Day 11, Part 1 - Team Beck hits the Rijksmuseum and other stunning Amsterdam attractions
By now, those of you who’ve been following the great Beck Trek across France and a little bit of Europe know that we got to Amsterdam one fine Saturday afternoon last month (as told in the epic tale https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-10-team-beck-comes-to-grips-with-amsterdam), with a little over a day to get as much Amsterdam in as humanly (or as TeamBeckly) possible.
It was now Sunday morning and we had a lot of Amsterdam to do. We would definitely do the Rijksmuseum, which houses some of the world’s greatest art, and then we would do a lot of other Amsterdam stuff. We had our I amsterdam city cards, the super-duper city guide which puts it all on one single easy to fold out and fold up map, we had sturdy shoes and we had ambition, if not the clearest of plans for the whole day.
Every great day starts with a great breakfast, as Tony the Tiger would have said
You may also remember in that last post that our Airbnb hostess had not just recommended Bagels & Beans, she had described the experience of eating there as having achieving culinary and cultural nirvana.
By that point – savvy us – we’d figured out it was a chain and there was one very close to the Rijksmuseum. The elegance of a plan coming together, we said to each other as we navigated Amsterdam’s public transport system with ease and grace.
Bagels & Beans really is a great place
We had terrific food, reasonably priced.
There was a common theme to our breakfasts….
I'm pretty sure while we were drinking coffee we checked into our homeward bound flight, departing 10:35 the next morning.
And I was learning that Amsterdam loos often have something fun to offer. In this case, it was a mobile phone holder in the stall.
Talk about thinking of everything!
Rijksmuseum – outside and in
The museum sets a funky and whimsical tone outside.
Miniatures
The museum was hosting a number of temporary exhibitions, including one on extraordinary miniatures and another on 1800s photography. Both are worth a visit if you’re going to be in Amsterdam while the exhibitions are still up.
We had not heard of prayer nuts before. These are ornately carved objects of meditation.
St George and the dragon as you've never seen them before.
1800s photography
We were caught by the link to something we'd admired in Paris - here was a photo of the original excavations for the construction of the Opera Garnier.
Paintings by the Great Masters and great historical works
Ah, the Night's Watch. Tim and I had seen it in a dark, narrow space with twenty rows of tourists vying for position in front of the painting the last time. This time, as you can see, the painting is hung in a spacious, airy room which does it far better justice.
And there were rooms filled with Rembrandts! But we had to get there first.
Vermeer...aaaaaahhh....
I had to put this one in twice, I love it so much.
And more...
...but sadly not many, as they were on loan to international exhibitions.
Gee, those nobles married young. Look how happy they look. But isn't the detailing on their clothes simply exquisite?
Wondering who those two are? Wonder no longer....
Even the frames could be considered works of art in themselves.
Objets d’art and other less explainable but quite ornate decorative stuff
Furniture
No, really, this was some noble person's bedroom, I believe. Ornate, wouldn't you say?
And this is perhaps not technically furniture - it's a dollhouse.
Miscellaneous cool Dutch travel art
The building itself is a series of works of art
The last time @tim-beck and I had visited the Rijksmuseum in April 2012, it was undergoing final renovations. Well, those had been completed and the results were spectacular outside and inside.
The library
(This is especially for @mother2chicks, who loves libraries)
Ceilings
The ceilings were every bit as marvellous as everywhere else in the museum. This hall was lined left and right with works by Rembrandt.
Does this count as ceiling art?
These lamps were animated. They rose and fell like jellyfish gently undulating in the ocean's waves. The epitome of grace and utterly hypnotic.
Floors
Windows
Team Beck hits the streets of Amsterdam again
Freshly imbued with the awe inspired by seeing such great artworks, Team Beck, still running strong on the morning's bagels, took to the streets of Amsterdam for a purposeful stroll.
Here are a few sights which caught our eyes.
Yup, that's a pug!
We saw the Amsterdam flag and symbol in many places, proudly displayed.
It was indeed purposeful, for we had decided our next Big Stop on our tour of Amsterdam. It was to be the Van Loon mansion, a well-preserved house on the Keizersgracht (gracht meaning canal, I believe).
Street statuary
Walking through the streets gave us the opportunity to enjoy the profusion of statues dotting the city.
The van Loon House
The house has remained in the family for generations, and has been open to the public since 1973. The family has been intimately connected with the history of Amsterdam since the early 1600s, with Willem van Loon one of the cofounders of the Dutch East India Company.
The rooms are preserved along with the fittings (in ornate Louis XV style) to give the visitor insights into how the family lived. The family still live in the upper floors in the former servants’ quarters.
The main house, garden and coach house are all available to visit. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the sumptuous nature of the van Loon family’s lifestyle.
Main house
A stairwellian view...
One of the ornate bedrooms.
Our first glimpse of the elegant garden was from one of the first floor bedroom windows.
The old kitchen has been lovingly preserved.
The back side of the house leads out from the kitchen down a few steps into the beautifully manicured garden.
Garden
We'd had a quick view from indoors, but took our time enjoying the scent of the roses and the neatness of the space between the back of the house and the coach house.
A sun dial? Perhaps, if the sun came out more often.
Coach house
How beautiful is this coach house (that's "garage" to you and me)?
The Van Loons had to look the part of wealthy merchants, so their coach and livery were liberally decorated with gold.
The back of the main house, seen from the coach house entrance, overlooking the garden.
Happy with our tour of the Van Loon mansion, we pause to look at the facade again and consider how low key it looks from the outside in comparison to the riot of luxury inside.
Emma goes souvenir shopping, and we chill, spot a Tesla taxi and chase a lunatic
Around the corner from the Van Loon house, Emma spotted an ideal souvenir shop on Vijzel Straat and went in to build up her supply of retail memorabilia. While she was entertaining herself this way, we sat on a bench by the Keizersgracht, watching the boats chug by and enjoying the balmy afternoon temperatures.
We're chilling...
...and checking out this Tesla taxi - how cool is that?
Tim's enjoying his break by the canal...
...when all of a sudden all whatever breaks out
Remember the singing Muslims on our canal cruise yesterday? Compare and contrast. As Tim and I were waiting for Emma, one of the canal cruise boats approached and we were whip-snapped out of our chill reverie by a young blonde-haired man on the boat, wearing bright orange and shouting at the top of his lungs at a woman seated in front of him. He was screaming so loudly all the people on both sides of the canal a block up and a block down could hear him. Such a jarring experience!
We followed the boat down the canal back to the Van Loon house – by the time we got there, it had briefly docked and he had been thrown off (yay! It was horrible watching him hurl abuse at the woman that way, and although we couldn’t understand what he was saying, whatever had made him that angry couldn’t have merited that level of vitriol and venom), and he was now running at Husain Bolt speed down the road. We did the normal human thing and speculated what could have triggered such bizarre behaviour – a jilted lover? A son venting years of pent up rage to his mother? An upstanding citizen wrongly accused of pickpocketing or some other heinous transgression? A nut case? A guy on drugs in need of more drugs?
Of course we never got the answer, but we sympathised with the woman and surmised (hoped) the other passengers were murmuring comforting words to her after such a traumatic incident. How strange, and what a contrast to the impromptu peace and love through music share of the Muslim group we’d seen on our cruise yesterday. And such irony in the cruise line’s name….
And of course, food
By now, as you can imagine, the magic of the bagels had worn thin and it was time to refuel. We eschewed the siren call of a shawarma house near the Station Centraal and found a purveyor of sinful stuff to eat instead. I won’t show you a photo of Emma’s banana, strawberry and Nutella confection. Tim had something equally delicious while I went for the relatively sober apple crumble.
A cappuccino each, and we were ready for the next stage in our Amsterdam adventure! One more evening in Amsterdam, we were going home the next day, so we really needed to make the most of it.
Images by @kiligirl, @tim-beck and Emma Beck except where otherwise credited.
Other posts to date on our trip:
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-10-team-beck-comes-to-grips-with-amsterdam
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-10-team-beck-travels-from-hardelot-to-amsterdam-alternative-title-groundhog-day
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-9-team-beck-in-bruges-and-dunkirk-so-not-a-movie
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-8-team-beck-does-a-bit-of-rest-and-restoration-in-le-touquet-and-hardelot
https://steemit.com/family/@kiligirl/day-7-team-beck-attends-the-wedding-of-the-century
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-part-3-of-the-beck-trek-to-france-bruges-and-amsterdam-superkiligirl-saves-the-mother-of-the-bride
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-part-2-team-beck-takes-a-reflective-turn-in-delville-wood-somme-region-of-france
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-the-beck-trek-hits-the-north-of-france-amiens
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-5-team-beck-moves-from-paris-to-pas-de-calais-in-the-north-of-france-and-nobody-dies
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-4-in-paris-for-team-beck-notre-dame-the-musee-d-orsay-and-le-marais
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-3-in-paris-for-team-beck-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-2-in-paris-for-team-beck-boat-cruise-down-the-seine
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-2-in-paris-for-team-beck-a-visit-to-the-louvre
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/two-weeks-ago-yesterday-we-were-wandering-around-the-centre-pompidou-in-paris
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/paris-day-1-part-2-of-several-posts-on-our-trip-to-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/whirlwind-tour-of-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam
Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone
OMG! My friend Kiligirl, I must say Ellie Mae is plumb wore out after that trip to the museum. I don't know when if I could walk away from those Rembrandt's. For sure I would have to park myself in the gardens or waunder around because it looks like a fun place to get lost in.
The black door was a hit as were the bagels and lox. The exit was supreme leaving in a Tesla taxi! Wow! No wonder I am worn out. Time to go out to the cement pond and relax a bit.
Love from Ellie Mae. 🐓🐓
Hi, Ellie Mae, believe it or not, that day is only half over. There's more to come. Did you catch the library? And just for honesty's sake, we didn't take the taxi, we just took a photo of it. Hope you have a great night after a refreshing dip in the cement pond! 😊😊
How could I miss the library? Just forgot to mention it in my reply. Probably a part of me still sitting in there just touching and feeling the books. I am such a geek about the books. I will have to show you a photo of the cement pond soon. Tarzan might swim with the gators but I am not that brave. Working up to it! Hope you are well my Friend. Just have a few minutes this morning before work. Will give a real shout out when I get home. Love you much from your friend. Ellie Mae🐓🐓ps check out my post of the writing challenge. Think you will like it.
Looking forward to it, Ellie Mae! I have a few minutes now so will head right on over to your post. Pictures of the cement pond - worth waiting for, but if there are gators lurking there....😱😱 Glad you caught the library 😘😘. Glad for you that you live in Florida and not Puerto Rico! They look really hard done by. Love from this side of the pond.
I feel so bad about Puerto Rico. I heard that we were sending a ship over to help with housing on a temporary basis. I hope that is true. Three million people without services could be a big liability if things don't happen quickly.
I know many people in Afrika also live in similar conditions. I realize my niavete is undeniable. Is is possible to educate on such a massive scale? Or is the corruption so insidious that survival is the main objective? Please Kiligirl help me to understand. There seem to be pockets like Johannesburg that are thriving . Where do your projects fit into this arena?
What has pulled you into this world besides @timbeck?
It has been a rather unusual day. A friend at work was not feeling well and had to be taken to the ER. Not her heart thank goodness , but she gave us all a good scare.
I will soon take some pictures of the cement pond. The whole thing is quite large right now. We don't need any more rain for a while.
Hope you are not working too hard, but know different.
Is Emma off to college or on to travel and find her way now that she is a worldly person?
See you soon my pen pal on the other side of the world! Ellie Mae🐓🐓
I saw an interview with the 2IC from FEMA this morning which improved my hope levels for Puerto Rico - seems like they're getting the logistics right, and he expressed a great deal of compassion for the local responders, realising a lot of them and their families are victims too.
Gee, you ask hard questions about Africa and service delivery, Ellie Mae. It's difficult to give a short, pat answer to some deeply complex and old problems but I'll cheat and try with one word: governance. Without getting into a big ideological discussion, there's generally been a divide between the more socialist public sector and capitalist private sector and over the last half century it's been difficult for them to find common ground. With weak governance comes weak institutions, which has led to endemic corruption. Add to that the legacies of colonialism (and in South Africa, apartheid) as well as deeply unfair trade practices over the decades, and these systemic issues have filtered down to African people, except for a few, simply not enjoying the benefits of the natural capital their countries hold. The private sector is increasingly welcomed in Africa, but it's so hard to generalise. Zambia has one way of dealing with private companies, Botswana has another, Namibia has another, Mozambique has another...all are different and it's important to understand what drives the economies. Where I fit in? Working with private investors who are looking to deliver sustainable solutions in infrastructure. In the countries I'm working in, that implies "clean" (environmentally friendly and not corrupt), locally engaged and affordable both to the consumer and the supplier (otherwise they'd go out of business).
Johannesburg has TERRIBLE service delivery issues and the politics around this are really hot. Our government is embroiled in the most disgusting corruption scandal you can imagine. We talk about it under the heading of "state capture". If you Google "state capture, gupta, zuma" you'll get some idea of what's going on here. We have our own version of Wikileaks - we call it Zuptagate - and the leaked e-mails continue to provide evidence of a systematic approach over more than a decade to actually - and I'm not making this up - steal the country dry. The current play is for the public sector workers' pension funds. They've already drained our national air carrier, electricity supplier and rail transport company among others. Our ratings downgrade to junk status is directly attributable to the actions of the corrupt individuals engaged in this warfare, and this in turn DIRECTLY affects the poor, as it makes prices of everything go up. We're further vulnerable because we're experiencing a severe drought and our farmers are struggling. As we say in South Africa: eish.
@tim-beck wasn't the reason I moved here. Didn't meet him until I'd been here about 7 years and was well settled! I came out to southern Africa because of a project I was managing, got myself transferred to Johannesburg and then stayed when the company decided to close the office and "bring me home" (moment of clarity: home - here).
Phew. Hope that starts to answer your questions.
Sorry about your friend at work! Hope she'll be ok.
Looking forward to those pictures of the cement pond. I forgot to mention in my comment on your excellent Texas post that I laughed out loud when I read "Black Gold. Texas Tea." I can't get the banjo music out of my head now!
Got what I think is the final draft logo for 6th Wave Africa - think it's pretty good. We've finally got some movement (in a weird direction, but at least it's movement) on our main Zambia investment so I'll be focusing there for the next while, not neglecting my Namibia client and technology partners, of course!
Emma was in university for 2 years in a challenging programme - architecture - but struggled to keep up with the punishing projects and deadlines (she's an extremely methodical person which tends to work against the first year students, including her...there simply isn't enough time for perfection; it's all about learning what "good enough" means). She's been working in property management since early in the year and I don't think anyone is more surprised than her at how good she is at it. Smart young woman, methodical, quick learner - there's no reason she wouldn't excel at it. She was managing a building with 400 tenants. They liked what she did so much they've now put her on a much bigger project that her predecessor didn't manage as methodically, shall we say. She's looking around for somewhere else to go in Europe on the cheap before her Schengen visa expires!
Gotta get to work now. Have a grand day tomorrow and catch up then 😊😊
Dear Friend, I know the questions are difficult. Guess I was hoping you would have a good explanation for the corruption that has taken hold of the world in general. Did not sleep well so as you might notice was up around 5am answering your replies. Had to go back and reread this morning. Didn't mean to sound curt. Sorry if my words came out that way.
I fear the US is on a similar transition though the economical implications are not yet as clear as perhaps Afrika. Everything here has become so politicized that this has become my hope for the future. Steemit!
If you can make any headway with your current projects then they will certainly make a difference for the good. When you remove all of the obstacles the problems become so much easier to solve.
Oh the new continent . Isn't it amazing? I did go to the Guardian to see what they had to say, wouldn't that have been an interesting journey?!
I heard today that 90% of the roads in Puerto Rico have been cleared of debris so that supplies can start to move in. 80 % still without all services. Actually think that is pretty good progress considering we are still cleaning up trees, roofs, mold etc 3 weeks later. The county says it may take another 3 months just to pick up downed trees. If they can restore power grids and get sewage water and food under control quickly it will be so much better for the people there.
Architecture is a tough degree. Maybe Emma is more of an urban planner the way she manages her complex. She sounds like a bright young woman. She has a good role model in you.
Haven't yet had time to google state capture. Will give it till morning when my brain kicks in again.
The cement pond and other bodies of water are higher than perhaps 12 years ago when we moved here. Pictures to follow very soon. I promise. Also giving some thought to Georgia O'Keefe. Wish we had visited her Ghost Ranch while we were in Taos a few years ago. I wonder if the steemit van can make the trip? Lol!
Hope you had a great day. The piece I wrote was about scientists that are now able to take DNA from ancient manuscripts. Dating them, identifying scribes and what ledgers were made of. More about books! Surprise!
That's it from which ever side of the world this is. Much Love from your friend Ellie Mae. 🐓🐓
Wow, what a great answer, and here I am in the middle of putting together a proposal (that's good news) but it means I don't have time to do your response justice now. I'll give you a MUCH better answer on the weekend while everyone else is asleep. But sorry you woke up at 5am! Hope you're sleeping better now and get this message hours from now :-).
Much love from the original continent, hopefully not one which will change its name to Corruptia...😘😘
I loved the Nagtwaght of Rembrandt at the museum. I never realised that it was such a big piece!!
It's an awesome piece, in the true sense of the word! The museum now has excellent laminated A4-ish sized guides to the top attractions, explaining in many languages how to find the significant details and what they might mean. I can't imagine now trying to look at this painting online or in a book and truly understanding how the pieces fit together. There's simply too much to absorb and it needs the scale.
👍🏻
Im tired now after that day out lol , such imagery, and a feast for the eyes amazing work and effort you put into your posts almost a novel \o/
You are too funny, @coindevil! Have a break on me.
And don't worry, I suspect that some of my posts in the next few weeks are going to be a lot shorter as I'm going to have to be more operational in my day job(s). In the meantime I've made a commitment to myself and Team Beck to capture this holiday as we've never captured one before. And this last weekend we finally got Emma's photos....
Great post @kiligirl. I've been to Amsterdam many times as a musician. I visited the Rijksmuseum the day before Rembrandts The Night Watch was stolen (great that they got it back. I was also in another Dutch Museum a few days before a Van Gogh was stolen. People were starting to look at me funny. Amsterdam is a great town, it's been almost 5 years since I was there. Greetings from Vietnam. Upvoted and followed.
Thank you so much, @inseasia! SInce you're an Amsterdam aficionado you'll know that simply everything is a photo opp and everything bears a closer look. I hadn't realised the Night's Watch was ever stolen (how do they steal something so big? It would be easier to steal an elephant). So basically you go to museums and very soon after, the important stuff gets stolen, although the good guys get it back eventually. There has to be a Steemit story in there somewhere!
Look forward to seeing your posts. I'll do the crazy thing some other time of asking if you know my singer friend who lives in Vietnam. She's Canadian and blonde, so it's less of an outlandish question than you might think. 😉😉
Looks like a great day, or beginning of the day at least! Really good post once again, I love all the pictures 😊 I remember taking pictures in those huge letters outside of the Rijksmuseum. I did not visit the museum though, I guess I was not as appreciating of art history when I was 14 as I am today. I went to Madame Tussauds and Anne Fransks museum instead, and shopping...
Strange to think that the prince and the princess married when they where only 13 and 9, they where so young! The library looks incredible, all the details in the floor and the windows are amazing! It seems like I missed out on a lot on my first times in Amsterdam so I will definitely have to go back there. 😋
Wow. These are amazing pictures. What a wonderful Sunday you had like you said, the day has to start with good breakfast, that is how I do it. The museum is beautiful, thank you for sharing.
Glad you like them, @joalalvarez! This was a true Team Beck effort, with all of us taking pics.
hi dear @kiligirl, after many days you shared your blog,you wrote the article in very nice,informatics and all the pictures much attractive, Rijksmuseum and other stunning Amsterdam attractions shows your creativity skills. thnks for sharing.
Upvoted.
Hi, @rabeel, yes, it's been a while. It was very difficult to get these images into a reliable image hosting service and I had quite a few false starts. I really appreciate your kind words as it makes the hours of effort (and associated lack of exercise) worth it. Thank you!
I'm new in steemit. afraid of long comments. the post you share is very good thank you for sharing. success always ya friend!
Well, welcome to Steemit, @osama-rodriguez4! Good to have you on board. Thank you so much for your kind comment (short and to the point), and in particular for NOT begging for a follow and upvote on your posts! I appreciate your respect for the effort I've put in here. If you're not sure what to say as a new Steemian, you could always start with a question. My first mentor used to say to me les gens intéressants sont des gens intéressés (I'm sure Google translate can help you if you don't speak French).
Great photos.. I can feel your effort in this post. Appreciated much.. Much love from the Philippines :)
Thank you so much, @asbonclz! I really appreciate your kind words. Have nearly finished writing about that trip - I'll have to find something else to write about soon.🙃
You are always welcome.
a wonderful Sunday to visit the museum.
this is a fun trip
Two museums in one day! But we hadn't finished our tourism yet! ;-)