Begijnhof
Begijnhof
The Begijnhof is an old, quiet courtyard in Amsterdam. The proverbial island of calm in the busy city. One of the houses dates from 1420. Other than that there isn't much there.
I then proceeded to the Rijksmuseum, which I was supposed to visit with Jiekai (of course, the cock went ahead on his own on a prior day). It's been under renovation since 2003, but you won't hear of the real reason (an asbestos leak) from the Rijks itself - no, they're always striving to serve their customers better! I bet they didn't even lower their ticket prices despite their only showing selected highlights during the renovation. During the renovation, many of its pieces are dispersed throughout the country. Some are housed in Schiphol, but you can only see them if you fly! Luckily they'll still be there when I fly back.
The Netherlands must be the only country in the world to transition from a republic to a kingdom.
Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne, Fishing for souls, 1614
This depicts the Catholic/Protestant rivalry
Paulus van Vianen - Adoration of the Shepherds
The silverwork is exquisite
I found out why Delft ceramics remind me so much of China - they were made in imitation of it when a civil war disrupted its supply.
Earthenware violin. Wth.
Melchior d'Hondecoeter - The floating feather
Gerard de Lairesse - Allegory of the Sciences
This is another of those paintings that looks like a sculpture. This was one of 4 paintings. Maybe he did the one in the Centraal Museum also.
Falconet - Menacing Love
There was a €14.95 book about this sculpture at the gift shop. I don't see what's so special.
Gerard van Honthorst - The Merry Fiddler
Pieter Claesz - Still life with turkey pie
I like the dead turkey on top of the turkey pie. Don't you?
Interior of the St Bavo Church in Haarlem
Willem Heda painted only still life for 40 years. Wth.
Pieter Lastman - Orestes & Pylades disputing at the altar
Bartholomeus van der Helst - Bickers - Father & Son
What a contrast!
Aert van der Neer - River view by moonlight
Night views are so rare.
Rembrandt - Syndics of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild
Bakhuysen - Ships in distress in heavy storm
Gerard Don was very evil. He painted a painting with a realistic-looking curtain in it, because paintings were covered with curtains to protect them from the light. Maybe he wanted people to touch the painting and ruin it.
Ver Meer - The Kitchen Maid
Hals/Codde - The Meagre Company
Rembrandt - Nightwatch
I didn't know it was quite so big.
Exterior of the Rijksmuseum
Meeting up with Jiekai as I exited the exhibition, I bought a ticket to a concert that night.
Concertgebouw building
Me on turfed roof
Below me is a carpark and a supermarket (Albert Heijn). Quite unique for such facilities to have a turfed roof.
After that, we went to the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum (appropriately enough, some time before I entered, I was offered Ecstasy by a Turkish-looking guy). It was most informative, if pricey (€5.70 for an exhibition on only one level, in an area the size of a shop). For example they cited the Crancer Report which found that cannabis use had no effect on driving skills (while alcohol use affected it greatly).
"Consumption causes a slight, temporary elevation (increase) in rate of heartbeat while intoxicated. Caution: Thinking about this effect increases the heart rate even more, and this can cause anxiety."
The insanity of the US war on drugs was also repeatedly stressed. Presidents Washingotn and Jefferson were hemp farmers, for exmaple, which would've gotten them the death penalty today (which falls on those who grow >1/4 acre of hemp, even the drug-free variety). I'm surprised Singapore was not mentioned at all, though. A sign at the entrance of the museum appealed for visitors to send in relevant memorabilia or artefacts. Maybe someone can send them a poster of the "Local bands remember Sam" concert.
The Devil's Plant
Some of the information was rather dubious, though. They claimed cannabis could be used to treat AIDs, and the sheer list of alleged references in ancient writings to cannabis was suspect (The Atharva, Exodus 30:23, Isaish 18:4-5, Revelations 22:1-2, Genesis 1:29-31, Shen Nung from the Han Dynasty (3727BC) (sic), the Vedas [they claimed Shiva gave India Cannabis] and lots of Asian texts I'd never heard of). And some of the arguments were stretched to the limit - there were numerous references to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, for example. As Lonely Planet remarks, it is "zealous", and their credibility is not enhanced by such items as a book reading: "Hemp: Lifeline to the future. The unexpected answer for environmental and economic recovery". It didn't help that the book looked like those "use your brain power to change reality" or "What did Nostradamus say?" types from the 80s. As Jiekai remarked: "it's a bit like falling into Chee Soon Juan Syndrome", and I added that the worthwhile part of the message is lost in the garbage.
Consume this and die
There were also some truly strange items, like cannabis perfume (why would anyone want to smell of pot?! Then again, when my housemates do it it smells a LOT less obnoxious than when they smoke tobacco) and an apple used to smoke pot from (this is damn sad - almost as pathetic as sniffing glue).
The pride of their collection must've been the 2 17th century paintings showing people smoking. They had some T-shirts in the gift shop, which I suggested Jiekai buy, but he didn't want to be arrested on stepping into Changi Airport. Too bad.
The museum's general aim was to expose the religious-like insanity of the war on marijuana, but in turn it adopted somewhat of a mystical air in spreading its message. Not the best way to change minds, but then again the sort of people who need the FUD cleared would never visit the place. Essentially, like in anti-drug campaigns, the museum is preaching to the choir.
Worldwide incarceration rates
I knew we lead the world in executions, but didn't know about incarceration. Singapore must be Number 1 in everything, so we still have some way to go.
Hemp Prayer Rug, Ching Dynasty, 1912
Apparently Harry Anslinger 'engineered pot prohibition' when his job enforcing alcohol prohibition ended.
Me in a shoe
I forced Jiekai into a shoe for a Kodak moment, so I was obliged to repay him in kind.
In Dam square there was a woman wearing a black masquerade mask, a black tank top, a fluffy white tutu and red shoes (with white stockings). She was standing among pigeons and someone was snapping pictures. This is a wacky country.
We met a group of 7 NUS exchange students (and 1 other) at Leeds and Nottingham who were travelling. The group looked very big and unwieldy - I wonder how they manage to make travel decisions.
While I waited for my concert, Jiekai kindly stayed back to talk to me for almost an hour. I then went to browse in the bookstore of Amsterdam Centraal, which was very well stocked. I got a "Let's Go - Europe 2006" for €17.50 (it was marked on the cover as being a cheap edition, which was what caught my interest). The place also had Amy Tan novels in Dutch ("Vissen op het droge helpen" and "De dochter van de heelmeester"), and a Japanese porn magazine.
I then went for my concert.
Turfed roof again
Nederlands Kamerorkest presenteert:
Yakov Kreizberg, dirigent
Julia Fischer, viool
Gordan Nikolic, altviool
Nederlands Kamerorkest
Prokofjev - Eerste symfonie in D, op. 25 'Klassieke'
W.A. Mozart - Vioolconcert in A, KV 219
Nyman - Trysting Fields
W.A. Mozart - Sinfonia concertante in Es, KV 364
I was at least somewhat familiar with 3/4 of the pieces, and this really made a difference in appreciation (as well as attention span).
Interior of Concertgebouw Grote Zaal
The hall was decorated with the names of (presumably) famous composers. However, there were many people I'd never heard of - Spohr, Lutto, Rontgen, Pigper, Reger, Verhulst, Nielsgade, Rubinstein and Wanning. The audience was very old - I saw a lot of shiny heads. Their age might've made them cough a lot (more than is usual during concerts), but then again that might've been due to their speaking too little Dutch (or, alternatively, too much).
The conductor made a dramatic entrance, coming in through the doorway and down the stairs seen in the top right hand corner of the picture, as a spotlight seemed to shine on him.
I know I've heard Prokofiev's Classical Symphony performed live at least once before. It's quite a popular piece which you often find on programs. I wonder how Prokofiev would've felt about that.
The sound in the hall was excellent. Maybe it had something to do with my seat in row 13 from the front and at the extreme left part of the centre block (or the qualities of the wood used in the organ), but I could hear the cellos and double basses as well as if they'd been playing from where the first violins were.
Nyman's Trysting Fields (from Drowning by Numbers) was interesting. When I saw it on the program I figured it didn't sound like a nightmare scene and so was safe. Evidently the conductor didn't think very much of it (difficulty-wise, aesthetically or otherwise), for he didn't even show up to conduct the piece, even though there was both a violin and viola soloist. The orchestra gave a good demonstration of the fadeout effect - playing the ending bars of the song more and more softly till the music ceased. Before that concert, I thought such a graceful and seamless fadeout was only possible with the aid of electronic equipment.
The playing of the chamber orchestra was good, and my only complaint was that they lacked grace in cresting their crescendos during the Classical Symphony. The violin soloist kept tugging her dress straps up. That wasn't so bad, but what was really annoying was that she wiped her hands on her dress from time to time and kept leaning way over backwards at the end of her parts.
There was one violin player who was in an oufit that covered herself from neck to wrist to toe. Maybe she got it in Dutch Country.
I was wondering why so many people gave the orchestra and soloists standing ovations after the Nyman piece. Then I realised that it was because it was time for the interval. My theory was confirmed by the fact that no one gave standing ovations for the first and third pieces, and that no one sat down after standing up, but immediately zipped off to smoke, drink, pee or what not.
The viola is not a good instrument for a soloist or to write a concerto for (or worst: a concerto for a violin as well). Most of the time it gets drowned out by the violin soloist or the orchestra (though this might be by design). At least they have it better than the double bassists - I can't think of any solo parts for double bass.
On the tram back from the Concertgebouw I sat next to this guy who was reading a magazine interview. Normally I wouldn't look any further, but I saw that it was an interview with "Schoolse super slut Annabel Chong". Naturally I was curious, especially since she was supposed to have retired. Glancing on, I saw that the magazine was called "Asian Girls" and one question asked what she liked. There was a short list, and I'm quite sure double penetration was in there.
Almost everyone who wears head-warming equipment at this time of the year in Amsterdam is American. And someone who wears the sort with dangly sides and/or the designs you can find in the stores is 99.999999% likely to be American.
I saw 2 places offering 1 hour of as much as you can eat Tim Sum for €7.50. One of them had a takeaway option - 750g for €7.50.
The creamy ice cream shop has variable opening hours on Monday and variable closing hours on one other day. The Europeans really know how to enjoy life.