Spring Trip 2013, Days 26 - 27: Amsterdam

I have been in Amsterdam for about a day and a half now, and I’ll be leaving and flying back home in about 14 hours. My initial thought about Amsterdam after my first half day here was that the city is very much like what Portland would be like if it were a few hundred years older and had canals. After today I have to revise that a bit – the Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam is very much like what Portland would be like if it were a few hundred years older and had canals. The rest of Amsterdam is more like what any generic big city would be like if it were a few hundred years old and had canals. The whole of Amsterdam is a cool city, but for me, it is the Jordaan neighborhood that makes it special. I was fortunate to have great weather when I arrived here, and after I had settled in I took a walk around the neighborhood, finding it to be vibrant and yet peaceful, relaxed, and beautiful. In place of the cars that cover most of America’s cities (and much of the rest of Europe), Amsterdam and the Jordaan are filled with bicycles, making what traffic there is in the neighborhood much quieter and less disruptive than what you would find in almost any other similarly-sized city. The neighborhood is draped over a network of canals, most buildings enjoying a waterfront view, with occasional flower-draped bridges and trees providing a lush green canopy overhead. The buildings themselves are all of nearly uniform height – usually three or four stories – and most have the characteristic gables of Amsterdam’s canal houses. Residents of the Jordaan stroll along the canals on sunny afternoons, set up small tables and chairs and hang out on the sidewalks, talk and laugh softly and almost never yell, and seem to just live well. In the Jordaan you do not see much of what gives Amsterdam its somewhat underserved infamy. Yes, you may occasionally encounter a cannabis-selling “coffeeshop,” or detect the odor of marijuana as you walk down the street, but no one is passed out in the gutter, there are no prostitutes in windows, and no one is there to stick a needle in your arm or blow smoke in your face. You do see some of that in other parts of Amsterdam, but not quite so much in the Jordaan.

A canal in the Jordaan neighborhood

The street in the Jordaan that my hostel was on

Like Bruges before it, my visit to Amsterdam was going to be relatively short, just a day and a half, and so I had a fairly full slate of sights planned for the time I had available. I also had to account for time to get myself ready to fly home (and also to finish up my blog, because posting from home as if I were still on the road seemed like it would be disingenuous). I planned on doing self-guided walking tours of the Jordaan neighborhood and of Amsterdam’s old city, along with visits to the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum. As previously mentioned, I was very lucky to have perfectly sunny and warm weather on my arrival, and the Anne Frank House had long hours on that night (Saturday, open until 10:00 pm), so I was able to get a fair chunk of my sightseeing done on the day I arrived. 

The Anne Frank House was an excellent sight, giving you the chance to actually walk through the very same rooms that Anne Frank and seven other Jews hid in for two years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. I cannot say enough how well and thoughtfully done the Anne Frank House is. You go from room to room, with pictures and videos and excellent signage which explains the progression of events and which really immerse you in the experience that the Frank family endured for those two years. You get to walk through all of the rooms that the Frank family lived in for those two years, including Anne’s bedroom, and the connection that you feel to real history there is remarkable. It’s the kind of thing that you can only experience in Europe. The most moving part for me was the hash marks on one wall showing the growth of Anne and her sister. From start to finish, I estimated that Anne grew about six inches, and for some reason that sight more than anything else made the whole thing real for me. You learn that all of the Frank family except for Anne’s father Otto eventually died in the Holocaust. At the end of the museum there is an exhibit that I think very poignantly punctuates the experience. You enter a room with a whole bunch of posts that have “Yes” or “No” buttons on them and video screens on the walls. The video screens display short videos explaining different civil rights conflicts and dilemmas from the real world (such as, should freedom of speech and expression include the freedom to display emblems of hate, such as Nazi swastikas? etc), and after each video the group in the room is invited to vote their opinions on the question posed. I observed that in every case, the group was divided. The lesson is that those questions, just like many which surrounded the rise of Nazism and the persecution of Jews leading up to and during World War II, are not and will never be easy ones to answer. Like I mentioned in my Oradour-sur-Glane post, it is easy in retrospect to say that the world could have done more, should have done more, but the reality is and was that the considerations involved were more complex than that. Yes, unequivocally, the Holocaust and World War II were absolute tragedies. But the real lesson of sights like Oradour, or the Anne Frank House, or Normandy, or the concentration camps in Germany (all of which I have written about in this blog), is that the questions and problems which led to each are difficult and complex ones that, unfortunately, we sometimes solve through violence and persecution. When I say “we” I refer to humankind in general, which all of us are a part of and which is a fact we must keep in mind in order to avoid tragedies like those from occurring again.

After the Anne Frank House I walked around the Jordaan a bit more, got some ice cream (side note: “Pepper Mango” on Rozengracht in Amsteram, best ice cream ever?), and then turned in for the night. The place I’m staying at in Amsterdam is another hostel called Shelter Jordaan. It is a Christian hostel, a trait that I have come to appreciate immensely. Unlike the zoo I stayed at in Barcelona, this place is nice and quiet and mellow. It is pretty small which also helps keep things quiet, and the staff have been universally kind and friendly. They have a strict no alcohol, no drugs policy, which in a place like Amsterdam, where many young visitors are looking for a party, is another point in its favor for me. Aside from all of that it is very much like any other hostel – clean, affordable, and the best-value lodging in town. I won’t deny that I vastly prefer the comfort and privacy of my own room, but if I’m ever traveling solo again I think I will fit hostels in where they make sense. As a solo traveler it is hard to justify spending $100 per night at a budget hotel when I could spend $30 at a hostel.

There was a beach volleyball tournament going on at Dam Square

An Amsterdam canal bridge characteristically crowded with bicycles

A bicycle parking structure near the train station in Amsterdam - I estimated at least several hundred bikes

While I’m off topic I’d like to talk a bit about Dutch language and culture. The Netherlands and Belgium have been the easiest countries language-wise that I have ever traveled in. I never encountered anyone who did not speak English, and relatively few who were not fluent or nearly so. In fact at one point I observed a group of young Dutch people conversing interchangeably in Dutch and English, switching back and forth with perfect fluidity. The complete lack of a language barrier certainly makes travel in Belgium and the Netherlands easier, but perhaps a bit less interesting for those who enjoy learning and communicating in the local language. One could of course try their hand at Flemish or Dutch if they wanted to, but the ease and convenience of communicating in one’s native language can be powerfully attractive. Another thing about language that I noticed is that Dutch is very similar to English. I have read before that Dutch is the most closely-related language to English, and I definitely observed that close relation as I read Dutch signs and heard it being spoken. With a little bit of knowledge of other mutually-related languages (especially German) and some experience with languages in general, it was even possible sometimes to translate Dutch into English unaided. When I heard Dutch being spoken, especially when it was too faint to make out individual words, I often couldn’t tell whether it was Dutch or English at all, whereas with other languages you can usually tell. Even when I could hear it clearly, the similarity to English was apparent. In bits and pieces it sounded similar, enough that I felt like could almost make out what was being said, but not quite.

In other ways, however, Dutch and American culture are radically different, something that I also observed in Amsterdam. One well-known way in which that is the case is Amsterdam’s tolerant stance on drugs. In Amsterdam it is legal to possess and consume marijuana and some other “soft” drugs, and to sell them in designated, licensed establishments. I saw cannabis seeds for sale at the flower market, “magic mushrooms” advertised in a shop window, and very frequently encountered the odor of marijuana and/or marijuana smoke. I saw young people lighting joints at a bus stop, stepped in a puddle of vomit on the sidewalk one morning, and more than once observed people who were clearly under the influence of something much more mind-altering than alcohol or marijuana. At the same time, young people in the Netherlands do not have their lives so easily ruined by the consequences of youthful experimentation, violent crime is substantially lower, and Dutch society does not bear the cost of fighting what seems like a losing battle as ours does. Which way is better? That is no easy question to answer. But in Amsterdam I observed a different way of confronting the challenges posed by drugs to a free society, and it seems to work for the Dutch.

One less controversial way in which Dutch culture is different from ours - mail slots have stickers like these that say what types of mail (junk mail, etc) are accepted

Another societal challenge that the Dutch confront in a very different way is prostitution. I decided that for the sake of getting a full and genuine Amsterdam experience, I should take a walk through the Red Light District. I did so on my last night in Amsterdam, and even though I knew I would find it, I was still somewhat shocked when I saw the first prostitute standing in a window. That first one was right next to Amsterdam’s Old Church and within a few blocks of a daycare center, something Americans would consider absolutely unthinkable. There were families with young children walking not far away, homes nearby, and people simply going about their daily lives as if nothing was out of the ordinary. And for them, nothing was. Everything is out in the open, keeping the prostitutes and bystanders safe, making regulation easier, and ensuring that customers are on their best behavior. The prostitutes are self-employed and (generally) independent, helping to keep the involvement of drugs, organized crime, and exploitation at bay (although unfortunately not entirely, as I have read). Again, this is all very different from how we do things in America, and I’m not saying that either way is better or worse. But in Amsterdam you get a unique opportunity to see a different way, and I am glad that I took the opportunity to observe it. I don’t know that I’m ready for my own society to start emulating the ways of the Dutch, but it was invaluable to be able to broaden my horizons and see life and the world in a much different way than what I am used to.

The Anne Frank House (it's about in the middle of the block facing the canal) and the Westerkerk Cathedral - no red lights here

Another of Amsterdam's many picturesque canals

Dam Square - the Red Light District is right around the corner

While we talk about these differences between Dutch and American culture largely because they are hot-button issues in our own moral discourse, the fact is that Amsterdam and Dutch culture are so much more than, so much bigger and better than, all of that. Visiting Amsterdam, walking its streets and talking to its people, you hardly notice any of it. Like I said, no one is there to press a bong into your hands or lurk in the shadows and stick a needle in your arm. You don’t see prostitutes in every window (in fact, you generally don’t see them at all unless you go looking for them). Amsterdam is like any vibrant, atmospheric city, and getting hung up on the differences would be a real shame, because they really aren’t all that important or noticeable. Above all I think that in Amsterdam and in the broader Dutch culture people have decided not that it is okay to use drugs and to buy or sell sex, but rather that it is not the place of society to tell free people that they cannot do those things as long as no one else gets hurt. Beyond that, Amsterdam and the Netherlands are not much different from the rest of Europe. Amsterdam is simply a wonderful place to visit, and I hope that its different approaches to life would not dissuade anyone from visiting.

Some nice examples of Amsterdam's characteristic gabled canal houses

A neat shopping mall I found in Amsterdam

So that’s probably enough sociological rambling for one post, although I don’t have a whole lot more to say about Amsterdam. On my second day there I rounded out my sightseeing itinerary by visiting the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum and then taking my aforementioned walk through the Red Light District. I loved the contents of both museums, although I found that the layout and entrance signage at the Rijksmuseum, which has even been recently renovated, was terrible. But the art at the Rijksmuseum, starring great Dutch artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer, was great. The work of the “Dutch Masters,” as those and other great artists of the “Golden Age” of the Netherlands, roughly the 17^th century, are called, is all featured in a central wing of the Rijksmuseum. The cool thing about it is that it is some of the earliest artwork in Europe to prominently portray common people in their daily lives, and so you get a good idea in the Rijksmuseum of what people and daily life in 17^th century Holland looked like. The Van Gogh Museum was at least equally intriguing, if not more so, for it focuses on just one great artist and shows and explains the progression of his life and artistry from beginning to end. I had never fully appreciated what a talented artist Vincent Van Gogh was until I saw his work in person. I will admit that sometimes, especially with more modern art, it can be difficult to tell with the untrained eye what separates great art from the mediocre. But Van Gogh is one of those artists who, when you see one of his really great canvases, you can immediately tell that it is truly special.

I think that about wraps up everything I wanted to say about Amsterdam, which brings me to the end of my trip. I began writing this post in Amsterdam, but I am finishing it sitting on the floor in the Philadelphia Airport. I am glad to be back in my home country, although in typical fashion, TSA agents here in Philadelphia didn’t let me get too warm and fuzzy. In immediate retrospect, I feel like I can honestly say that I’ve just wrapped up the best trip I’ve been on yet. More than on any previous trip, I already feel eager to go back…or maybe to broaden my horizons and explore other parts of the world. I’m not sure where I’ll go next, but one thing I can guarantee is that I will go somewhere. Travel is in my bones, and I’m going to keep going until I can’t anymore. I just pray that the day when I can’t keep exploring the world is a long way off yet.

Thank you all, anyone who has read this blog, for doing so. I know my audience isn’t huge, but I am glad to be able to share and talk about my travels with other people. This will be the last post of my Spring 2013 trip. I don’t know when my next trip will be, but knowing me, it will probably be sooner rather than later.