As has been discussed (ad nauseum) (shut up) we left Vienna in the late evening and drifted off into sleep. The good news is we slept “ok”, which might not sound all that exciting but category of “good slight we’ve had involving mass transit” is dang-near empty, so we’ll take it. We arrived in the mid-morning at Amsterdam Lelylaan, which is not the more historic “central” station but is actually a super-convenient location if you aren’t staying in Tourist Ground Zero… which, as per usual, we were not. So instead, we took a quick hop and a skip into a cab and plopped ourselves in our hotel, which fortunately had an early room for us. The Hyatt Regency in Amsterdam is lovely, with a “green” decor that led the place to be festooned with live plants everywhere. We would have taken more time to relax and enjoy it but we had places to be, toot sweet.
So what gets two mildly bleary, half-bedraggled travelers to hop right back out of their digs instead of settling down for a bit? We’re in Amsterdam baybee, the answer is the Van Gogh Museum. Getting to it was a nice introduction to the city in and of itself. First off, the weather was kind of crap – cold breeze, intermittent rain, just the right combination to leave you deeply unsatisfied. Second, the city is f-l-a-t flat. We’ve heard of a lot of places that are “walkable”, but I don’t know that I’ve ever been anywhere so genuinely pancaked as Amsterdam. I feel like you could pick almost any spot, drop a marble in the street, and it wouldn’t roll away. And third, for the citizens (and visitors) who don’t feel like walking everywhere, they make it easy to get around by any method except cars. Automobiles are allowed in the city but they are clearly the most dis-incentivized option. Bike lanes are everywhere, and they are jammed with bicyclists. Light rail seemed to go dang near anywhere, and for longer transit needs there’s a subway through the major arteries. Everything well maintained and more-or-less clean. After a long train ride, though, we stuck to our feet for this first jaunt.
The museum is in a frankly aspirational park complex that’s home to a half-dozen different museums, big and small. John always gets a little carried away with his love of this kind of place. He has often said “when the next age comes and goes and the one after that, and archaeologists are digging through the remnants of the ancient empire of the United States, I hope they find the Washington Mall. All those Smithsonian museums and monuments, maybe they’ll think kindly of us.” Well, the Netherlands maybe doesn’t need as much reputational rehabilitation as some countries (ahem) but it’s still true that this area is the kind of place you brag about. Gorgeous, spacious, and home to a collection of art and science. For today though, we were beeline-ing for one spot in particular, the aforementioned Van Gogh Museum.
The museum is a fairly modern building and it is curated with a modern sensibility. They do a lot of heavy lifting to put the man’s work in context with the work of his contemporaries, and spend a lot of time (and space) showing the development of his aesthetic over time. The Picasso National Museum in Paris tries to pull the same tricks but honestly this place does it better. That or we just like the work more. There is an interesting tension in the work, though – if you want to see Van Gogh’s most famous works you might just be in the wrong place! You see, just prior to and then after his death, his sister in law, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, took on the mission of ensuring Vincent’s legacy, and one of the ways she did this was through ther shrewd placement of his work in museums all over the world. As we all know she did a great job, but it means that a lot of his blue ribbon work is scattered. Anyway, not to say that the museum is a let down, just be prepared to walk out wondering where “The Starry Night” is. (It’s at MoMA in New York, by the way.)
Once we spent a few hours at the Van Gogh Museum, though, we were well and truly tuckered. We had vague ideas for dinner based on some recommendations, but we were tired – we punted the plans and went back to the hotel for mediocre room service. And thus ended day 1 of our survey course on the Netherlands.
