June 2, 2012
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(written on 14 February 2013)
"I sure know how to have a good time with my guests!" I said to Caryn when she was over at my place just before she, Ian, Colin, Andy and I went out for food and a film. And even though it had indeed been a nice day thus far, listing the things we'd been doing didn't really make for pleasant listening.
The weather was nice enough so we left the house walking towards the Plantage neighbourhood, which is where the Amsterdam zoo, the Botanic gardens and some wonderful buildings are. Our intention was to go to the Tropenmuseum, museum of the Tropics, formerly called the Colonial Museum. Walking there takes you past the Hollandse Schouwburg, the former theatre that was turned into an assembly place by the nazis in World War II from where many Jewish people were transported to Central Station, from there to the transit camps in the east of the country and then on to the concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Austria. After the war, the Hollandsche Schouwburg was turned into the memorial that it is to this day, a place with a small exhibition space and a garden (the former stalls of the theatre) to reflect. It's a very impressive site.
The Tropenmuseum is housed in a wonderful building and its collection focuses mainly on those countries that were once ruled by the Netherlands. It's really quite depressing to see how the Dutch controlled vast countries such as present day Indonesia with force and a horrible attitude towards the native people whose countries we had invaded. It's definitely not something to be proud of. But it's very good to know about, and I always enjoy the sanity check I get from seeing how my ancestors in this country misbehaved in countries abroad.
We left the Tropenmuseum via the adjacent Oosterpark where we had a look at the National Slavery Monument (told you it wasn't a cheerful list!) and from there walked back to the apartment. Ian and Caryn arrived in the late afternoon and we left the house to get some Thai food in Bird, Amsterdam's best Thai restaurant as far as I know. We had to sit quite close together to fit but the good food and great company made that quite endurable! After Bird we walked to Central Station and took a ferry from there to the other side of IJ, to the new EYE cinema, where we had some drinks and then saw On The Road, and authentic road movie after Jack Kerouac's book - a book that I had devoured when I was a kid and of which I (mysteriously) have two copies still in my house. I must say that I loved the film, also because travelling aimlessly through a vast country such as the US seems incredibly appealing to me, but I must also say that I was probably the only one of the five of us who enjoyed the film. The others were, unfortunately, slightly less impressed. The way back into the city centre was a bit more stressful due to an incredible crowd at the ferry terminal, which made it quite difficult for ferries to offload and load passenger (and quite difficult for me to control my blood pressure) but ultimately we made it just in time for Caryn to catch the last tram to where she stays. Ian went back to the apartment with us and we had some more wine before it was time to call it a day, and that was already again the last full day of Andy and Colin's visit this time. Time goes too quick! No pictures of any of our activities today (somehow the subjects weren't too cheerful) so just one of one of the lilies I have at my place for my guests.
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