Amsterdam 8: The End - Tuesday 1.27

I needed to leave too early in the morning to take the hotel shuttle, and didn't wanted to haul my suitcases a block to take the cheap airport bus, so the hotel got me a nice taxi.

Check-in was easy, and the nice young woman told me how to find the Sky Club. There is a great deal of construction in the airport, and the Delta gates have been moved far from the lounge. But I was pleased to have an hour there as one of my Platinum privileges. That expires this weekend, when I go back to Delta Silver after no travel in '14. Oh well. 

Fearing the breakfast on the plane would be awful, I took advantage of their fine offerings - chicken noodle soup, yogurt with delicious fruit, cappuccino, cheese, even tiny pancakes.

I was annoyed that KLM, now managing boarding for Delta, had switched my seat. But I did get an aisle one in Economy Comfort, and with nobody in the middle it turned out fine. The flight attendants were a curious crew. In contrast to my two great restaurant experiences, they didn't seem to enjoy working together, or working at all. I rarely saw a smile or heard laughter. Some made a few smart remarks. No warmth was evident. Am I looking for too much? One of them had an astonishing hair style: 2-3" long, straight up all over her head. I wondered what statement she was trying to make.

Then a good surprise: One of the breakfast offerings was a tasty chicken curry! It came with fruit.  

A while later a snack came out: olives, hummus, cracker and cookie. Even a nutrition folder that said it was 218 calories (but I'm not a green olives girl).  An hour before landing there was more food. I chose a hot chicken and cheese on whole wheat. It came with an ice cream cup. Nothing like the front of the plane, for sure, but I didn't need all this food anyway. I was impressed with the relatively healthy choices.

And an even better surprise: midway, I slept almost 3 hours. I attribute that to the very fine new neck pillow that Christie and Fred gave me for Christmas + my fine roomy eye mask.  Later on I even had an additional 45-minute nap. Which, combined with cappuccino in Amsterdam and Detroit, may explain how I returned home to my old sleep routine.

I loved that I could plug in my MacBook and my phone to charge them. I think I could go a fair distance in Economy Comfort. Testing that was one reason for the trip.

I was too busy working on sorting thru photos for blog reports, etc. to watch a movie. But I enjoyed following the progress of the plane. Since my connection was in Detroit, I didn't have to worry about the blizzard in the Northeast.

In the baggage claim area I waited until all the suitcases had come out - but not mine - and then asked the Customs agent where Delta's help desk was. He asked if I had checked the  Priority bags + First Class separate carousel; he had been puzzled that they never announced it, and this was the first time I heard of such a thing. The entire time I waited I was comforting a frazzled woman who was supposed to be going home to New York. She asked if there was a hotel nearby that she could walk to. And she asked where we were. I saids Detroit. She asked Is that in Delaware? She explained the only time she ever left NY was to go out of the country.  Egad!

After a nice break in a Sky Club I enjoyed being upgraded for the final ride home. And looking out the window at the snow-covered land:

Back to work at home, now, relaxed and refreshed indeed!

Amsterdam 2b: Wednesday 2.21

A little break at noon, then a Building tour with Isabel, another good guide. And what a treat! I had her all to myself. The story of the building is fascinating, with the appointment of a Catholic architect in a very Protestant-majority country. Many aspects of the building are cathedral-like and it was controversial at the beginning. Many changes have been made over the years, but this restoration aimed to restore it back to the 1884 looks but with some ingenious and complex modernization as well.

Of course we started in the new atrium.  It's hard to imagine the original courtyards covered up with floors of the building; they have all been removed. This new "basement" space is open and light with its glass roof. The original iron girders support the ceiling and are visible to all. The giant new "chandelier" has all sorts of modern technology features, from fancy lighting to grooves in the panels that diminish the sound to security features. The most modern technology is "embedded" underground around the new building.

One of the entrances from the street

Passage from atrium to entry to galleries

One of the two "chandeliers"

Isabel led us up through this doorway, explaining that the collection originally was divided by category, with separate entries and the subject indicated in the sculpture above. We did talk about what this referred to, but I've forgotten, alas.

As we passed the Night Watch she showed us on her iPad the device that is used to remove the painting. I never thought about how it gets in and out! But of course it had to be moved during the restoration and also during the war. A system is built in that can haul it out. 

In the gallery behind NW there's a window through which you can see the length of the Museumplein, with the VanGogh and Stedelijk museums to the right and the Concertgebouw beyond. We're looking through the mesh advertising the Rembrandt show here.

One of the rooms that fascinated me was fairly small and totally new, with colored glass donor recognition panels in the window. And a ceiling full of stars. The design was dizzying. Isabel said they were all hand-painted on the ceiling, not on a canvas. Argh! But it does give a lovely effect to the room if you don't look at it too long.

 

Of course by the end of the tour I headed to the café for delicious tomato soup (and bread).

and a nice view of the bicycles passing by on their street!

Off, then, to the Anne Frank house. On the walk there I passed a houseboat with a green roof and skylights:

I had never been to the Frank house since the lines were always longer than my patience. Today the lines weren't so long, but the morning guide's gift of a back-door invitation still saved time and I got to start immediately on the path through the house. No photos were allowed, alas. Of course we all know the story, and there were good exhibits that brought it to life. And a museum to spend time in as well. It was almost 5 when I left.

It was time for a Dutch pancake experience, and the one I found the highest ratings on was just down the canal. 

If you can increase the size of the menu you'll see the amazing variety of pancake options. I asked what was most typically Dutch and she said apple and bacon or apple and cheese - combining sweet and savory. 

I got the apple and bacon.

It looked way to big to eat, but I did. It was very light and full of apples. I had no idea what to put on it. The syrup looked more like molasses than maple syrup. And powdered sugar seemed odd.  Across the aisle two Japanese girls got big dessert pancakes. They took selfies and then each other. And then I offered to take one of the two of them together, and did.  Then they started giggling and gesturing with one of their cameras. I finally figured what they wanted - me in the picture with them. So I got the server to accomplish the task.

I have to remember when I smile to push my eyelids up so I don't look like I'm blinking. Oh well.

5:30, and time to head back. I stopped at Starbucks for yogurt, figuring that, with the free tea in my room, would be a smarter breakfast tomorrow. Can you read at the big message on their wall?

And I stopped and chatted with a fellow at the big Apple store - with the feeling of the one in NY with curving plexiglass steps to the second level. 

After a break in the room I decided to do the nighttime canal boat tour. I was in the mood to soak up some more of the city, even if it lacked narrative. 

The boat moved along fairly quickly, so it was almost impossible to take in-focus photos as we passed a number of houseboats with open curtains so we could see the furnishings and the residents relaxing.

The hotel from  the canal

The Rijksmuseum at night

The bikers get their own light system.

I bet you can understand why I put writing up this day off to the end. It was so full and I was so tired at the end of it. According to my Fitbit, I had walked 18,245 steps.

Amsterdam 2a: Wednesday 1.21

Finally, back to the beginning, my first full day in Amsterdam. I was so good. I headed to the health club at 8 and did 30 minutes of tredding kilometers. I just looked at my book, but could tell the other three were fast runners. Then a fancy Marriott breakfast buffet.

One of the triggers for my trip was the renovation (10-years-old) of the great Rijksmuseum, just re-opened last year. And I knew where to go. I chose the Marriott for its 6-minute walking distance, and got there by 9:30, shivering under all my layers as I watch gardeners planting! Of course there was no line. I had pre-purchased my ticket, unfortunately, as I didn't learn about the Museumkaarte (a year-long pass that's a value if you plan to make 4 big museum visits and gets you into many others as well AND lets you skip the ticket-purchase lines). I used up 10 minutes as they tried to figure where I had gotten the ticket. Alas, it turned out I had signed up as a Group. Indeed, groups were beginning to arrive by then.

The restoration has included some astonishing tasks, like creating a 2-level basement under the building, providing for a giant welcoming area, coat check, bathrooms, cafe, shop area to connect the two sides of the building. The now-open space had been filled in with offices, etc. over the years. Those all had to be taken out. Then, in a process I don't understand, they had to pour a floor that could support the building while they dug out for the basements; otherwise water would have flooded in there. Well, I'll get to more building info later. Here's the entry from the street:

The garderobe fellow whispered Go straight to 2; there's nobody there. And I did as directed, knowing I'd find Rembrandt's Night Watch, the most famous painting in the collection. In fact the building was designed in part to show it off. Entered from the front, one goes upstairs to a grand hall and then through heavy glass doors into the Court of Honor, at the far end of which hangs the painting. I'd seen it twice before, in the temporary exhibit space, when it was in a small dark space full of people, with a guard at the entry not to let it get overcrowded. This is quite the opposite. And I had it all to myself for a bit.

Of course no printed image could do justice. I took tours, in time, but there's also a wall-stash of large placards in English (also Dutch) with lots of good info on details in the painting. I predict this kid has a great life ahead!

Right around the corner, in one of the little "chapel" areas leading to the big one, I was surprised to find Rembrandt peacocks! Turns out that in his time peacocks were a delicacy for the well-to-do; the meat was used as filling for pasties. After being slaughtered, the birds were hung upside down to drain their blood, as he had depicted in this pantry.

I had reserved a space in an 11 a.m. Highlights tour, and enjoyed wandering until then. One of the things I found interesting was some new donor recognition windows. Here's one. Names are in the colored bars. More traditional windows in the original building featured names of donors, so I figure this was an updated version. Of course when museuming with Kenneth, the first place we always stopped was a donor recognition wall. There are lots of recognition windows here!

One of the paintings with the most reproduction-opportunities in the shop is Winter Landscape.  

One of the amazing things about the museum is its website. You can download images of any of the treasures into your own "studio" and even work with them creatively (so it says). And the images are terrific - big enough to see details. And there are lots of interesting ones in here. This is another painting where a fine placard identifies and explains many of them. So I hope if you're interested you'll be able to see that when you double-click. I wasn't able to download Night Watch but if you go to the museum website you should be able to see it on your computer in the most phenomenal detail.

I probably loved this because of the blue-and-white china.

This was Petronella Dunois' dolls house in c. 1676 - the height of the city's glory. Wealthy women put these pieces of art together for showing off, not for playing. This is another museum image, so you should be able to see some great detail.

Having eaten the Marriott buffet breakfast this morning, being unwilling to go out in the 30º so early, I was feeling exactly like the 20-year-old Mr. Bicker, below. His father's portrait in conservative clothes was next to his. I loved the label, which ended with Gerard was not awarded as many key administrative positions in Amsterdam [as his father].

A grand research library can be viewed from above.

A highlight of the week began at 11 - a Highlights tour led by a smart, animated, experienced guide. Next time you go, if Evalina (sp?) is doing any tours in English, take them! She said 30 of the 80 rooms have 17th century things. The museum was built in 1885, and the location then was the south end of the city. Beyond that - fields with cows. The new basement is 9' high (deep?). The entry now is on one side of the bikers' path. The Spanish architects had a different plan, but the bikers sued and won!

We started  with a visit to the late Middle Ages to see some prayer nuts. She used an iPad very effectively, as in when she could show us a close-up professional photo of this intricately carved "nut." You can imagine the pride of the person having this hanging from the belt!

 

 My camera shot a different, less complex, nut, but you can see the quality difference.

The museum site has a great photo of it closed. 

She pointed out that great change came in the last half of the 19th century with industrialization and paint coming in tubes, making a gigantic difference in painting. Gabriël was one who favored pictures with color and sunlight, protesting against the gray landscapes common among The Hague school painters:

She used the iPad again to show us what this painting looked like before the artist made it more salable by covering up some of the working class people with others obviously wealthy.

We stopped by a VanGogh self portrait done on cardboard and she talked a bit about him and impressionism. And then we went around to the old front and up the grand stairs with windows recognizing founders of the museum. The wall at their right recognized modern donors to the restoration.

The Great Hall on 2 has had enormous restoration. The walls were painted fashionably white in the '50s. The terrazzo floor with its grand designs had been replaced with wood, and new ones duplicating the originals are now in place. It would have been too complicated to get all the white paint off the original work so the extraordinary detail was re-painted. Window themes were chosen by the architect. Clearly not work by Tiffany! I don't care much for the representation of Rembrandt in the big arts window.

Walls were covered with paintings on canvas reflecting scenes in Dutch history. In the white-walls days those were removed and stored. But they're back. One example:

All the undecorated walls in the museum now are grey - 5 shades, "not 50," she said. They make a fine background for all the rich colors in the art. Next stop was a Hals painting, Portrait of a Couple that's most unusual for the era because they are so close together. She pointed out symbols of loyalty in it. I noticed the peacocks in the garden. [Another museum image; click for details]

On, then, to Night Watch. Almost noon, so it was packed with groups and random tourists. She noted that the militia groups that protected the city were ordinary people and it was important to the members to commission paintings and hang those in public places. Rembrandt found the group portraits boring. He highlighted some individuals to dramatic effect and got lots of complaints of course. He even  added some figures like the allegorical girl with the chicken hanging on her dress. 

She took us to the right where a smaller version hung. The copy shows that trimming was done to hang the original in the Town Hall 70 years later!

In a nearby gallery we stopped to admire a nearly 6' x 10' pen and ink on canvas  [!] drawing of a battle (1657).  

Also in the gallery, a 13' x 15' model of a late 17th century warship:

Evalina also does work at the Anne Frank House. When I asked if it would be smart to go there at 4 (it closes at 7 and I've heard tales of terrible lines), she asked for my name and said she'd call them right away. I should go to the left door. What a lovely gift.

The last object on the tour was the doll house pictured on the day 7 blog. Its outer shell was made of tortoise shell. The porcelain, silk, and paintings inside are remarkable. It cost $18,000 then!!