Amsterdam
I've never met a canal I didn't like
Hallo ! I hope you are having a good week :)
Anjali’s birthday was on the fifteenth of January, so my friends and I decided to celebrate the birth of Frankenstein’s grandaughter (Anjali is a descendant of Mary Shelley (i.e. Frankenstein’s granddaughter)) by going to Amsterdam for a few days.
Before we get to Amsterdam, allow me to update you about life in Valenciennes.
A few weeks ago, France was preparing for a snowstorm. The north of France gets cold in the winter, but the region is not equipped for snow. While teaching on Tuesday, the students and I were blessed with an email that said that school was to be cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday due to the snow.
I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of snow. ‘A lot’ of snow is subjective. I was imagining a flurry that would be relatively incomparable to snow I have experienced, yet trains would still shut down and nobody would drive their cars, but it actually snowed quite a bit! Unfortunately, there are not really any snow plows or salt for the sidewalks, so it was very trecherous to walk around.
Mark and I were elated to have a snow day, so he walked to my house and we frolicked in the snow before going to his house before making a homemade curry variation. Mark is a great cook, and I have learned quite a bit from him!
We ate our food and watched Shutter Island, and then I went home and packed my bags for Amsterdam.
On Thursday evening, Mark, Miller, Grace, and I took a train to Lille and got dinner before boarding the bus to Amsterdam. The bus ride was three and a half hours, and I passed the time by listening to music and playing games with Mark on his iPad.
Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we took the Intercity Sprinter to Amsterdam Centraal, and then took the free 24 hour ferry to our hostel. The hostel was super cool! There were people from all around the world mingling in the common areas, but we bought apple juice and kept to ourselves as we were quite tired.
The following day, we got ready in our room- that had its own bathroom- a blessing! We then boarded the ferry before exploring beautiful Amsterdam. We got breakfast at Café Winkel 43.
We walked around and visited a bookstore, a church, and other places before making our way to Verzetsmuseum. When we entered the museum, the worker told us that it would be an hour long experience, but he was incredibly incorrect. He handed us our listening devices and we embarked on a three hour long stroll through the museum.
The museum was all about The Netherlands during the Second World War. The audio devices that were given to us described every item in the museum; each artifact was so unique, thought provoking and heartbreaking; there was everything you could possibly imagine. The areas I found the most interesting were the papers from schoolchildren during the war, and all of the personal stories. For example, I learned about two brothers who were taken away from The Netherlands and sent to Germany, and they received a letter saying that their father had passed away. When the brothers read the letter, they were able to go home for their father’s funeral. Once they returned home, they were surprised to discover that their father was still alive and well, and the letter had been sent so that the brothers could return home and stay home. I learned so much; from my schooling, I’ve mostly studied the American and French perspectives of WWII. It was interesting to learn about what was occuring in The Netherlands during the war.
With all of my newfound intelligence about The Netherlands’ experience in WWII, I feel I could give a lecture about the history.
After the museum, we ate a quick lunch, and then met up with our friend Maria. We continued to walk around, embrace the sunshine, and explore, before Anjali and Belle arrived in Amsterdam.
We met Anjali and Belle in the hostel and rested in our beds for a little while. Then, we decided it was time for dinner. The options for dinner were Thai food or Ethiopian food, and we decided to get Thai food. We walked to the restaurant, and quickly realized that Lotus Thai was located in the heart of the Red Light District. It was a funny experience, and the food was absolutely delicious. I always get red curry when going out for Thai food, and my dish did not disappoint.
After dinner, shivering and full, we returned to the hostel to get ready for the night. We were staying in a room with 8 beds- me, Miller, Grace, Anjali, Belle, Maria, and Mark. With one extra bed, we weren’t sure if we would have an eighth roommate. Immediately, we noticed a sweatshirt and a suitcase on one of the beds, so we were bracing ourselves to meet our new roomie. While getting ready, the door opened, and we learned our eighth member was a guy named Akash. He is a 23 year old boy from India who lives in Dublin, Ireland. He talked to us while we were getting ready, and I asked him if he wanted to go out with us. This was my first stay in a hostel, and I wasn’t sure of the etiquette, but the more the merrier, in my opinion. The eight of us left the hostel and began our night of fun.
We spent the night watching some Glaswegian men compete in a hostile game of pool. Once they finished, some of our group decided to play a round, before heading back to the hostel for bed.
Everybody except Maria and Grace decided to sleep in until 10:30. It was mutually decided that if somebody wasn’t awake by 11:00, wake them up. Grace and Maria left the hostel at 7:30 or 8:00. I always wake up early, so I woke up at 8:30 and waited for the others. 11:00 came around eventually and I wasn’t sure how to go about waking up five sleepy people; I decided that the best course of action was to just blast my alarm. Everybody woke up! Easy peasy.
Saturday was extremely cold and windy, but the sun was shining. We walked through a market and met up with Maria and Grace, and then decided that coffee was the only possible option. Most cafes in Amsterdam are quite small, and there was no room for eight people in any cafe we visited.
We knew that 4 people wanted to go to the Rijksmuseum, and 4 people wanted to go to the Stedelijk Museum, so we split into our respective groups and got coffee. It was nice to escape the blustering wind and soak up the sun from the window of the café.
One of the reasons that I was excited to go to Amsterdam is that Saturday was the first day of tulip season, and in the city, there were thousands of free tulips for everybody to collect. It was so magical, almost every person that I walked by had a bouquet of colorful tulips.
The Stedelijk museum was great. There were so many exhibits with different styles of art to appreciate. One room was classic art, one room was furniture, one room was full of paintings that highlighted art post WWII, and so much more. Usually at museums, my friends and I somewhat stay together- we are at least in the same room most of the time. However, at the Stedelijk, it seemed Mark, Anjali, Belle, and I were all immediately hypnotized and guided separate ways. I put in one headphone to listen to some jazz music while walking through the museum.
Did I feel kind of pretentious? 1000%
The post WWII art was very interesting to me. There was a group called COBRA, artists from Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam who worked together to bring back expression in art in Europe. During WWII and under the Nazi regime, expression was forbidden, so when the war finished, abstraction in art became popular.
There was also an entire exhibit of work from an artist named Martin Wong. He included lots of repetitive brick patterns, photography, and poetry in his paintings. His paintings highlighted ideas of gentrification in New York City in the 90s, sexual orientation, and so much more. His painting style wasn’t my favorite, but I still found his work quite amazing, and his messages and emotions were so clear in each painting. One of the pieces caught my eye immediately- I recognized Keith Haring’s handwriting from across the room. I quickly made my way over to the piece of paper, and was impressed with my good eye. I felt like… an art connoisseur ??
While I’m by no means a connoisseur, I know Keith Haring quite well. It was so fun to see something by him; it felt like running into a friend in a new city- ‘Keith! What are you doing here in the Martin Wong exhibit?’ I stood there for a few minutes and imagined the friendships and conversations that these artists must have had.
I could go on and on about the museum, but I’ll just add some more pictures.
Many hours later, with tired feet from meandering through the museum, we met the rest of our friends to eat some Ethiopian food! I was so hungry, and this food nourished me in a way that a meal hasn’t done in a while. Maria, Mark, Belle, and I shared a plate, and Grace, Miller, Akash, and Anjali shared a plate. We ordered doro wot (chicken, spicy sauce, cheese), hamli (spinach, selsi sauce, cheese), temtemmo (lentils with cheese), and goro goro (beef, herbs, cheese)- every meal also came with a chickpea dish. This food was crazy- it was so delicious, my stomach is rumbling just thinking about it. L’eau à la bouche. The restaurant had warm lighting, paintings, and cool chairs and tables, all filled with different people having good conversation.
At this point, I was feeling pretty dead. However, like the trooper I am, I powered through to walk to get a homemade, truly Dutch stroopwafel. It was warm and delicious. It kind of tasted like a brown sugar cinnamon Poptart, but better.
On Sunday, we had a few hours before it was time to take the bus home. I had the goal to go to De Winkel Van Nijntje, aka the Nijntje store. You may know her as the little bunny named Miffy. Miffy is a character from books by a Dutch author named Dick Bruna, and I love all of his characters. His illustration style is so simple and sweet, and Miffy, Melanie, Boris Bear, and every other character in the Dick Brunaverse are such cute drawings that make my heart feel warm. I felt honored to be in The Netherlands, the birthplace of Miss Nijntje/Miffy. At the bookstore on Saturday, I purchased the book Miffy et Mélanie, a children’s book in French about Miffy’s best friend, Mélanie, coming to visit.
Mark stepped up to the plate to be my accomplice in the Miffy Mission, taking the tram across Amsterdam to get to the Miffy store. We left our friends at around 10:15 when the store was said to open. All of the fatigue was catching up to us, and we were so slap happy; laughing and making jokes throughout the entire journey.
Unfortunately, the laughing came to a shattering hault, replaced with grief and the overwhelming feeling of being stabbed in the back. Much to our dismay, the lights were off in the Miffy store. Nobody was there. All of the Miffy merchandise was staring at us through the window, begging us to come in and explore. The simple black sign reading ‘GESLOTEN’ (‘closed’ in Dutch, a word I know all too well at this point), was practically taunting me, laughing at my misery through the cold glass. Mark called the store, and we watched the phone ring at the cash register. The light from the ringing phone was the green light- my imperishable love, my utter desperation, my inability to reach my Miffy dream. I will beat on, like a boat against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. But that’s no matter.
It was unfortunate. I wanted to go through all of the books and spend time in my mecca, but it wasn’t meant to be. With heavy hearts, we took the Intercity Sprinter back to the train station before getting on the bus to go home.
Mark and I couldn’t let our friends know that our mission was a massive failure, so we decided that we’d put on guilty faces and tell our friends that we made a slapdash purchase of a 200 euro lifesized Miffy figurine. They believed us, and have asked a few times when it will be delivered to Mark’s house. We can’t stop the lie now.
I really love Amsterdam. It may be my favorite city…? Don’t tell Lille. Amsterdam feels happy and warm, even in the freezing winter weather. I love walking around and hearing the bouncy Dutch language, I love the variety of food, I love the kindness of the people, and the way that I feel safe. I think it’s important to go to cities like Amsterdam and have fun, but also learn about the history of the city. I discovered many things in Amsterdam, and I had a great time with my friends :).
As per usual, thank you very much for reading.
Bedankt & groetjes,
Delia