GARGANTUAN steps

Friday, June 22, 2012

Je maintiendrai, Ik zal handhaven

I will maintain

I found it particularly apt that the Dutch motto (which is the title of my blog entry; and is in both French and Dutch), when translated into English, means 'I will maintain'. Guess it is a reminder to be steadfast in this final journey towards my final exams! Fear, trepidation, anxiety, stress, excitement all rolled into one. Dread and longing all in one. And now as I complete this blog post, my final exams have just ended! The run up to it was particularly stressful. I had nearly 8 weeks of study leave to prepare for it (still not enough definitely, but nothing will be enough), and the exams itself lasted across three weeks! More of a marathon than a hundred metre sprint. The whole can be said about medical school as well. It is a marathon, and it is coming to a definitive end in a week's time. More fear and trepidation awaits, but between then and now, I have a short trip to Milan and Naples to make before returning to London. 

Meanwhile, Amsterdam was one of the many European capitals that I had yet to visit, and I have been longing to go for ages, just didn't have the time nor the company. I wanted to go back in February with my brother, but he was studying for his exams, so we ended up going after his exams, which were in April (perhaps not the best of times for me since I had exams to prepare for myself!). Anyway, I believe fully in this quote my friend once told me - work expands to fill the time that you have. Hence, I took a short weekend break to Amsterdam to enjoy its beautiful canals, wonderful art, and dazzling flowers! April is probably the best time to go as well, with the flowers out in full bloom, and they are amazing!

Day 1 - Amsterdam, Anne Frank's House and the Red Light District

My brother and I caught a flight out from Heathrow Airport and it was a relatively uneventful journey. We even managed to catch a 'free' train ride into Amsterdam Centraal Station, mainly cause we were running for the train and didn't see any purchasing booths along the way, and assumed that a ticket conductor would be on-board to empty our pockets. And I guess it's amazing how European cities are so trusting of its citizens to have integrity (some would say that they are just naive). This definitely won't work in an Asian society. Then again, I wonder how it works too in such cities, because there will definitely be more people who wouldn't pay for tickets then pay for them, though that might just be my own narrow mindset. 

The weather wasn't too obliging with an incessant drizzle interrupted with the occasional shower of sunlight. It didn't help with my brother's mood either. Neither did the queues at the various museums that we went to help. To top it off, the hotel we stayed at, easyHotel, was quite a rip-off. It was one of the most centrally-located hotels of a reasonable price that I could find, but they definitely did try to get as much money as possible out from its customers. An additional 10 Euros had to be paid for an early check-in (meaning before the allocated 3 pm time slot), and if you wanted to use the TV or the internet Wifi, you had to pay 10 Euros for 24 hours of usage! An absolute rip-off. The worse was that the internet Wifi could only be used on one device and was non-transferable! Absolutely disgusting. Will definitely consider paying a bit more in future for a better hotel and better facilities. And the cream of the crop - the toilet consisted of only glass walls with opaque bits covering sensitive areas.


Amsterdam Centraal Station


easyHotel and the glass-toilet

Our first stop of the day was a visit to Anne Frank's house. Technically, this should be called Otto Frank's house (her father), since it did belong to him (just being pedantic unfortunately). So for those who don't know the story of Anne Frank, she was a Jewish girl who lived in Amsterdam during the second world war. When the Nazis invaded the city, the Jews were either leaving the city, or getting sent to concentration camps, and the rest remained in hiding. She was one of the more famous ones because she left behind a diary detailing her life of self-imposed captivity in this very house. They were unfortunately betrayed and the family was sent to various concentration camps. She unfortunately died a few weeks before the concentration camp she was in was liberated by British troops. Cause of death - typhus. Her father and her diary survived, and he had it published (because her dream was to be a journalist and a writer). 

Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to take any pictures of the interior of the house, which to be honest, wasn't too spectacular. The interesting thing of note was a sliding bookcase which hid a set of staircase which led to the attic where the family lived in darkness for over a year. They had to have the curtains drawn all the time, and had to do everything in complete darkness, from eating to showering. Pretty haunting and depressing to read about their unfulfilled lives, having to live in perpetual fear.


Entrance to Anne Frank Huis


Anne Frank's house


Me and one of many of Amsterdam's canals

After queuing up for slightly more than an hour to get into Anne Frank's house, we spent about 30 minutes in it before making our way back to our hotel, making several stops along the way. One of them was Dam Square, which is Amsterdam's main square (akin to Trafalgar Square in London). Nothing too spectacular though except for the typical lion statues and central monument. We then made a brisk walk through Amsterdam's infamous red-light district. Scantily clad (or un-clad) women were gyrating in see-through windows, cajoling men to go in and empty their wallets (and more). A huge tourist attraction in itself, there has apparently been a governmental initiative to clean up these streets, but yet being a highlight of Amsterdam itself, they face a huge backlash from the tourism industry. You can't take pictures of them or you risk being punched in the face and having your camera tossed into the canal. Compared to this, Geylang (and Joo Chiat) can be considered extremely tame till the point of being laughable. Still, an interesting walk that lasted all but five minutes.


Dam Square


Bro and me


A canal in Amsterdam (and the shops with the neon signs are those housing prostitutes)

Day 2 - Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum and old friend Anand

The next day was spent visiting the many art galleries of Amsterdam (we managed just two out of three though, giving the Rembrandt Museum a miss). I was never really an art museum/gallery fan but I really did enjoy roaming through the Van Gogh Museum. I do especially like the paintings which consist of multiple dashes and dots, making the painting look extremely intricate. The interesting thing I discovered was that van Gogh used to like painting dark-coloured pictures, but he gradually started painting in bright colours instead, and those are the paintings that I love most. In particular, 'Sunflowers' (of which he painted a few, because his friend had come to live with him, and he wanted to decorate his friend's room), his self-portraits, and 'Garden with Courting Couples'. Amazingly, there was no one stopping people from taking pictures of these paintings, and so I happily snapped away. Unfortunately, one of my favourite van Gogh painting, 'The Starry Night', is not in the Van Gogh Museum but in New York's Museum of Modern Art. Definitely headed there when I'm in town.


Breakfast and a hungry dog


Me at the Rijksmuseum


Queue at the Van Gogh Museum


Garden with Courting Couples


Sunflowers


Self-portrait with Grey Felt Hat

The Rijksmuseum is another of Amsterdam's highlights. Besides paintings, there were models of boats, sculptures, and other crafts. Still, it was the paintings that captivated me the most. The apparent highlight of this museum is the 'The Night Watch', painted by Rembrandt. It is also apparently known as 'The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'. First of all, the main thing about this painting is that it is huge - 3.6 metres by 4.3 metres. And it is suppose to portray a sense of motion in an otherwise static picture. Can't say that this particular painting moved me. Personally, for large, beautiful, moving paintings, head to the Sistine Chapel. There were other beautiful paintings as well, and once again, thanks to lax security, I am allowed to feature them here on my blog.


Rijksmuseum


The Night Watch


Still Life with Flowers by Hans Bollongier
(the apparent ironic thing about this picture is that tulips, roses and carnations, all of which are depicted in this picture, do not bloom at the same time, hence a factual error on the part of the artist)


River View by Moonlight by Aert van der Neer


Woman in Blue Reading a Letter by Johannes Vermeer


The Kitchen Maid by Johannes Vermeer


The Merry Fiddler by Gerard van Honthorst

I met up with an old friend, Anand, who is from my church choir back in Singapore. My brother decided to sit this one out, for a variety of reasons. After a nice dinner at Gauchos (an Argentinian steak house), we adjourned to catch a bit of La Liga football at a pub (with table-top dancers and perverted men). Barcelona versus Real Madrid was the match of the day, and unfortunately, the results didn't pan out the way I wanted it to be. Still, an enjoyable time catching up with an old friend.


Me and Anand

Day 3 - Keukenhof Gardens

Our last day in Amsterdam was spent visiting the amazing Keukenhof Gardens, just along the outskirts of Amsterdam. These gardens are only opened from the months of late March till the end of May, and they attract a few thousand tourists every day. The park was literally swarmed with tourists, and though spectacular with millions of blooming, brightly-coloured tulips, there were just too many people! Perhaps because it was a weekend, and because it was the weekend where the annual flower parade was being staged, hence the seemingly endless throngs of people. Still, it doesn't detract from the gorgeous array of splendor. The rest is a sight for you to behold, and though just flowers alone, a reminder of the beauty of nature.


Keukenhof Gardens

 

Red tulips


White and pink tulips

 
Bro and me


Largest chicken feet ever

 

Beautiful scenery

 

More tulips


Me sitting on a swan-like chair

 
 
Swan(s) lake


More tulips


Keukenhof Gardens

Thus ended my short weekend trip to Amsterdam, which though seemed an inappropriate time to go (before exams), was probably an opportune moment to go. It was a short, enjoyable trip and I'll definitely be back there again. Meanwhile, it's off to Milan and Naples for me for a short trip before results are back! A week of stress and anxiety ensues.

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