Alone in Amsterdam

My first day in Amsterdam was all meetings, as these things turn out. The chair of the conference is an amazing person, professor and mentor to many, and he took two of us with him to the Troppenmuseum for meetings. Again, while I don't agree with some of their methodology, some of what they are doing is fantastic. The kids' museum, for instance, is just incredible. They've recreated a street scene from Mumbai (it changes every couple of years) and it's completely interactive and wonderful. I was terribly jealous of all the kids learning the dance.

After that, I went with him to meet with someone from Brazil who teaches museology at one of the local universities, about some work they were trying to set up. Then we were joined by another colleague for dinner and a walk around town. The red light district is really something!

The next day, Saturday, I was off, and completely on my own. I finally caught a good night's sleep, then went exploring. My first stop, the Van Gogh Museum.



I loved it! Lots of his work, and some from contemporaries. Just a great afternoon.

From there I wandered to the Diamond Museum, and from there, just on a long walk around the canals and the city. My first stop, the floating flower market. I know--surprise! But how amazing. It's a series of barges anchored to the canal and they sell flowers. Fresh flowers, bulbs, packages, you name it. Sadly, I could take all the photos I wanted, but I couldn't buy the lovely packages of bulbs to bring home, because of agricultural import rules. (Mind you, I'm not a fan of invasive species, so I do understand. It's just that I love tulips so!)




Then I hit a wonderful little shopping area, all small boutiques. I ended up having a lovely dinner in this area. Surprise again, the waiter tried speaking to me in Dutch. (This is a theme on the trip--in every town, they speak to me in whatever language, and I also get asked for directions. Greg says I need to look less comfortable and more confused. I think my features and (lack of) pigment are just too European. The direction thing happens to me all the time in the States too--it's just a city thing, I think.)

On one of the streets (the area is known as the Nine Streets), I stumbled on this fun little place: a toothbrush shop. Yes, all the "figures" riding the Ferris wheel are toothbrushes. :)



On with my walk, as I just couldn't get enough of the lovely tree-lined canal streets. Rarely do you see a place where the canals intersect like this, so of course I had to pull the camera out again.



On my way back to the hotel, I wandered through Vongelpark. It was a big music festival day in Amsterdam, and so I thought I'd catch part of one of the concerts. The park reminded me a lot of Wolf Trap, here in the DC area, and I saw a young cabaret singer. But by this time it was after 9, and I was fading. I wasn't quite certain how far I still had to walk back to the hotel--I guessed close to an hour--and I knew I wanted to do the walk while it was still light. (Another great thing about this part of Europe--it stayed light until about 11. I'm sure the tradeoff comes in October, when it starts to get dark around 3.) On my way back, I couldn't resist snapping this lovely roof, all colored tiles and striking gables, on the street of the hotel.



An amazing wonderful day, finally getting the exercise and wandering I'd been craving. I was out and about walking for nearly 10 hours, and I don't think I stopped except for dinner and that concert. And Greg was on a flight to join me the next morning.