I Amsterdam in the morning with very few people around
Lucky enough to get a picture of me without tons of other people
So yesterday was Van Gogh day. I'll not lie--I was super excited. I've always quite liked Van Gogh's work, and then when I saw the Doctor Who episode "Vincent and the Doctor" I was hooked. I'm even planning a trip to Arles this year so that I can go explore the village where he painted some of my favorite works of art. Anyway, Amsterdam's Van Gogh museum houses the largest collection of Van Gogh works in the world, so I was beyond excited to explore it.
I got there right when it opened and spent about 2.5 hours wandering around. They actually chronicled his career--showing where he started as an artist, his mentors, when/why his style changed throughout his career. It was absolutely incredible. I've always thought that Van Gogh just had a natural talent and affinity for painting. While I still think that even his earliest sketches were amazing, it turns out he studied A LOT and studied hard to get become the artist he was. And even then, he was still convinced that he was terrible at it (but kept going anyway).
My favorite
Van Gogh's signature
Reproduction on the wall
One of my favorite paintings -- skull with a lit cigarette
They even have the new painting of Van Gogh's that was just discovered....like this summer, I think? Super recent. They also had a lot of information on the research that has been done regarding Van Gogh's work. Van Gogh, since he was pretty poor during his lifetime, reused canvases--sometimes he painted over works he had painted, sometimes he painted on the back of canvases. Basically, art research is really awesome and incredible and reveals a lot about the artist.
The new painting
After the Van Gogh museum, I headed over to the Old Church in the red light district. No, this isn't awkward irony--the red light district popped up around the church to house the clergymen's mistresses. Yay religion. In any case, the architecture of the church was different than anything I've seen in France, and so it was really interesting and beautiful to look at. Also, they had proverbs written in some of the choral stalls and one of the proverbs (that today would be translated to "Money doesn't grow on trees") is "I can't pull money out of my arse". In a church. Sometimes, I love Holland. Above the door where people would enter to get their marriage licenses, they wrote "Marry in haste, repent at leisure" which I also thought was kind of funny.
The Old Church
The underside of the pipe organ
Inside the old church
After the Old Church, I headed over to the hidden Catholic church "Our Lord in the Attic". Basically, at one point the protestants got sick of the Catholics and banned Catholics from practicing their faith in public (bye bye churches). So the Catholics formed secret churches in basements and attics so that they could gather to worship. Basically, this really rich merchant turned his attic into a really elaborate (if rather small) church. Complete with pipe organ. How's that for inconspicuous? All-in-all it was rather pretty, but I can never help but think that however much money was put into decorating the church (build a church, fine, but do you really need marble and gold everywhere??) could have been put to better use doing, you know, what Christian people are supposed to do (like...I don't know...help people...)
There were some pretty strong winds during the night, and thus lots of fallen trees
This morning I got a bit of a lazy start before heading over to the Holocaust Memorial which was pretty small (and mostly all in Dutch--so difficult to understand) but was also very moving. It's housed in what used to be a theatre, which was then repurposed by the Nazis during WWII to house Jewish people from Amsterdam before they were taken to concentration and extermination camps.
Then I headed over to the botanical garden which, though it wasn't in bloom, was still very lovely. (It was definitely nice to be in some green space after all this city.) So I spent a while just roaming around in there before heading back over to the West Church near Anne Frank's house since I had forgotten to get pictures from the outside when I was there the other day.
Flower in the desert greenhouse
Sad tree in the garden
Pond in the botanical garden
Anne Frank statue
The West Church
The door to Anne Frank's House
Pale GPOY
Near the Anne Frank House, I also saw this guy on the canals playing a little concert.
After lunch, I headed over to the cat museum (nope, not joking) which houses some paintings by Picasso and Rembrandt and everything is cat themed. There are cat statues, cat paintings, cat pinball, big cats, little cats, black cats, ginger cats, and ACTUAL CATS. I almost died when I saw this adorable little fluffball asleep on the couch. Half my time spent in that museum was spent sitting next to the kitten and petting it. (Hey, I miss my cats a lot, okay?)
This lovely fluffy little furball kept me company for a while
Puss-in-Boots statue
Kitten climbing the mirror
When I finally saw what was making those people panic, I laughed really loud
Poffertjes (tiny little pancakes) with bananas, chocolate, and whipped cream
I just really like these shutters
While walking around, I ran into another canal concert.
Tomorrow I head over to Brussels for the day before making my way to Antwerp. I'm so excited to see what Belgium has to offer!! As per previously, I'll update this post with pictures when I get home this weekend.
So in the past couple weeks, I have FINALLY gotten my schedule worked out at the middle school (I think...) so I'll be starting my classes there after break. My classes at the high school are going okay, but I think I'm going to have to try to use a reward system (I'm going to try a reward system before using punishment) to try to get the kids to speak more in English and less in French. Right before break, I got one of the classes (who has been studying US segregation/civil rights) to do some roleplaying, which they all seemed to enjoy, so I'm also going to focus on using more active games, rather than just simple conversation.
Right before break, I also took a mini day-trip to Bayonne (mostly to buy a couple things for some friends back home...). While in Bayonne, I also found an AMAZING Mexican restaurant (YES) and a couple really cool architectural things. Mostly, the new game I play in cities is "Spot the Gothic Towers From Afar and Then Go Try To Find Them". I noticed the Gothic spires from the train before even pulling into Bayonne and I knew I had to find that building. First, I went to the shop that sells French Magic cards (you're welcome, Ethan & Sean! xD) since I had directions from the train station to the shop (and no map). From there, I worked my way toward the spires. On the way I found Taco, Taco (the Mexican restaurant). Bayonne is really a lovely city, and I'm going to have to head back at some point to explore it further.
The Cathedral in Bayonne
Close up of the gothic towers I spent the day chasing
The towers from afar
October 19th marked the start of our very first vacation! (I know, I *just* started working...) The first week of vacation was, let's face it, rather unremarkable. I caught a cold just before break from, well, everyone at school. (Yes, pretty much every single professor was sick. I did not escape unharmed.) So the first weekend I mostly spent curled up in my bed sipping tea and watching TV, utterly dependent on cold medicine and producing more mucus than I thought was possible. After a couple days I was feeling better, but still lazy. Add onto that fact that while, yes, I have 2 weeks of vacation, travel prices SKYROCKET during those two weeks. Case-in-point, I was hoping to go to Arles. A train ticket to go to Arles in November (not during the break), leaving on a Saturday, coming back Monday, will cost about 70 euro round trip (direct train--5ish hours each way); a ticket for last week to Arles: 120euro one way (not direct, about 8 hours one way). Yeah. So, not only was I really not quite in the mood to travel, I also was not about to fork out exorbitant amounts of money to go places that I can feasibly see cheaper on a weekend trip. So I spent a week sleeping and getting addicted to Once Upon A Time. (Yeah, an American TV show....I really should start watching some French TV at least.)
Fast forward to Friday. Now, Thursday night I barely got any sleep (partially due to nerves/excitement, partially due to wanting to finish the first season of OUaT), but was still up bright and early to head over to Bordeaux. I spent about a half a day there (more like a couple hours, really), and mostly I just walked around (and got VERY lost, even with a map). I've lost track of how many churches I saw (3...I think), but that's mostly what I did--churched it up. And there's no more perfect place for churches than Bordeaux.
Also, in keeping with tradition, I climbed a bell tower. Let me just say: going up is SO much easier than coming down (no matter what your legs might scream at you on the way up). The bell tower was beautiful, and offered excellent views of the city (even though it was pretty cloudy), but that staircase was treacherous. Not only were the stairs extra worn in the middle, they were also super narrow and pretty steep. Going up wasn't too much of a problem (though I worried about tumbling backwards), but coming down was a nightmare. As you are all probably well aware, I am *terrified* of heights. Staring down a seemingly endless staircase is horrible. At one point, there was a disconnect between my eyes, brain and legs. My eyes were like, "ALERT ALERT THERE ARE NO MORE STAIRS AT ALL!" (because all the stairs just kind of blended together in the lighting); my brain was like, "There has to be stairs here!" and my leg just kind of hung, tensed, in midair for a good half a minute. By the time I got to the bottom, I was shaking from head to toe. I'm pretty sure it was worse than Notre Dame (and Notre Dame's staircase is pretty scary).
I think this was the old entrance to the city
Found this lovely little street while wandering around
Not sure what this is, but it is gorgeous (even surrounded by construction)
Possibly another city gate? No idea, but it is beautiful
Didn't even realize this cathedral was a UNESCO site
View from the top of the bell tower
The church from the bell tower
GPOY
Friday night I boarded a bus in Bordeaux and started on the 17 hour journey from Bordeaux to Amsterdam. All I will say is: 1. Never again (maybe) and 2. Next time, I'm bringing snacks.
Saturday morning when we arrived, after fitful sleep on the bus, I dropped my bag off at the hostel and headed back out to take a walking tour of Amsterdam. (Trust me, I would've liked to just gone upstairs and taken a nice, long nap, but check in wasn't for another 3 hours.) On the way to the meeting point of the walking tour, I found a bagpiper playing on the street corner. I stopped and listened for about 5 minutes and, upon learning that my grandfather had played the bagpipes, he played me "For the Love of a Princess" (from Braveheart). Suffice it to say, I love bagpipes (I seriously almost started running when I heard them down the street).
This bagpiper liked to pose
The walking tour was pretty awesome (as always--thanks Sandeman's New Europe Tours!) and, to top it off, it was free! (Except not, because I always feel bad not giving a tip at the end. In theory, it's free though.) I learned a lot about the history of Amsterdam, and even some inadvertent history of New York: technically, it's New New York. (Whovians, I'm counting on you!) The Dutch settled New York (under the name "New Amsterdam"), then the British captured it (named it "New York"), the Dutch captured it back (renaming it "New Orange" after the Royal family), and then the British took it once and for all (renaming it again "New York"). So yeah, technically it's NEW New York.
Fancy houses
The canals
Swans!
Gorgeous architecture
The Royal Palace
Instead of addresses, people used to put these on their houses as identifiers
The Secret Garden
Street Art
The narrowest house in the world (less than 2 meters wide)
View of the West Church from the canal cruise
The film museum
Cute bridge
Someone's bike apparently got stolen :(
After the walking tour, I took a cruise on the canals of Amsterdam. Most of the commentary was a rehash of what I had just learned on the walking tour, but it afforded a different perspective on the city, and I got to see some things I hadn't while walking.
Wonderful local beer
Translation: "Dog in the gutter" (Amsterdam, what're you doing???)
First impression of Amsterdam: TRAFFIC. No seriously. I'm pretty sure there is EVERY type of traffic here: cars, buses, taxis, trams, motorcycles, bicycles, bike taxis, bike limos (yes, an actual thing), horse-drawn carriages, and of course, pedestrians. There are SO MANY lanes of traffic. And, here in Amsterdam, the bicyclists ride their bikes with the same attitudes American drivers have while driving ("I'm the only person on the road; or at least the only one who matters") and it is slightly terrifying. We were advised by the tour guide: "When you hear the bell, run like hell". Apt and necessary advice when dealing with Dutch bikers. Crossing the street has never felt MORE like a game of frogger. Pretty sure I'd be better off trying to cross the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Seriously: Bike Limo (WHAT?)
Today I hit up a few museums: the Tulip Museum, the Cheese Museum, the Canal Museum, and the Anne Frank House. The Tulip and Cheese Museums were both extremely small. I ended up buying some tulip bulbs for back home, and trying a bunch of cheese (and *really* having to talk myself out of buying a wheel or two). The Canal Museum was an audio guided tour that started out pretty cool, and then just got a little weird/pointless. But the first half was extremely interesting. The Anne Frank House was by far the gem of the day, and totally worth waiting in line for an hour or so in the cold. (Luckily, I met a nice couple from Texas--talking helped pass the time.) You actually get to walk into the house where Anne and her family hid, climb into the attic and see the two floors that they occupied. I guess I'm going to have to go back and read her diary now; it was just incredible to stand where they stood and see the pictures she posted on her wall.
Display at the Tulip Museum
Pretend endless field of tulips
Leaning houses
First room in the canal house museum
The floating flower market
Random garden I found
Rembrandt statue
I have no idea what these ladybugs are, but I found them everywhere
Amsterdam, what're you doing?! (Note: those legs belong to a mannequin, not a prostitute.)
I've got two more days in Amsterdam (Van Gogh Museum, here I come!), and then I head over to Belgium to spend a little time in Brussels and a few days in Antwerp before (thankfully) taking the train home.
