Tourist in my own town
Tags:amsterdam photosMy parents visited me from the US over this past week to celebrate Christmas and spend some quality time together. I was apprehensive before they arrived, as questions raced through my mind: What can we do to fill up a week? Will I be a competent tour guide? How do they even feel about soft drugs? Armed with my Lonely Planet Amsterdam tour book, I greeted them at Schiphol airport & whisked them away to cheerful Amsterdam.
Thankfully, my studies have worked out such that I don’t have a course during December, so we had six unadulterated days of sightseeing. I tried to avoid typically touristy activities, eschewing canal boats for walking tours of the city. We rented bicycles and cycled to Amstel Park so my dad could birdwatch. (By the way, Amstel Park, which I hadn’t yet visited, is a beautiful small park. They have a miniature golf course there, called Midget Golf, which I think would make for a gezellig summer afternoon.) We even made it down to my dormitory in Uilenstede — in Amstelveen — so I could prepare a home-cooked dinner.
We enjoyed the festive Christmas spirit that overtakes Amsterdam this time of year: the blissful charm of a bruin café on a cold winter’s night, the jubilant lighting from Dam Square to the Nine Streets, the lively bustle of merry souls throughout the city… The weather was cold and dry, sometimes even sunny, and we were high-spirited and lighthearted.
We picked up Museumkaarten (Museumcards) to get free admission to most of the museums in Amsterdam. While the I Amsterdam card is great for short trips to the city, I expected we’d be seeing enough museums to make the €40 Museumkaart (adult price) worthwhile. I’ll quickly recap the museums we visited, with how long we spent at each:
- Van Gogh Museum - what a wonderful museum! I had no problem spending several hours there, earnestly involved in van Gogh’s life and work, even though I had already been there before. Seeing the whole thing at one time is overwhelming, particularly as we did the temporary exhibit (Barcelona) and the permanent collection in the same visit. 4 hours
- Museum Het Rembrandthuis (Rembrandt House Museum) - I like this museum. I could sit for hours, absorbed, affected, and challenged by his masterful prints. There’s a fascinating hourly demonstration of a replica of a 17th-century printing press. Disappointingly, the museum only has one real Rembrandt painting; nearly all the others are by his pupils. 2 hours
- Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum) - While there were some nice works of art, particularly by Brodsky, the museum wasn’t worth the surcharge of €3 with the museumkaart. I am fond of the modern vibe of the museum café, though. I say skip it unless you’re connected to the Jewish religion. 1 hour
- Hermitage Amsterdam - a terrific small museum tucked over by Waterlooplein that many people miss or skip over. The Art Nouveau exhibit was positively lovely. 1,5 hours
- Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Amsterdam Historical Museum) - I had toured the museum during the ESN Introduction Days, and I enjoyed the hour-long tour that was well worth it, but my parents and I opted to see it on our own. I was impressed with the sheer volume of stuff they have, particularly from excavations at Waterlooplein & other areas, but the information was occasionally a little dry. 2 hours, but you could easily spend longer
- FOAM (Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam) - The exhibits were hit-or-miss, but there were plenty of enchanting photographs and a few real gems. Open late on Thursday and Friday nights, which I heartily welcome. 2 hours
- Anne Frank Huis - Walking through the Anne Frank House, I felt hurried by the enormous crowd, cramped by the tiny space, and depressed at the tragedy of the Holocaust. Worth the €7,50 admission? I wouldn’t say so; at least, I plan never to go back. I was left with the feeling that I would have enjoyed the museum much more if I had read her diary first. <1 hour
- Rijksmuseum, Philips Wing - I don’t know the difference between this wing of the museum and the rest of the Rijksmuseum, which is closed until 2009, but the real museum must be huge. This wing is open until 6pm, which was a nice touch while we were engrossed in works by the Dutch masters. 3 hours
- Stedelijk Museum CS - while it’s a little out of the way on foot, the Andy Warhol exhibit right now is great. It’s too bad that the real Stedelijk is closed until 2009, but the Post-CS location is a decent substitute, and close to some other museums possibly of interest. 1 hour
Sure, Amsterdam is a small city, but it has a ton to offer… more than enough to fill up a busy week. We had no problem finding stuff to do, I was an enthusiastic tour guide, and it turns out that my parents are unconcerned by drugs. I wish I could spend my entire life having the same fantastic time I spent with my parents this past week, viewing art, enjoying beautiful sights, and eating dinner at Hap-HMM and places at the Spui. I love this place.
Racism in Dutch culture: The case of Zwarte Piet (Sinter Klaas’s little helper)
Tags:amsterdam christmas culture shock dutch culture
Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) is Sinter Klaas’s (Santa Claus) helper, and he plays a large role in the feast of Sinter Klaas, which is held every year on December 5. Native Dutch people don blackface & throw out pepernoten to eager children. When I first learned of this costumed practice, it seemed to my American sensibilities to be the most racist thing ever — at least find some black people, rather than dress up in blackface! — but, in reality, I was suffering one of my first real cases of culture shock here in Amsterdam. I was mistaken, as some of my Dutch friends vehemently pointed out to me. This old Dutch tradition has completely lost any vestige of discrimination and is celebrated for what it is: an old tradition. See this great article on Zwarte Piet at Expatica.com for details of the annual controversy.
The best explanation for why Zwarte Piet is not racist, in my opinion, is that he’s the one who actually goes down the chimneys & so he gets really dirty.
How to teach your dog not to bark, the Dutch way
Tags:amsterdam petsThe following was a conversation on the tram between my mom and a forty-year-old woman with a small terrier:
MOM: “Aww, what a cute dog! The dogs here are so well-behaved! They walk around without leashes, and they never bark.”
WOMAN: “Well, with so many floors in the apartments, they can’t bark.”
MOM: “Of course, but our dog would be barking its head off. How do you teach them such good manners?”
WOMAN: “We say ‘Don’t bark.’”
MOM: “Really? That’s it?”
WOMAN: “Well, we say it in Dutch…”
So there you have it: Dutch dogs are intellectual enough to realize that barking is not part of a civilized, modern society. Therefore, they stop barking when asked politely. hahaha