Monday, 23rd April 2007
Amsterdam
There might be 1 million bicycles in Beijing according to Katie Melua but there can’t be any less in Amsterdam.
On Friday Heidi and I flew from Norwich to Amsterdam with our good friends Ralf and Linda and within a couple of hours we were enjoying the beauty of Amsterdam as we strolled alongside the canals trying to find our apartment, which happened to be in the heart of the old city on Herengracht.
That evening we went to see the Anne Frank Museum (http://www.annefrank.org/) on Princengracht which was very thoughtfully presented by virtue of its minimalism. I was somewhat surprised that the house had not been reconstructed exactly as it had been left by the Frank family when the Nazi’s eventually discovered them. Yet the few carefully selected items displayed in the dim light of each room worked to create a sense of reverence.
On Saturday we went our separate ways; Ralf relaxed by the canal with a good book and watched the people go by while Heidi and Linda went to the Van Gogh Museum (www.vangoghmuseum.nl) whilst I went to the Rijksmuseum (http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/) to see the masterpieces of the Golden Age of Dutch painting. You may recall an earlier posting where I reviewed a book called I was Vermeer. Some of the paintings referred to in that book by Johanne Vermeer are housed in the Rijksmuseum as well as paintings by Rembrandt, Van Heyden, Pieter de Hooch etcetera. Heidi really enjoyed the Van Gogh paintings and purchased a couple of originals for the lounge.
In the afternoon we went on a canal boat trip (well you have to really don’t you) which just so happened to take us past our front door (see first photo). Fortunately, this was not our particular boat given that it appears to be heading directly for that concrete barrier.
On Sunday we headed out of Amsterdam for the wonderful gardens at Keukenhof (http://www.keukenhof.nl/). I really don’t need to say much about Keukenhof other than it is a must see if you ever have the opportunity to travel to Amsterdam, particularly during April and May. The above website has a great slideshow to view if you go to http://www.keukenhof.nl/nm/648/Park-Slideshow.html. Here are just a couple of pictures I took. To see more click on flickr and head for the group imaginatively entitled Amsterdam/Keukenhof.
Posted by Daddy @ 7:46 PM
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