Day 37: Strolling Along Canals

I'm sharing my hostel dorm with 6 Chinese people travelling together. They all had showers last night, so I figured the shower wouldn't be in much demand this morning, but apparenly they all had to shower again, which caused me to get a slightly later start than usual. Things here seem to open a bit later though, and between a light drizzle and recovering from yesterday things were still quiet when I headed out. The weather is still much warmer than Ireland was, so I don't mind a bit of rain. I didn't have much of a plan for the day, but I figured with the rain that I'd start off at the Rijksmuseum since it's just around the corner from where I'm staying. The gallery has been under regular renovation for a long time, but they still have a wing of many of their most famous pieces open. Unlike London, they charge to get in, but it does have a lot of great pieces, so I figured it was worth it. With so many great Dutch painters I figured that would be the highlight for me, but I was actually most impressed by the silver collection. I really liked the silver work by Paulus and Adam van Vianen, especially the auricular style that they invented.

Another favourite of mine was the statue of Cupid. There was a statue of Cupid in London I liked a lot too, but this one is even better. Cupid is just so mischevous as he reaches for his arrow.

The most famous piece at the Rijksmuseum is probably Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch". It certainly is very large. It's appealing because there's a lot more going on it than in most portraits, but I'm not entirely sure why it's so famous otherwise, other than the size of it.

By the time I got out of the gallery the rain had stopped so I started walking along the canals and just looking for neat things. In the process of doing this I stumbled onto another of the things on the list I'd made of places to check out: the Albert Cuyp Markt. This is a giant street market that is held 6 days a week and has all manner of random things in it. The most common stalls were for fresh food (fish, fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, etc) and clothing, but there was everything from antique watches to electronics to a distinguished looking fellow selling mounted insects and animal bones. It reminded me a bit of the Keady Market, only all stretched out down one long street. I got some Dutch herring at a stall, as I'm told that's something one must do in the Netherlands. It wasn't horrible, but probably not something I'm going to try again :p

Next I worked my way to the Anne Frank House. I've never read the "The Diary of a Young Girl", but I had two people recommend I visit it, so check it out I did.

Now, a bit of a complaint here. The information displayed through the museum was interesting and certainly does communicate the suffering that millions of people faced, but to me 9 euros seems like a pretty expensive admission for what is essentially an empty building with very few maintenance costs. It is the second most visited tourist site in Amsterdam, and there was a long line to get in, so I guess I can accept that they price it for the demand, but THEN at the end of tour they have bins asking for donations to support the museum. They have over 1 million visitors a year, so even with children fares factored in I'm sure they make over 5 million euros in admission alone, not counting their giftshop or cafe. Anyway, my curiousity was piqued enough that I'll add the book to the list of things to read I'm working through. In Dublin I decided I had to either read Dubliners or Ulysses by James Joyce (anybody have a recommendation?)

I had a nutritious dinner of 2 croissants and a red bull. Don't worry, my hostel has pretty decent breakfasts so I'll make up for it there tomorrow! I started working my way back to my hostel by a different route when I came across an alley covered in graffiti tags and art, so I had to stop and wander the alleys of that area for awhile looking at all the street art. I was quite happy to discover a few Invader pieces (you may remember him from London) as well as some very nice artwork.

I love Invader because his stuff is so simple yet it just blends into the landscape. He tends to put a lot of them high up or low down so they are often hard to spot - but when you do spot one you know instantly that it's his.

Eventually when I got close to the hostel I just sat on a bench next to one of the canals and relaxed for a good while. I took this picture of a few duck(lings)? They were just so ugly and awkward that I couldn't help but be amused by them.

I did encounter a few cats prowling the alleys today, but I could never get one to stay still long enough for a good pose - sorry Jessica! I had a nice one planned out with a black cat that was watching two city workers hosing down streets to clean up from last night, but it took off before I could get a picture.

I'll probably check out the Van Gogh museum tomorrow, although I believe it's another 14 euros admission. Still have to figure out my train reservations, so I should probably figure all that out tonight and see what I can do tomorrow. Hope the station has a eurail office, because calling in reservations might be tricky. Ah well, a problem for tomorrow!