Amsterdam - Day 4

Day 4, our last day in Amsterdam. Again, Clemencia, my wife,  and I started at Amsterdam Central Station. We took number 14 tram to the area where there are a number of museums, near Museumplein.

We visited Van Gogh Museum in the late morning for two hours. Vincent Van Gogh, who was a post-impressionist painter, influenced the art world because of his work which was exceptional in the way he used beauty, emotion, expression and colour. Visiting this museum was one of the highlights of our visit. Reading about his life and the challenges he went through, for example, leaving school at the age of 15 and going to work, painful relationship with women, financial difficulties, etc led him to find an outlet through his art. Van Gogh suffered from mental illness and at the end took his own life. He was only 37. This quotation, in some ways, sums up his life.

“As for me, I am rather often uneasy in my mind, because I think that my life has not been calm enough; all those bitter disappointments, adversities, changes keep me from developing fully and naturally in my artistic career.”

—Vincent van Gogh

Although van Gogh's paintings were sold at high prices, and he was successful, he never enjoyed his fame and financial success while he was alive.

Flash photography was not allowed at the museum. I took some pictures with my smart phone. The quality isn’t particularly good! Most of the paintings below were done in the last year of Van Gogh's life, many from the window of the hospital where he was getting treatment for his mental health.

Disappointing Falafels!

Not recommended!

After a few hours at the museum, we went for a vegetarian lunch. We had a Falafel Wrap. I have to say it was disappointing. The presentation was terrible. The table on which our lunch was served was on a slant, the chairs were uncomfortable. On top of this, the chilli sauce was salty! The top of this chilli sauce bottle came out and I ended up with half a bottle of red sauce on my hand! I ran to the toilet and realised that the water tap was wobbly. The tap wouldn't stay in the basin. Somehow I managed to wash my hands. The paper towel dispenser was empty. My assessment of this place: bad food, nil ambience, bad service. Don't go there!

After lunch, we visited STEDELIJK Museum of Modern Art and Design. Wonderful experience for 1.5 hours. A good mixture of art and design display. We could have very easily spent 5 + hours there. Here are some photos, again, taken by my smart phone:

The Fiddler by Marc Chagall

Odalisque by Henri Matisse

Cityscape Roofs by Olga Vladimirovna Rosanova

Photographs by Paul Schuitema

Seated woman with fish hat by Pablo Picasso

Photograph by Claud Raymond-Dityvon

Street Photography

Mercury, the God of commerce, and messenger of gods by
 Ferdinand Leenholf, in Bronze

Advice to Space VIII by Eduardo Chillida,
in steel

 Steel drummer - one man band. Amazing sound!

 Pride Amsterdam Festival - A huge party in Amsterdam

And finally...

We are now back in Isle of Skye after four fantastic days in Amsterdam. Our highlights of this wonderful city:

- Amazing freedom reflected by most Dutch people and those who live in Amsterdam. People know how to enjoy life, and they are very welcoming.

- The art scene...Van Gogh Museum, STEDELIJK Museum of Modern Art and Design, Rembrandt House.

- Dutch beer and Vegetarian food in most restaurants.

- The amazing hospitality of our airbnb host, Hanney, in Hilversum.

- Observing the cyclists, street parties, riding on trams, and canals....there are so many!

Harish Davda - harish.davda@hotmail.co.uk

Amsterdam - Day 3

We returned to Amsterdam Central from Hilversum at about 11:00 am this morning. It was again a gloriously sunny day.

Amsterdam Central is a great place to start the day. This view caught my eye...

Amsterdam Central, coming our of it where shops are.

Two unexpected things happened before this, as they do, particularly to me:

As we were coming down some steps, I felt water on both by legs (I was wearing shorts!). A dog was following us, and I thought that it urinated on my legs while I was walking! Before I began to get angry, I saw the dog and it's owner walking very fast in front of us. Water/some liquid was still falling on my legs. I then realised that Clemencia's bottled water had burst in the rucksack I was carrying on my back. It was most annoying, but I was grateful that it wasn't a dog's urine. We dried the rucksack, I got dried up and we moved on.

As we moved on and when I wanted to take the above picture with my Canon camera, it refused to function. I had forgotten the SD card on my laptop when I was working on my last blog. To cut the story short, after half hour, we found a shop and bought an SD card at a tourist (high) price!

Andreas and Katija

While we were walking to a tram stop, I got attracted to two fold up bikes. A German couple were sitting behind the bikes. I went near the bikes, they gave me a smile, and we chatted about the bikes for few minutes. The wonderful couple, Andreas and Katja, agreed to be photograped. Katja also commented that they had bought the bikes from her brother, based in Frankfurt (I think he sells bikes!) and this would be good to be included in the blog. Here it is. Andreas and Katja, see you in Isle of Skye!

Lunch with a view!

After an hour, we reached Rembrandt House. Before going to this exclusive place to examine some exiting records, we  stopped by a Belgian restaurant and had our lunch of Veggie Burger and chrispy potato wedges garnished with coriander. Yummy! The Belgian beer was excellent and quenched our thirst. By this time, the temperature was 30degC!

We had sat outside and enjoyed the view over a canal.

About to tuck in, in our Veggie Burger, with Clemencia

Rembrandt house was wonderfully exhibited.

Here is some of his work. Unfortunately, my Canon camera didn't work without a flash. Flash photography is not allowed in the house. I had to use my Samsung smart phone.

I have not given the name of each painting or etching in here as it would take a long time in this blog. Perhaps one day, Clemencia and I will write a longer piece with background of some of Rambrandt's work we enjoyed seeing.

There is an interesting story behind this. It was worked on by R's student
etc. After a long time, it was found to be authentic!

Great story about this woman and her husband!

Bill from San Francisco

We took longer than we had planned to stay at Rembrandt House. We then went for coffee and met Bill who had just arrived in Amsterdam. We had an interesting conversation. He agreed to be photographed and included in this blog. He had taken the summer off before taking on a new job. I think everybody should do this....



After coffee, we went for a long walk by the canal. We came across a park and met Stela and her dog Doti who was cooling in the water around a monument...The heat was too much for the poor dog. When he came out of the water, he started to shake the water off, near my legs. Another funny incident via a dog :-) All positive!

Let me finish by quoting Rembrandt...

Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know.

Life etches itself on to our faces as we grow older, showing our violence, excesses or kindness.

Without atmosphere a painting is nothing.

Harish Davda

harish.davda@hotmail.co.uk

4 August 2018