Amsterdam-Explosion of the Senses

"How do you like the view?"

7.40am. I am hidden under a thick blanket at Eric's flat in Nijkerk, a suburb outside Amsterdam.  The previous night, we drove to Holland from Bruges. Eric had been excited all night to have me check out the morning view from his apartment on the top floor of a 6-storey building.

I open my eyes slightly to take it in. Patches of unused land have transmission towers sprouting in places. In the distance, a yellow commuter train cuts through the expanse in no haste. Nothing more. I wonder if this is a trick question.

"Umm...it's very nice. Yeah, really nice", I lie. Played fast and loose with the word 'view', Eric.

This satisfies him and we are ready to get on with the day. After showering and getting dressed, we set off for Amersfoort Station from where we catch a train into the city. In about 30 minutes, the train pulls into Amsterdam Centraal. The station is huge and bustling with morning commuters, tourists, travellers and vendors. Platforms are located on the upper level and esculators bring you down to a mass of coffee shops, tulip shops, restaurants and other services. If it weren't for bright bunches of tulips everywhere, the scene would have been no different from Chennai's Central Station, the hub of Southern Railways, India.

We grab a bite from a cafe where I decide to try Koffie Verkeerd (literally 'coffee the other way around'). This is the dutch version of cafe au lait with hot milk added to generous amounts of coffee. It tastes delicious and I have no idea why everyone here from the lady behind me at the counter to Jorge Galoppo back in Brussels claim that dutch coffee is black water. A majority of people seem to love Starbucks here-something I cannot understand or accept. 

We have a few hours before Sunil gets into town so we step out of the station to explore the city a little bit. I take in my first sight of Amsterdam-Venice of the North. 

Simply put, you'd have to try very hard to not like this city. Historically, it has been a major European city for over 8 centuries. Geographically, it is a delight with traffic plying on roads and waterways. A marvel of urban planning, its people have truly conquered the waters surrounding it to make it grow in shallow lands('Netherlands'=Low lying lands). Culturally, it is a city of eccentricities with museums dedicated to anything you can imagine. While the Dutch East India Company made the city prosperous back in the day, its thriving economy makes it one of the most successful European metros today. Add to all this a bohemian character and an 'anything goes' attitude and you have a city that offers something for everyone.

The sun shines brilliantly on Stationsplein outside Amsterdam Centraal. The first image that arrests you is the parking lot for bikes. Tens of thousands of bicycles are chained to fences everywhere. It isn't an exaggeration that there are more bikes than people in this city. Blue-white trams scurry around the station area clanging bells while pedestrians, motorists and cyclists zip everywhere, managing to miss colliding.

Any tourist or local will advise you to walk down Damrak from Stationsplein when you are visiting the city for the first time. Damrak is probably the busiest street here with dozens of cheap hotels, hostels, souvenir stores, odd museums, cheap and fancy restaurants. There is nothing you cannot find here-from middle-eastern food to marijuana.

A short walk down Damrak brings us to Dam Square. This is the nerve center of Amsterdam. Major streets in Amsterdam converge here and most of the city's tourist attractions are fairly walkable from here. The Square itself is surrounded by buildings steeped in history. The name 'Dam Square' comes from the fact that the space grew from the first dam constructed on the Amstel river. In fact, this is how the city itself gets it name ('Dam on the Amstel river').

To one side, you have the magnificent Royal Palace- a 16th century building that has served more as a Town Hall than a palace. An orange flag flies high when the current Queen Beatrix is in the city. For all practical purposes, matters involving the government are dealt at The Hague even though Amsterdam is the political capital of the Netherlands.

Adjacent to the Palace is the 600 year old NieuweKerk ("New Church"). Once a Catholic church, it suffered damages when Protestants stormed in and destroyed art and sculpture during an anti-catholic wave in the 1500s. After Holland became independent in 1648, the church was converted into a Dutch-Reformed Protestant church. Across from the square and opposite to the Church is Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. 

On the other side of Damrak, the Square is occupied by the National Monument situated in the center.  This was erected as a memorial for Dutch soldiers who died in World War II. The Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky stands behind the Monument while De Bijenkorf ('The Beehive'), an upscale department store, flanks the monument on another side.

De Wallen, Amsterdam's famous Red Light district, begins a few blocks east of the hotel.

On a summer day, you can imagine thousands of tourists and locals sharing this Square with as many pigeons, smoking weed and contemplating on the next place for a good beer.

Eric and I walk down Kalverstraat, a busy pedestrian-only shopping street where such sights as the Hidden Catholic church remain hidden between alluring signs of Zara, Armani and the like. Somewhere down Kalverstraat is an alley tucked away which leads to a Begijnhof. We walk back and forth several times but the alley remains truly hidden. The beguines sure weren't kidding about their mission.

Kalverstraat brings us to a stump of a tower, not too tall. This is Munttoren('Mint Tower') and it once marked the edge of the walled city during medieval times. At that time, the city was surrounded by a moat which has now become the Singel canal.  Today, the Singel is dotted with bright splashes of colour. Tulips of every possible shade and size bloom brilliantly in the many shops of the Bloemenmarkt ('Flower Market') here. 

What's with tulips in this country-you may ask! The 17th century marked one of Holland's most glorious periods. Trade with Asia and Africa had made its wealthier citizens impossibly rich. With homes full of exotic paintings, spices and fabric, Dutch merchants sought to decorate their gardens. In a land largely unappealing with vast water bodies, dreary weather and bland cuisine, tulips in vivid colours transformed the landscape of the country. Tulipmania spread like wildfire and all of Holland was consumed in the craze to grow tulips of every colour and size. At one point, a tulip was worth more than a house or a mill. Fortunes were lost and won over rare varieties. In fact, the fever was so crazy that entire towns got involved in growing and delivering tulips. Blooms were ordered in numbers which all of Holland could never deliver while prices skyrocketed. Finally, the government stepped in when buyers refused to pay anymore. Just as quickly, the price of tulips and the rage came crashing down and the bubble burst. Today, the flower is an unmistakeable signature of Holland, grown purely out of love.

On a different day, I'd stop to toss tulips in the air and sing a song but I decide to do that later. I can't wait to explore the city's many canals first. Boat tours depart on the Singelgracht from docks near Vondel Park. Despite clouds rolling in and a steady drizzle, my boat is full of tourists on their earphones, listening to stories about Amsterdam's history in 16 languages. 

It is on this tour that I learn fascinating details about the city's canals. Cumulatively, they cover 100 kilometers. Contrary to popular belief, the canals did not grow from the center. The western halves were completed long before the city decided to extend them around in a windshield-wiper-ish fashion. Three main canals run in concentric circles around the city. I had crossed these 3 canals to get to my boat tour - Herrengracht('Nobleman's canal'), Keizergracht('Emperor's canal') and Prinsengracht('Prince's canal'). Together, these 3 canals are called Grachtengordel('Concentric ring of canals'). In Dutch political debates, they are a symbol of pretentious intellectualism!

Every canal is lined with dozens of marvelous, gabled houses. The gables are of various types - point, bell, step, spouse, neck, cornice. These gables enhance roofs and were originally added to help identify houses from a distance. 

In almost all of these houses, I notice a large hook hanging from gables.  These hooks were used to hoist furniture in and out of the house! Back in the day when houses faced a risk of floods, hooks were the only way to protect large possessions in a home.

Gables and hooks aren't the only features that make these houses so unique. Every house is incredibly narrow and I find out the reason why. These houses were built on pilings sunk into soft soil. The pilings got reinforced over time and since the houses were very close to each other, they practically leaned on one another. The extent of reinforcements depended on what people could afford individually. Poorer households naturally had their homes leaning on neighboring houses and sometimes, entire neighborhoods were leaning. When the government decided to regulate and add reinforcements for all of them, they taxed residents based on the width of pilings required. Of course, people responded by building narrow houses. What's more? They got creative. While doorways stood narrow, their houses grew tall and stretched long- so long that you could grow entire gardens inside!

There is no dearth of eccentricities in this city. When you see a museum for handbags, you've seen it all......until you see a museum for pipes later.

Heading out into the Ij River, the tour lets me enjoy a view of Amsterdam as a mass of buildings floating in water. You cannot help but marvel at the ingenuity of the Dutch to populate a place so undesirable, conquer the waters surrounding it, reclaim land and turn it into one of the most visited destinations in the world.

Boat tour completed, I head back to Amsterdam Centraal to meet Sunil, who has just arrived from Brussels. The weather calls for us to enjoy a local speciality-vlaamse frite('belgian fries' or more authentically 'flemish fries'). Any Amsterdammer worth his tulips will claim that the absolute best fries in town are to be had at Mannekin Pis. Getting its name from the impudent statue in Brussels, the store has 2 tiny locations in Amsterdam and packs thousands of hungry visitors every day. Fries in Amsterdam are served with a special kind of spicy mayonnaise which I find interestingly tasty.

In the afternoon, Sunil decides to visit the Royal Palace and Nieuwekerk while Eric and I head towards one of the finest art museums in the world - the Rijksmuseum.

In my opinion, the Rijksmuseum ('Rikes-museum') is probably the finest building in the Netherlands with its magnificent architecture and enormous collections. Dutch masters of art like Rembrandt and Vermeer are celebrated in the many galleries of this fine museum. Almost all of the museum is currently under massive renovation but this only makes our task easier. The most famous works in the museum have been moved to a single wing for the jet setting tourist's convenience.

The Dutch Golden Age spanned through the 17th century after Holland emerged as a nation at the end of the 80 Years War (1568-1648). Dutch Calvinists wanted nothing to do with the portrayal of religious scenes in paintings and so, artists produced works which featured portraits, landscapes, scenes from everyday life as well as still life paintings. These became the most successful subjects and showcased dutch culture, history and geography with pride.

Even a jet setter should plan to specifically visit 2-3 paintings if there isn't time for more. In "Still Life with Gilt Cup", artist William Claesz Heda's perfection in capturing the effect of light on a variety of objects is undeniable.

 

Every object on the table is painstakingly captured in the reflections on every other object. You can practically see bubbles rising in the water and smell a hint of lemon in the corner.

Then of course, there is the master painter-Rembrandt. In "The Jewish Bride", a couple shares an intimate moment that can be appreciated  for several lifetimes.

Finally, you cannot leave the museum without paying homage to Rembrandt's "The Night Watch". Captain Francis Banning Cocq and 17 members of the civic militia guard commissioned this painting which features 34 people. If the painting's chiaroscuro technique of playing with hidden light and shadows doesn't impress you, it's sheer size certainly will. The painting is also rare in terms of the way the militia have been portrayed-in action and not in pose.

 Close to the Rijksmuseum is a home for the celebrated works of yet another Dutch Master Painter-Vincent  Van Gogh. The Van Gogh Museum enjoys the reputation of being the most visited museum in the entire country. Unfortunately, I do not have time to take in more art on this short visit. Another destination beckons in a different part of town.

The Jordaan district could have derived its name from the dutch name for the River Jordan. It could have also been named after the french word for garden (jardin). Several streets here are named after flowers and trees anyway. Near Prinsengracht canal here stands a modest building that occupies a special place in the history of this country and the history of this world- the Anne Frank House.

I have heard of Anne Frank's story- a 12-year old Jewish girl who maintained a diary while she hid with her family to avoid being captured by the Nazis during World War II. The family hid in a secret annexe to their home for over 2 years before they were betrayed. A tragic story, no doubt. But then, I'd read so many stories of tragedies from that time. As I wait in line to buy my ticket (and there is always a long line), I have no expectations whatsoever. 

Dusk descends and so do icy pellets of rain. The wait stretches over an hour. I am cold, wet, freezing and ready to give up. That's when I finally manage to sneak a foot inside the building and get my ticket. What I see inside affects me to the core.

Relics have been preserved in such a condition that you can walk through the house, viewing videos in every room which recreate the horrors of those times. In those clips, you see Jewish people walking on the streets of the city wearing yellow stars, branded and singled out. During WWII, they weren't allowed to use public conveniences, enjoy general seating or own businesses and establishments. Photographs show how the rooms in the Frank house looked at the time the family occupied it after moving from Germany. Otto Frank, the father, owned a small factory producing pectin for jams and jellies. Together with his wife, Edith, and daughters, Margot and Anne, Otto hid in a secret annexe to the house for 25 months when Nazi forces started persecuting Jews in Holland and sending them to Auschwitz concentration camp. A few of Otto's employees were loyal Germans who helped the family, risking their own lives. Till the very end, they never revealed the secret location. One of them was his secretary who would carry several kilograms of rations on her bicycle every day so the family could sustain. Another was his manager to whom Otto transferred ownership to avoid getting suspicion. Soon, another family and a dentist moved into the annexe making it a group of 8 people living in a 500 sq.ft space. No sound could be made during the day. No windows could be opened. None of the workers in the factory adjoining the house had any clue about the family in hiding. To make sure that the sound of flowing water didn't alert anyone, during the day, the party in hiding couldn't even flush the single toilet they shared. 

Yet, in this tiny space, these people made a home. They talked softly, cooked meagre meals, played games, read by candlelight and prayed for an end. Anne herself poured her thoughts and emotions into a diary which was later found by Otto's secretary after the family was betrayed and sent off to concentration camps. 

In her writing, you don't just see a 12-year old's perception of a historic atrocity. Her words capture simple truths with shocking accuracy.

About her faith, she writes, ""Peter says the Jews have been and always will be the chosen people!" I answered, "Just this once, I hope they'll be chosen for something good!"". 

About change, she writes, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

About civilization, she writes, "I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone are guilty of the war. Oh, no, the little man is just as keen, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago! There is an urge and rage in people to destroy, to kill, to murder, and until all mankind, without exception, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated and grown, will be destroyed and disfigured, after which mankind will have to begin all over again."

About youth she writes, "Have my parents forgotten that they were young once? Apparently they have. At any rate, they laugh at us when we're serious, and they're serious when we're joking.".

About hope, she writes, "It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.".

And in spite of everything, she remained a 12yr old girl. She dreamed to run outside, play in the park, listen to birds and fall in love. Near her bed, there are posters of movie stars she admired. Her diary includes accounts of her feelings towards Peter, the son of the other family that shared their space. 

Moving from room to room, my feet grow heavy. The pain and trauma that this and every other Jewish family endured is gut wrenching. After the family was exposed, Otto was separated from the women. Anne survived with Margot and Edith in the Auschwitz camp only because she had turned 15 a few months earlier. Over 500 children and teenagers under 15 were sent directly to gas chambers. At Auschwitz, Edith starved so she could save more food for her daughters. When the girls were sent off to Bergen Belsen camp, Edith was too weak to go and she finally died of starvation. At Bergen Belsen, the girls got infected with typhus which took their lives barely weeks before the camp was liberated by British troops. 

In the final gallery of the House, a video shows a survivor of the camp and a childhood friend of Anne. She talks about reconnecting with Anne by chance at the camp and sharing stories across a barbed wire fence. After her mother and sister died, Anne lost all hope of survival in the assumption that her father was also dead. The friend recounts how Anne could have lived if she had only known that her dad was alive and searching for her. How does one hold back tears when such was their story?

The House also has an interesting activity space where video clips of recent socio-political events are featured with challenging questions about the actions taken in those situations. Visitors submit their opinion anonymously and a graphic display quickly tells you how we think as peoples of the world.

It is now closing time and the security guards at the House have to politely escort the last of us out. I stumble my way back to Dam Square, fighting back tears and thinking of the many gifts we still enjoy despite the struggles we face. The Westerkerk chimes solemnly, probably the same chimes which Anne heard as she hid in their house nearby.

Back at Dam Square, I reconnect with Eric and Sunil. We have just a little bit of time left before catching the last train to Nijkerk. The final signature to our time in Amsterdam is a walking tour of De Wallen, the city's famous red light district. Like marijuana and nearly everything else, prostitution is legal in Holland. In fact, sex workers are protected by the local police if business takes a dangerous turn. Marijuana is sold freely and its smell is unmistakeable. The many alleys of De Wallen are filled with establishments large and small where women (and some men) of all sizes, shapes and ethnicities occupy window displays and beckon you to step in. No business is too risque here. Hoards of tourists ogle happily while very few actually mean business. One such worker gives Sunil a serious look and we decide to shuffle along quickly. 

A light rain turns into a heavy hail sending us scurrying for shelter. Soaked to the bone, we crawl into Amsterdam Centraal to head home. Eric says we need to catch a Stopptrain back to Nijkerk, instead of a Sprinter. Interestingly, the Stopptrain is the express service while the Sprinter has multiple stops.

Settling back in my seat, I bite into a sandwich and recount the day's experiences. From Dutch coffee and fries to fine art, flowers, history and fetishes, Amsterdam overwhelms you with sights, sounds, smells and sensual pleasures. Two million residents and immigrants, many quite young, lead happy lives, ever ready to indulge. In a city ravaged by floods, famine and wars, they have seen it all and surfaced above everything. Today, they bloom brightly like their tulips while marijuana wafts in the air.