the Gare de Nord in Paris, which is busy and 50s looking, the Venice train station (which does have showers and haircuts [I got one] in the toilette area), and the modern and American looking Frankfort Germany station. In Rome, Naples, and Palermo, the stations are just the pits, so we do not even need to discuss them.
Every aspect of the canals of Amsterdam is fascinating. The leaning buildings and the art deco facades give it as much interest as Barcelona and Florence or Venice architecturally. Yes there is Baroque and rococco and much of the overemphasis on the size of the building and its grandeur, just like in Vienna, but not nearly as overwhelming as there, and the scope of the ornateness was concentrated mainly around the Dam, the government buildings and the royal palace. I think the tiny size of the area saved it from becoming ugly. In fact I was struck by the sense of style of everything just like I was the first time I was in Paris. The Dutch sense of design is everywhere, and to me, most charming in the way everyday things are designed. I am afraid I spent too much time and money in the kitchen shops, but I just could not get enough of affordable stylish kitchen gadgets. The shopping in general was fabulous and we had a wonderful time dropping into stores and leaving with incredible buys. Hey, its Christmas time!
As mentioned, in Amsterdam there is a huge problem with space. Since everything must be fit into the small area allotted for transport, pedestrians take a backseat to bikes. You must be very careful about crossing streets or coming into intersections. If the cars or trams dont get you, the bikes will. Tourists overwhelm the Dutch in their pursuit of everyday life, so there are sometimes problems caused by lack of tolerance. Most of the people we met and talked to were just wonderful. It is a cold northern city that is mostly friendly and appealing to tourists.
The museums are absolutely wonderful. We got to three of them, and saw a good part of the city that way. The Rijksmuseum was my favorite, and most of it is closed for repairs except for one wing. What they did was concentrate in that one show area the master works of art that people would be coming to see anyway. And it was a truly satisfying experience for there was just so much wonderful stuff to see. If you see a lot of Dutch masters like Vermeer or Rembrandt hung, you will look over a room and see splotches of light here and there that represent the artists portrayal of light on each of his subjects.
On Sunday we took a train out to Harlaam, and there were no black people and no jazz! This area is about 5 miles from Amsterdam, and on the way, you see suburbs, small villages and farm lands as well as less tourists. The houses were farther apart and the streets wider and it looked like a small European city anywhere on the continent when you got away from the canals. The Christmas Fair in the middle of town was so crowded that we did not attempt to get into it. We watched an old fashioned band, saw Father Christmas, and bought some little pancakes made out on the street in little round grill containers and ate them with butter, powdered sugar, and plastic forks. I laughed and got powdered sugar all over my black coat! Of course!
Roz and Mike did a great job of leading us around the city and showing us all of the things they had discovered before us. Thanks, sis!
posted by Sicilian Mama at 10:57 AM
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