Amsterdam For Three Days

Picture this: you’re sitting in your bedroom, wondering what to do with five days off from school, before you realize most of your friends already have travel plans. So

, you decide to call your parents and tell them you will be coming home for the weekend. 

“Oh…” your father responds. 

“Oh..?” you say.

“Well…we kind of planned to away to Amsterdam.”

“Oh!” 

Followed by your mother’s request, “can you watch the dog?”

Comical on display, of course, but my parents happily welcomed me on their romantic getaway to Holland much to my surprise. I was exhilarated by the opportunity, though short notice and a short time there, because I have been missing Europe intensely. It has been one year since I lived in Florence for almost four months. At times I miss who I was there, though other times I am grateful to have experienced the growth of courage and return home to change my life for the better. Either way, it is evident that those months were world-altering for me (literally and figuratively) and I miss skipping across Europe each weekend visiting a new city, trying new food, engaging in new language, and witnessing beautiful art. Seeing as the last few weeks have been less than easy for me, Amsterdam is exactly what I needed this month. 

As soon as I got word of confirmation that I would be traveling with them to Amsterdam, I picked up my copy of Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. We were to visit the Secret Annex along with a trip to the Van Gogh Museum, and I did not want to miss out on the opportunity of having the context and background information. 

Experiencing Amsterdam

Anne Frank Haus

As somber a topic like Anne Frank’s family is, this museum blew me away. Their preservation of the Secret Annex, in addition to historical artifacts and audiovisuals, allowed me to truly immerse myself into what it must have felt like for Anne to live in such fear and hope for the two years. I was so grateful to have had the context of reading her diary beforehand because I put the pieces of the museum with the information she gave together to really have a full picture in my head. She did such a great job of describing her hideout that when the museum finally took us there, it was as if I knew my way around. It was definitely a more devastating part of my day, but I also wouldn’t have had it any other way. I did, however, find one aspect of Anne Frank’s story to be missing in the museum, which I hope to write about soon. All that being said, however, I am very lucky to have been able to get tickets to this museum on such short notice. 

Rijksmuseum

A must see, and for good reason. I like to describe the Rijksmuseum (rhymes with bikes, by the way, how Amsterdamian of them!) as a smaller version of the Louvre, both in its architectural display and also the way in which it is formatted. Even their map felt intrinsically similar to me. The main attraction to Rijks is, of course, Rembrandt, the famous Dutch artist. My dad loves him, as both my parents admire the impressionism era, but I found other highlightable aspects of Rijks I wanted to mention here. 

My love for art really began in Florence, both from my first experience in the Uffizi to the incredible art history course I took on the Italian renaissance. Anyone that knows me knows that this course changed my abroad experience and in some ways, shaped me into who I am. Nonetheless, I fucking love art now, particularly that of the Renaissance era or Italian style. So imagine my glee to hear there was italian art on display at Rijks! And Fra Angelico, specifically! I dragged my parents to that section, describing in much-too-immense-detail-for-ten-in-the-morning about all the stylistic techniques going on in those paintings and tryptichs and mosaics and gold-grounds, before eventually moving on to Rembrandt’s section. Fra Angelico, in case you were wondering (and you probably were not) is most famous for his Annunciation painting in Florence, which I had the pleasure of seeing in person. 

Rembrandt and I didn’t really connect, and I’m not sure why, but I do know why my parents connect with him: a lot of his art is tied to medicine. Lots of surgical scenes, immense detail, etc etc, and seeing as both of my parents have dedicated their careers to becoming medical professionals, it’s easy to understand why they would find Rembrandt so compelling. I am more of Caravaggio kind of gal myself, or maybe that’s just because he’s Italian and I am biased towards art of that country…who knows! 

Nonetheless, I appreciated seeing the Night Watch in person, and even more so that it is a relatively large painting to stand by and dissect, as opposed to other famous pieces of art like Leonardo’s Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s Sunflowers where you’re practically elbowing everyone in sight just to see what color the background actually is and maybe take a quick photo of it even though it is readily accessible to see again after a 67-second Google search. I’m not sure why I still have that impulse, but carrying around a pocket notebook to write down my thoughts has been immensely practical to avoid taking out my phone at every piece of art I see and enjoy. 

The Pantry 

On our first night in Amsterdam, we ate at The Pantry, a tourist-attracting restaurant that prides itself on home-made Dutch cuisine. There was a line out the door when we came, but luckily I have a plan-in-advance Dad (thank god I’ve inherited that trait) who made reservations as soon as he could. 

pea soup and yummy bread!

The Pantry did not disappoint. My parents and I began with soup and delicious home-made bread with classic Dutch butter. This was divine, especially after practically clocking 20,000 steps in just a short walk around the city coming off the plane. My dad and I tried their pea-soup (which I’ve never had before but thoroughly enjoyed) while my mom went for classic tomato. Then it was time for the dishes. I tried their Hutspot, a medley of mash potatoes with stewed beef, carrots, and onions with a smoked sausage on top. This hearty meal was phenomenal, and accompanied by, of course, a Heineken beer (or two…or three…). It was then that I declared I loved Dutch food, as I really love meals that fill you all the way up. Perhaps it is the irish in me, but hearty stews filled with lots of protein, carbs, and veg is preferred for me - I’ve ate my best in Munich, London, Dublin, and now Amsterdam, in addition to all of Italy…but that’s just because of my obsession with pasta. Anyway, I am rambling. Point being, fantastic meal, fantastic vibes. 

my try at Hutspot!

The Van Gogh Museum

This was the highlight of the trip for me, by far. Van Gogh is honestly one of my favorite artists, if not my favorite of all time. This obsession began way back in the episode of the Little Einsteins where they end up inside the Bedroom of Arles painting. It persisted and grew as I traveled to Switzerland last year, encountering the Wheat Field with Cypresses, my favorite painting of his. It is there that I saw the first emergence of his “starry night” technique (aka, the swirling skies!). One of my favorite aspects of Van Gogh is his great big globs of paint that he uses, letting them dry right on the canvas. When you examine the art up close, you can clearly see all of his strokes. My dad told me this technique was known as impasto, when you apply thick paint that creates texture in addition to bold, directional brushwork. 

The museum itself was beautiful to me and well-designed. You start on the bottom floor and you work your way up, each level representing an era of his life, up until his death and the legacy he left. The museum starts with all of his self portraits and ends with his Almond Blossom, a gift he gave to his brother out of pure joy for his newborn child. This newborn child eventually became the creator of the museum, and I find that fucking beautiful. 

I stared at this for roughly 8 minutes straight <3

A final note before I exhaust this conversation (and I apologize for all the art talk) is that I wanted to draw attention to Van Gogh himself. A note explicitly stated in the museum, and a trend that continues throughout it, is that Van Gogh’s mental health was a battle he endured despite his passion for painting, not as a result or in coping with this trauma. The episodes he suffered from should not be how we remember him, because in the midst of all of it, he continued to paint beautifully for the love of his work. In fact, it is that habit of painting that Van Gogh cited as a remedy to his mental issues. To quote the museum, “Vincent van Gogh's mental health is not the sole source of his genius, but a complex part of his life that offers a way to normalize conversations about mental well-being.” Maybe it is the complexity behind his emotions that draws me to him, or just the bright, vibrant colors he uses; but either way, it is no coincidence that I teared up at Sunflowers and proceeded to buy multiple books about him at the store. 

A Canal Ride Tour 

Onto more light aspects of our trip! My parents and I took a canal ride around Amsterdam’s beautiful Jordaan neighborhood, learning that Amsterdam is similarly built like Venice or Boston in that it is on marshes, causing the buildings to shift over time. I had done a lot of research about Amsterdam prior to coming, but I still learned new things. The canal ride also featured cocktails, so my dad and I sipped on Heineken while my mom drank prosecco. It seemed we were the only people that were…having fun? There were lots of couples, meanwhile the three of us were talking up the tour guides and giggling about random things. Every time I looked over to our peers, they all seemed dead inside. Oh well. More fun for us! 

Heineken Experience 

We fast passed this in the middle of our day to at least see it and have a drink or two. While I found it enjoyable, I also felt they were adding a lot of fillers and it was like…dude, just take me to the bar already. We’ve also done the Guinness experience together, and I found that much more enjoyable. Guinness focused a lot more on the history of the beer itself in addition to its production process, whereas Heineken was just about the production, except there’s only four ingredients, so really how much can you go through before you just let them take a sip? In fact, at one point, we finally got to the sip, but they literally made us wait to sniff it first…give me a break. That being said, it was cool, don’t get me wrong, and if we had more time to learn it would’ve probably been better. ALSO, it is not self-paced. Don’t believe them. Too many roadblocks! 

Zaanse Schans 

About a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam takes you to this sweet little town of Zaanse Schans, a neighborhood in the Dutch town of Zaandam that features a re-created authentic Dutch village. Historic windmills and green wooden houses were relocated here in order to show an 18th century traditional town. My mom was excited to see the windmills, so we went over here and had a great time - there was a clog factory, lots of souvenir shops, chocolate-making, and of course, lots of large windmills. I think because of TikTok, the place has become fairly crowded, and we definitely felt that the day we went. That being said, it was nice to get out of the city and see a different area of the Netherlands. I hope to have the opportunity to that again soon. 

cheers mama!

Conclusion

This may take the cake for my longest blog post yet! If it isn’t clear, I not only loved my trip, but loved Amsterdam itself!!! One of my favorite aspects of traveling is that I am able to learn so many new things - traveling allows me to explore my curiosity and interests, in turn making me feel all around much more knowledgable. I had experienced this feeling for the first time in Florence, and it has only elevated now that I am back on campus and getting to travel as I please. I had never really been abroad before last year, and I now recognize its utmost importance - not only in becoming well-rounded, but having a better understanding of the world around me, too. 

Would it be a trip for us if we didn't try stroopwafels?

Signing off for now, but not before thanking Mom and Dad for letting me tag along. Getting to have this experience was awesome, and I hope we can have more opportunities like this together in the coming years! Love you guys!