Amsterdam, Netherlands
Having snuck out the Baltic yesterday through Germany’s Kiel Canal, our Scandinavia and the Baltics voyage is nearing an end, but not without visits to two of the world’s great cities. Today we explored vibrant and progressive Amsterdam and some of its fine art and history; tomorrow we are in London.
Passing waterways, sand dunes and tri-bladed wind turbines (descendants of picturesque Dutch windmills) we arrived by coach from the countryside to Holland’s famous town. Amsterdam is a netherland of its own making with its network of semicircular canals, striking architecture, bicycle nature, coffee shops, sex stores and some of the finest art in the world, notably its vast Van Gogh and Rembrandt collections.
One of the world’s great art collections is in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum. Here we peered into the colorful swirls and dabs of over two hundred of Vincent’s canvases. The talented and tortured artist’s influence on so many others was highlighted in a temporary exhibit entitled “goghmodern,” a collection of modern art interspersed with Van Gogh originals.
At the Anne Frank House, we climbed the famous narrow stairs hidden behind a bookcase, pondering a tragic clandestine existence and the remarkable will to record it. Pictures of movie stars and scribbles by Anne and her family on the walls told of their dreams of escape from their desperate situation. Memorials of this kind keep alive the living spirit and difficult history of our mankind.
We left Holland across a placid North Sea for tomorrow’s disembarkation up the Thames at London’s famous Tower Bridge. Having now visited our tenth, and tomorrow our eleventh country on this remarkable voyage, we leave with a greater appreciation and understanding of nations and nationalism—from the breaking up of the Eastern bloc into independent states to the coming together of countries in a burgeoning European Union.
Having snuck out the Baltic yesterday through Germany’s Kiel Canal, our Scandinavia and the Baltics voyage is nearing an end, but not without visits to two of the world’s great cities. Today we explored vibrant and progressive Amsterdam and some of its fine art and history; tomorrow we are in London.
Passing waterways, sand dunes and tri-bladed wind turbines (descendants of picturesque Dutch windmills) we arrived by coach from the countryside to Holland’s famous town. Amsterdam is a netherland of its own making with its network of semicircular canals, striking architecture, bicycle nature, coffee shops, sex stores and some of the finest art in the world, notably its vast Van Gogh and Rembrandt collections.
One of the world’s great art collections is in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum. Here we peered into the colorful swirls and dabs of over two hundred of Vincent’s canvases. The talented and tortured artist’s influence on so many others was highlighted in a temporary exhibit entitled “goghmodern,” a collection of modern art interspersed with Van Gogh originals.
At the Anne Frank House, we climbed the famous narrow stairs hidden behind a bookcase, pondering a tragic clandestine existence and the remarkable will to record it. Pictures of movie stars and scribbles by Anne and her family on the walls told of their dreams of escape from their desperate situation. Memorials of this kind keep alive the living spirit and difficult history of our mankind.
We left Holland across a placid North Sea for tomorrow’s disembarkation up the Thames at London’s famous Tower Bridge. Having now visited our tenth, and tomorrow our eleventh country on this remarkable voyage, we leave with a greater appreciation and understanding of nations and nationalism—from the breaking up of the Eastern bloc into independent states to the coming together of countries in a burgeoning European Union.
