I was sitting in Ten, the restaurant attached to the Stedelijk Museum, when a small, black and white dog, came up to me, tail wagging, begging to be patted. Obviously, I gave in. She belonged to a woman sitting at the next table. The little dog licked my hand for a bit before returning to her. And I thought, what a brilliant restaurant.
And the food was excellent.
It was my final bitterballen for this trip. The lamb kofta was pretty good as well.
I’d decided to visit the Stedelijk Museum on the way to Amsterdam Centraal. I thought I’d leave my bag in a locker given my train wasn’t due to leave until 17:10.
The plan was to dump the bag then take the tram back to Museumplein. Getting a travel pass for my entire time in Amsterdam, was such a great idea. It gave me a lot of freedom. In fact, after I’d been to the museum, rather than sit around for a few hours, I just took the Metro to the end of one of the lines.
It’s something Mirinda has taught me. It’s a way to see where the real people live. I got off the Metro line 54, at Gein. And I can report that there’s not a lot there. A fair few identical blocks of flats and some shops. And a few miserable looking people.
The highlight of my impromptu visit to Gein, was seeing the Johan Cruijff Arena (where Ajax play their home games) on the way. And that wasn’t that much of a highlight, as unexpected as it was. Conversely, the Stedelijk Museum was definitely a highlight.
I was there, joining a queue, ten minutes before opening. I spent the time pre buying a ticket online. So, when the doors opened, I was in, putting my stuff in a locker and through the scanner, where the Spanish usher admired my Córdoba t-shirt, well before anyone else.
When it comes to Amsterdam museums, this is a very good thing. For the first half an hour, it felt like I had the place to myself. A luxury indeed.
The collection at the Stedelijk is displayed in a sort of chronological time line, showing art styles rather than artists. It gives great insight as to why and where things changed and by whom.
There were some Kandinsky, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso and, delightfully for me, a typically, gutsy Grosz.
Grosz is probably my favourite Expressionist. His works perfectly depict the awfulness that was Nazi Berlin leading up to the second world war. They almost arrested him a few times but he managed to escape to the US and successfully outlived the people and society he hated. Though, he died falling down stairs, drunk, which is a salutary lesson.
I find his works bold, violent, satirical, ugly; the things that Nazi Germany was built on. The work I saw today was just as amazing as others I’ve seen in the past.
There are a lot of symbols of the Third Reich in the painting. You can almost hear a Hitler speech coming out of the rabble rouser’s mouth.
There were lots of amazing works to gawp and gape over. Obviously there were some I merely walked by. I mean, I don’t like EVERYTHING. Regardless of whatever my wife may say.
Something I didn’t just walk by was the collection of works by a group called General Idea (Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson). Actually, the first piece they exhibited was called General Idea but the exhibitors thought it was the collective name for the three artists and advertised it as such. The artists liked the idea so much that that’s who they became.
They very much satirised the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s; the times they lived through. They pushed boundaries, seeking to undermine the normal. A lot of their stuff was funny. A lot of it pushed the envelope as far as it would go.
Asking many things, they created a series of Beauty Contests in imitation of events like Miss World. In one of these parodies, women were shown wearing sort of pyramidal Venetian blind dresses. The footage of two women skiing in them was very funny.
There was also the excellent exhibition of the works of Felix de Rooy…But, all good things must come to an end otherwise they stop being good things.
I found myself back at Amsterdam Centraal, waiting for the train to Osnabrück, which turned up on time but, somehow lost five minutes on the way. Not that that was a problem because my connection train to Hamburg was delayed by far more minutes. Mind you, the train from Osnabrück to Hamburg was an ICE train which are very comfortable, so I didn’t really mind the delay.
The train rides were comfortable and allowed me more than enough time to write this entry. It also allowed me time to prepare the following:
Gary’s tips for Amsterdam.
- Unless you intend to ride a bike everywhere, get a transport card for the days you’re going to stay. Don’t get it on the app as the scanners on the trams are not reliable and a bit fiddly when the hordes are pressing from behind. Pre order a solid one and collect it when you arrive.
- Buy a museum card. There are a lot of museums and they’re expensive. The card makes things affordable. And the museums are well worth visiting.
- Keep alert all the time. There are more bikes than people in Amsterdam and they are all out to get you as a pedestrian.
- Crowds are endemic. If you don’t like them, you probably won’t like Amsterdam.
- Have some bitterballen. You won’t regret it. Better still have some at Brouwerij’tij (the Windmill) along with the exceptional ijwit beer.
While not one of my favourite cities, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in Amsterdam. The art is worth any misgivings I might have about the city.
And, of course, I spent it with the Weasels.
Though, the question on everyone’s lips, all weekend, was #WhereWasBev?
