Monday May 13 -- Amsterdam

Breakfast was a reprise of dinner -- rolls with cheese and meat -- after which I walked to the station and took the train to Amsterdam-Muderspoort, the second station out from Centraal on the south-east line. I got a return ticket this time, which was a little cheaper since I only pay one no-card impost of 1# rather than two.

Muiderspoort is a residential commuter area, and there were bicycles everywhere. I think it's the first time I've had to stop and wait for mote than one or two cyclists before crossing a bike lane. The use of bikes is very important here and all the stations have huge bike parking areas as well as paid storage facilities.

I was a bit early for the Zoo so I wandered through the Oostpark area -- a city garden laid out with ponds and playing fields, with a few bronze sculptures. It's not tulip season yet, but some flowers were out. I still had twenty minutes to wait when I got to the Zoo -- they call it the Artis for some reason -- so I had a coffee in a corner bar. The bar itself forms an L-shape, with the alcohol on one arm and pastries and breakfast things on the other. Alcohol in bars here is not all that cheap-- the equivalent of $4 for a generic beer (usually Heineken) and $7-9 for a fancy one, with spirits and wines costing a little more again per serve. But it's half that price or less in supermarkets.

Amsterdam's motto might be 'Small, but perfectly formed'. Most of the attractions here are not huge or monumental, but they're generally very well done. The Zoo was no exception. I took the track around the edge and saw quite a lot. I hadn't realised before how involved the Dutch were with their colonies; we know about the East Indies, but they also had footholds in Africa and South America, and the Zoo reflected that. There were enormous hornbills hopping about, lots of monkeys, llamas and tapirs from South America, several elephants, and two sleepy jaguars in an enormous enclosure. I was able to walk through the monkey and bird enclosures, and in the reptile house they had two enormous saurians which looked like crocodiles with a narrower snout, and are called False Gavials in English (English signage nearly eveerywhere)--although apparently DNA testing now suggests they might be True Gavials, which will be heartening news for gavial fans everywhere. Anyway, whatever they were, they looked mean. There were Komodo Dragons too.

Back outside I saw an American porcupine climbing a tree, and a big marmot that had already climbed one. Lots of birds, including many visitors flying around freely, storks and herons among them. There is an Insect House and a separate Butterfly Enclosure, and an Aquarium in a large classical-styled building. And by the time I left there were many groups of delighted primary-schoolers being led around by their teachers to see the sights.

On then to the Botanic Gardens. which are also quite tiny. They have a small garden which attempts to reflect the genetic layout of the plant kingdom by branches away from the central bed. There are a couple of big greenhouses where you can climb up ladders and walk among the treetops, and the usual geographic plantings, including an Australian section with Wandering Jew in pride of place as ground cover.

I emerged looking for lunch, but was distracted by the Portuguese Synagogue. This is part of a cluster of buildings in the old Jewish Quarter which are organised into a single museum for tourists. The Synagogue is a big square brick building which is still used as such, and you can enter not only the building itself, but the various offices and storage rooms in the courtyard around it, plus a vault underneath where the 'Treasures' -- mostly ornate robes, candle-holders, and old books -- were stored. Many of the visitors seemed to be Jewish, and some were wearing skull-caps. Walking around in these old buildings makes it clear just how much some of them are tipped and twisted -- it's a bit like being in the Rotating House that used to be in Luna Park.

The same ticket got me into the Jewish Historical Museum across the road. Both of these have a double door system separating them from the street, where the second door only opens when the first one shuts. Whether that's a religious tradition or a security measure, I don't know.

The history of the Jews in Amsterdam is fairly typical--alternate waves of tolerance and persecution, leading up the the great tragedy of World War II. The exhibits commented that the consensus-style committee system that dominates Dutch politics tended to keep the Jews out of positions of power and influence, although they were able to make their way in commerce and the entertainment industry. And current figures--as of when the exhibit was mounted--show that 57% of Jews in Amsterdam are non-observers of the religion. Which raises the question -- but let's not go into that.

I had lunch in a cafe, which was nice enough but rather spoilt by the negligence of the waitresses, who forgot part of my order and wanted to charge me twice for it afterwards. To be fair, they had already been harassed by a Central European man who came in before me with his family and wanted to negotiate every part of the transaction, including asking for a plastic cup. It's easy to see why the locals can get exasperated at tourists, who throng the streets in the central area particularly.

Thence to the Hermitage Museums, a cluster of three exhibits in one building, only one of which has anything to do with the Hermitage. The first is a display of Amsterdam history in paintings and artefacts; somewhat similar to the Amsterdam Museum yesterday, but from a slightly different perspective. Then a collection of huge collective portraits of fraternities and governing committees, designed to be hung on the walls of their meeting rooms. These are interesting in themselves and often of historical value, but comparing them also reveals trends in how the citizens of Amsterdam wanted themselves to be percieved over time. The Night Watch was there in spirit, as a huge back-projection.

Finally the Hermitage section was a collection of paired pieces lent by the Hermitage in St Petersburg, showing different versions of, say, St George and the Dragon from different artists in different eras. It was art criticism for people with short attention spans, but most of the pieces were very good in themselves. There was a bit about the history of the links between the Russian court and Netherlands Stadtholders--a couple of dynastic marriages there-- and various portraits of the Russian Royals visiting. I hadn't realised, either, how vast the Hermitage's artistic empire now is, with linked galleries and travelling exhibitions all over the world.

I staggered out finally at about three-fifteen, and decided to use my free cruise ticket. There was a place nearby, but there would have been a long wait, so I got a tram to Centraal and found a place there. The boats are long and low, to get through the canals. Some are roofed all over, some are open in the middle like ours. Ours had multilingual commentary available through earbuds and plug-in boxes with selection panels for about fifteen languages, though the default was in English. Unfortunately the seats were cramped and I was facing backwards, so my experience wasn't all it could have been, but it was interesting to get a canal's-eye-view of the city, and I picked up a few facts on the way. Particularly about the overwhelming significance of gables.

Took the Metro from Centraal to Vijzelgracht station ('Gracht' means canal) in order to catch a tram to Muiderspoort, but I needed a toilet so I decided to visit the Taproom that I'd seen here yesterday. I went downstairs to the loo and -- lo and behold -- there was the ABC brewery, operating out of a space not much bigger than a suburban garage. Back upstairs I asked if they had any ABC beers on tap, but they didn't at the time, so I tried a White Beer and then a Wheat Beer for about #5 each. Both very nice.

As in China, they have super-strong beers on sale in pubs and supermarkets here, so it's a good idea to check the strength on the menu. Mine were pretty normal, but I was still feeling the effects at the tram stop--which might be why I got on the right tram going the wrong way, and had to bail out after the first few stops. Tram stops are not always opposite each other, so I had to scout around to find the right one; but it did give me a preview of tomorrow's destination, the RijksMuseum.

And so home -- at roughly seven-thirty -- for a dinner of gnocchi, some clothes washing and then bed. I have a few photos that I'll post separately.

Love to all,

Jon.