Day Two in Amsterdam

Sunday, June 11^th- Amsterdam, Netherlands

      We were up by 7 A.M, our systems still not acclimated to the six-hour circadian time shift. Mary had managed to secure two tickets for the Van Gogh Museum at 9:30 A.M. this morning.(20 euros each)  The rest of the days’ time-stamped tickets were sold out. We walked to the nearby museum at 9 A.M. A line of entrance seekers had already formed outside. We sat for a time in a nearby courtyard, enjoying the cool of the morning. Then, we too stood in line awaiting entrance to the fabled museum.

      A glass framed building serves as the entrance portal. You then descend into an entrance foyer like the Louvre. A small café, a cloak room and other facilities are here. Then, we followed the escalator to an experience we will long remember.

     In a first-floor gallery, there is a row of nine self-portraits of Van Gogh. The spiky hair and intense eyes peer out at you. A brief history, in wall boards, acquaints you with his life. Born in 1853 in Zunder, Netherlands, he had lived but a brief 37 years. He was plagued by fits of depression and severe anxiety that kept him from normal employment. His brother, a successful art dealer, paid him a small pension that kept him afloat. Van Gogh would suffer severe bouts of depression that at one point had him institutionalized for treatment. When he and his brother passed on, the widow amassed the considerable collection of Van Gogh’s works and donated them to a foundation that then created this museum to display his works.

         On the second floor, several of his murals, featuring peasants at work in the hay fields, gave you a feeling of perspective for his many works. It was said that he painted a work a day. Two of his more interesting works, “The potato eaters” and “The diggers” are dark pieces, reflecting peasants at work and eating a meal. The captions nearby said that he intentionally painted them in a dark and dusky style to reflect the grimy and dirty conditions in which these people lived. They were fascinating to look upon.

       On the third floor, there are more of his paintings featuring the golden wheat fields. The color of blue sky and golden wheat jump out at you as both restful and reflective. It is shortly after this period that he spent time under treatment in a sanitorium. We stopped for a break at the café and enjoyed some decent cappuccinos while watching the continually increasing crowds drift through the museum.

       A docent had advised us to not miss the “special exhibits” section. We followed here advice and were glad that we did. Many of these wonderfully crafted pieces were from his after-treatment phase. Brilliant greens, bright blues and golden whets jumped out at you. All of these works showed his influence by the French Impressionists. You stand about twelve feet back, at a 45-degree angle and everything snaps into sharp focus. His delicate portrait of “Almond Blossoms” is elegant. Sprinkled among his works was a Degas, a Monet and. Gauguin. This wonderful collection would be headed to the Musee D’Orsee in Paris in a few weeks. We were fortunate to have seen them. By now, the “museum glaze” has over taken us. It was time to move on.

         Just behind the Rijksmuseum, we found a Canal Tour (20 euros each). The Hotel clerk had advised us not to take the hop on hop off tour boats, because most of your time was spend waiting for passengers to “hop on and Off”. It was a good tip. We sat for 75 minutes, riding up and down the network of canals that frame this Venice on the east.

        Three major Canals, Princegracht, Herrengracht and Kaisergracht form concentric half circles, that frame the central area of Amsterdam. They are crisscrossed with smaller canals that connect them all, some 100 kilometers of canals in the network.

         Along the canals, many of the old commercial warehouses, that stored the wealth of Amsterdam from Trading, had been converted into attractive stone-faced residences. The 17^th century architecture was well ordered and of interest to glide by slowly, enjoying the frantic ambience of the narrow lanes around us. The canals connected us with the Amstel River, that flows our into the North Sea. A Grand Music Hall, a smaller art museum connected to the Hermitage in St. Petersburgh, an opera and Ballet facility, the pricey Amstel Hotel and many other grand facades tickled the eyes. Amsterdam is alive and thriving. Much of her fortune had flowed from the Dutch East India Company in settlements like Java in the far east. The wealth had remained here and helped develop modern Amsterdam.

        After our canal tour, we wandered through the parks in the museum district and decided to try an interesting looking bistro for a late lunch. The venerable Kaiser Brasserie was a  good choice. Lobster Bisque, salmon croquets, with a cream sauce and really good bread were accompanied by a bottle of mineral water. It was a reasonable 46 euros. Nearby, we stopped at our friendly A & H grocery store for wine and provisions. Then we sat for a time near the Van Gogh museum and watched the continuous flow of visitors into the facility. The line lasted all afternoon, as thousands of patrons were admitted to this remarkable museum.

      The day was waning and so were we. We hiked back to the Aalder, wrote up my notes and enjoyed a glass of wine. We read our books for a time and drifted off to sleep, with thought of the many things we had seen this day.

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                                             (948 words)

                                        Joseph Xavier Martin