MUSINGS FROM AMSTERDAM UPDATED VERSION WITH A SPRING 2021 UPDATE

Over the past 20 + years, I’ve been coming to Amsterdam out of a passion for the history, the culture and the feeling of freedom. I think I must have been Dutch in a past lifetime although no genetic readout has ever indicated such.

There are many unique aspects of Amsterdam and it is my intent to seek them out on each visit. Past musings have included numerous stats and observations and quite a few are worth repeating due to their remarkable nature and touristy info benefit. So, this is a compilation of some of the highlights of past musings with some new ones added:

  • When you know you have arrived as in being a local or at least looking like one is when tourists and locals ask me for directions or information and most of the time I can actually handle it and in Dutch as well. Sort of.

  • How is it that I have a daily stam cafe [neighborhood bar] here and very rarely go out for a beer or glass of wine in Santa Barbara?

  • As in Belgium and as it should be, each special beer is served in the beer glass designated by the brewery that showcases their beers in the best way; just like fine wine and appropriate stemware.

  • There is only one true pancake in the world and it’s not from Aunt Jemima and it’s called Pannenkoeken and served with everything under the sun. Pancakes, like Pinots Noir as my friend Chris Whitcraft of Whitcraft Winery used to say, are not just for breakfast anymore.

  • Although I love warm maple syrup, the principle sweet topping here [other than powdered sugar] is called stroop.

  • Interestingly, I come to the Netherlands and drink mostly Belgium beers, the best on the planet. They`re so good, they merit tasting notes.

  • The drink of choice amongst the locals is jenever, a juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands and Belgium, from which gin evolved. Traditional jenever is still very popular in the Netherlands and Belgium. European Union regulations specify that only liquor made in these two countries, two French provinces and two German federal states can use the name jenever.

  • Amsterdam is in Holland, a province, that includes 2 of the 12 provinces, North and South. The whole country is appropriately called the Netherlands.

  • Amsterdam has got to have more bicycles [fiets] than any other city on the planet. They`re everywhere at all times. And, creative too. They have every conceivable means of carrying bags, groceries, kids and pets and whatever else needs to be transported. The bakfiets, are bikes that have big, usually wooden baskets on the front and/ or back end. They were originally used by bakeries to deliver their breads, thus the name, bakfiets.

  • The street traffic pecking order: Bikes first and always, then pedestrians, then cars and the rest; the rule of thumb is: if there is anything coming that`s bigger and with more momentum, YIELD. Always look both ways before crossing a street, bike path, anything on which a bike could be traveling.

  • There are over 100 canals and 1,000 bridges in Amsterdam and only one river, the Amstel.

  • Museums change their themes from time to time; a must visit is to the Amsterdam Museum, Kalverstraat 92, which has the fantastic history of the city from its origin. It includes the fascinating construction of the canals, population growth over the last centurys, etc. There`s a separate showing of 105 photographs of pop stars who have visited Amsterdam by world renown Claude Vanheye. These include the Beattles, the Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Alvin Lee, the Bee Gees and many more.

  • The tap water is very good and it is not necessary to buy bottled water. I`m told there are no fluorides and fewer chemicals and additives than any other city in this part of Europe. This is unconfirmed. but the taste and absence of odor suggests such. Even the local micro breweries who are committed to using only the purest of products and ingredients use Amsterdam city water.

  • Want to start up a new business here? Think umbrellas [paraplus]. There are graveyards on just about every major street with broken frames, frames without the covers [like skeletons] and covers without the frames. For us tourists, get the kind that are wind resistant and do not reverse direction and die from an updraft.

  • For a city that is not known for its fine dinning, there sure are a lot of fine restaurants and most are not Indonesian.

  • A 40% chance for rain means it will rain about 40% of the time.

  • One of the many reasons I love Amsterdam has to do with a freedom of being who you truly are and not who others think you should be. Interestingly, Rembrandt contributed significantly to some of this philosophy.

  • In an article by Russell Shorto in the New York Times on 9/27/13 entitled " The Ghosts of Amsterdam", he stated:
    “Rembrandt figures so thoroughly in Amsterdam, I think, because he is intimately associated with the city’s greatest achievement. Amsterdam in his era pioneered many of the concepts embedded in the term “liberal,” which I mean not in the sex-and-drugs permissive sense (though that would come too) but, more deeply and broadly, as a philosophy based on the individual and individual freedom: the essence of what makes us modern.”

  • Amsterdam led the rest of Europe away from the dogma that all authority came from monarch and church; rather, this new philosophy held truth was based on reason — in the words of the Frenchman René Descartes, who also lived in Amsterdam — on “the mind and its good sense.” Central to this was a new awareness of oneself as an individual distinct from the group. And an outgrowth of this awareness was a sudden fascination with the human face — with portraits.” And then there is that place where we are all one.

  • It wasn’t until I re-visted the Amsterdam Museum that I learned it is hailed “The City of Freedom” as Paris is the “City of Light” {which BTW happens to be more about it being a vast center of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment. In 1828, Paris began lighting the Champs-Elysées with gas lamps. It was the first city in Europe to do so.}

  • A must do museum to visit is the relatively newly reopened Rijksmuesum after 10 years of renovation. It has sections of its 4 floors dedicated to periods of centuries starting with 1100 AD and moving up to the present. Rembrandt`s “Night Watch” is included along with many other of his masterpieces, Van Gogh"s self portrait and others of his collection, Jan van Scorel"s Mary Magdalene, Jan Willem Pieneman"s “Battle of Waterloo”, Johannes Vermeer"s “Het Melkmeisje”, Frans Hals’, Willem van de Velde and even a Monet. There is so much more including sculptures, hand crafted furnishings, weaponry, inventions, model ships, etc. Truly fascinating.

  • Our stam café {neighborhood bar/ restaurant} for 20 years now is de Englebewaarder at Kloveniersburgwal 18. We are so accepted here and have established close friendships with the owner, numerous locals and many of his quality staff folks, most of whom have specialty college degrees and are still working here while awaiting a break for employment.

  • Our late night go to stam café is het Mandje located on the Zeedijk, a short street near Centraal Station worth perusing. It was a notorious original gay bar established in 1927 and has a rep and a story to behold. It closed in 1983 when the lesbian owner, Bet van Beeren, died and was reopened in 2008 with everything repositioned as before. Part of the story goes that she would snip off half the ties worn by the men who frequented there and hang them from the ceiling. There are hundreds of halved ties now and reproduced pictures from early on covering the walls. What we love most about this place is the music. They play lots of Dutch sing a long tunes with an emphasis on songs from the Netherlands and Amsterdam in particular. It`s a hoot and a great night cap stop.

  • I know about the “Bakers dozens” being 13 eggs, but what gives here? At the most, you can buy 10 in a carton. The “Dutch dozen”.

  • Our apartment overlooks a popular canal and the constant parade of scenes passing in front of us has no end. One of the most memorable was of a boat of nude dudes with the least minimal of coverage, saluting a large boat of tourists. A world record for instantaneous flashes from cameras/ phones was established.

  • Our apartment is near a school yard and it was really neat to see 35 young school aged children walking around with trash pick up tools clearing the streets and gutters from debris mostly strewn by tourists. What a concept!
    The school grounds and streets we live near in Santa Barbara are littered with everything the students could possibly throw away without any regard to polluting.

  • Another advanced project throughout Amsterdam are recycle bins for plastic, paper and glass. They’re located about every 3-4 blocks so it`s easy to do and a frequent reminder to do it.

  • In the Centrum of Amsterdam, most walkways are made of brick snd one needs to take care to note where you place each foot as there are dislodged bricks everywhere, a major trip hazard. This is a deterrent to looking up at the oft in-scripted age and various architectural designs of many of the buildings. You will go down.

  • For a city known for it canals, there are probably twice as many parks, some are very small and a few are larger than Golden State Park.

  • Amsterdam is a lot more than museums, red lights, coffee shops and canals. The population is 851,373 with the metropolitan area having 2,410,960. Tourism is BIG. There are 4.63 million international visitors annually and this is excluding the 16 million day trippers visiting the city every year.

  • The Kingdom of the Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815, but its one-time sovereign provinces have intermittently been “governed” by members of the House of Orange-Nassau and the House of Nassau from 1559 to 1747.

  • I love windmills.

Proost {Cheers},
Blake

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Thanks Blake, great read!

Hi Blake,

Great read, and greetings from 3 hrs. down the road champagne.gif

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Hi Henry, and right back at you down the road a bit.

Hi Henry, and right back at you down the road a bit.

Nice info Blake. We only visited Amsterdam once a couple of years ago, but have good memories. You are very fortunate to visit often. Your comment on the bicycles rings true. We went out on bicycles a few times and did well until we got “trapped” in a large group of Amsterdam riders who were much more confident and faster riders than we were. A bit of panic ensued. Another time I was nearly run down by a bicyclist as I crossed one of the canals. Luckily for me, Eric Clapton, who was walking behind us at the time, came to my assistance with a hand on my elbow as I nearly stumbled. He volunteered that “It can be scary out here, mate”. I could only agree. During that same episode, I had extreme difficulty negotiating our way back to our hotels as I was struck by a sudden inability to correlate the street signs with my map. I probably should mention that these peculiar experiences took place after we visited the Paradise coffeeshop in the Dam. Enjoy Amsterdam!

Great post Jim. Love the Clapton and Paradise connections.

Re: * Our late night go to stam café is t Mandje located on the Zeedijk, a short street near Centraal Station worth perusing. It was a notorious original gay bar established in 1927 and has a rep and a story to behold. It closed in 1983 when the lesbian owner, Bet van Beeren, died and was reopened in 2008 with everything repositioned as before. Part of the story goes that she would snip in half the ties worn by the men who frequented there and hang them from the ceiling. There are hundreds of halved ties now and reproduced pictures from early on covering the walls. What we love most about this place is the music. They play lots of Dutch sing a long tunes with an emphasis on songs from the Netherlands and Amsterdam in particular. Its a hoot and a great night cap stop.
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  • In the Centrum of Amsterdam, most walkways are made of brick snd one needs to take care to note where you place each foot as there are dislodged bricks everywhere, a major trip hazard. This is a deterrent to looking up at the oft in-scripted age and various architectural designs of many of the buildings. You will go down.

Here’s one very obvious example, but at night, no color difference can be recognized and its early fall now so more leaves will cover it up. Were talking about an 1 inch rise which is enough to catch the toe of a shoe. I know this one personally: ![fullsizeoutput_2023.jpeg|1360x1416](upload://yARHJQTD0BcsSURAxTnx0fKy72c.jpeg) ![fullsizeoutput_2024.jpeg|1829x1803](upload://xL9mMwle0Amu7OD8w8U5SpRESxk.jpeg) Here's a brick mine field: ![fullsizeoutput_202b.jpeg|3264x2448](upload://wEUOhRVTAN7mpitrSKMY9ZUheyX.jpeg) And then theres the man-made kind:
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Another brick and a fall?

Or another brick in the wall- Pink Floyd. Either way, its a trap for a trip.

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Dined at Cafe de Klepel and had another stellar experience. Was solo and and sat at the counter. Coordinated the reservation to match when my friend, Job {pronounced Yob in Dutch}, is working. He’s as into the world of wine as any of us and informed in areas I’m less experienced and/or exposed. I always trust him to take me on his personal tour for my wine journey on the evening and select the pairings with my courses.
This night was perfect. Great dining room energy with all tables, patrons loving the moment. Lots of wine passion being shared around at every table, every counter seat.
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  • I love windmills.

This is one of the last remaining windmills in Amsterdam, located in the east part and is housed by a popular local micro brewery, Brouwerij 't IJ.

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Here’a another perspective of that same windmill. We arrived too early for the windmill brewery, so we walked over the bridge and had Belgian beer in a Dutch café. (The Triple Karmeliet is mine!!!). Enjoy. -Jim
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It would be neglectful to not give props to Dutch beer too . . . surprisingly very good. Instead of afternoon tea, we did an afternoon Dutch beer tasting. Cheers.
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Agreed. My afternoon tea of choice is what you did.

In the one picture is worth a thousand words category:

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and art can be found anywhere:

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Thanks Blake! We visited in summer of 2017 and really enjoyed ourselves. Brings back memories.

As I explore Amsterdam daily, I come across some interesting sights and scenes. Here’s a few:

  • This tent is located smack in the middle of a large cement area that fronts an office building with numerous bikers and pedestrians passing by.
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  • Men are fortunate to have immediate relief in the middle of a busy street:
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  • Many buildings have a small ornate sign, coat of arms or plaque on them. This one is huge.
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  • Amsterdam`s version of Sideways. These trees are literally growing out over the canal sideways.
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  • I`m guessing this is for Santa as I’ve only seen it come up recently:
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