My better half had some issue with her visa .She was forced to reside in Ireland, so she was locked down to stay in Dublin for seven months with no option to travel any where, that includes even going back to motherland. Anxious weeks they were. A day came when the issue was resolved and the feeling of being unleashed hit me. Now its time to travel. Go to places where I had not been before, stretch my legs and give my camera a good field trip. Easter holidays were staring at us and with no hesitation booked the tickets and accommodation. Destination "Amsterdam", here we come. The embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands was kind enough to give us Shenegan visa for eighteen months. This is something we have never heard off, but greeted with open arms. Half day at work, packing done in a furry and half five was the flight from Dublin. We had the directions to get to our accommodation and straight out of the airport getting to the Hotel MAX was no hassle. We were cautioned by my mates here not to stray into any coffee shop, we stayed clear of that. Pizza was on the menu that night.We went to a small eatery near by . The pizza was made from scratch. Quite literally, he made the dough , spread it out and made one fine pizza.
My Mrs being diligent about our holidays had done some ground work before we left for Amsterdam.She did find out about "Holland Pass" which offered several free passes and discounts on several other touristy items. Since we had that and 72 hours to roam about, we prioritized the things we could cover day by day. On day one, given the weather was a bit damp. Museums it was.
To talk about the city, this is one place that has amazed me. There are more canals than roads. It looked like the entire city was planned with the canals in focus rather than the roads. Concentric semi circles cut by roads and bridges. Imagine a spider web; the circular lines being the canals and the lines that connect the curvy lines being the road. That is how it was designed and what an impressive city architecture it was!
The famous Rijksmuseum and several other was just 10 minute walk away from where stayed. Straight after breakfast we headed to this grand museum. After ten years of renovation and restoration this place opened up for tourists in 2013. The scale was grand. The beautiful paintings, the fine tapestry, luxurious crockery and cutlery, grand furniture , timeless clocks kept us on the move for 5 hours. Some of the clocks, 150 years old still worked and played music for the hour and twelve different types at that! Our feet had tired but not our spirit to see this place. Stepped out to grab a quick wrap. Mueseumplatz offered several other museums and the next highlight was the Vincent van Gogh museum.
The crowds there was unbelievable. In-spite of the rains people gathered there in hundreds. After a good forty fine minuets under the umbrella we managed to get in. Photography was prohibited. The pictures did make us realize that this great painters style was quite different. If a couple like us who have very little awareness of art could find a difference in his style of Art then it does mean that he indeed did set about a significant deviation for any other art out there back then. Apparently he marked the start of the modern art and it was evident from all the exhibits there. Some of them were really outstanding. In his short life span of 38 years what he offered to the world. So much that, even after 110 years his work is still drawing the crowds in thousands everyday. That means a lot. We did make it a point to purchase a print from the shop. A memorabilia to remind us in our old age that we had once been to see the works of the greatest artist of the twentieth century . The noticeable feature of his style of art was individual section of the art looked like it was just random and there is no way we can guess what would be in the rest of the picture. But only when viewed as a whole it was beautiful and it conveyed a message. Quite powerful at that. As we exited the building, we realized we had no more strength to carry on. Headed straight back to the room, rested for a while and we stepped out to get some fresh air and dinner.
Day two was even more packed the day before. As tourists we were quite lame in doing our research work about the destination, but as individuals we were quite lucky because we had landed into Amsterdam bang at the start of the Tulip festival. We booked two tickets for a day tour to a Tulip farm and then to the famous Keukenhof tulip gardens.
Several fully packed coaches headed out of the city for a 45 minute ride to the farm. We were allowed to walk midst the beautiful tulip fields. This exactly was like how it was in the bolloywood songs. We never realized what beauty of nature were we about to witness when we stepped into the coach. The season is only between April and July and 10 million tourists visit Amsterdam to make it to this garden alone each year. The farmer explained the process and we were disheartened to know that the flowers are only grown from the bulbs to be chopped off. The flowers are no income to the farmers,its only the bulbs he is after. After visiting the farms, we were taken to the actual Keukenhof gardens. Back at home in Bangalore, my father had brought a massive picture years ago.It was a scene of a garden.Its now hung in the living room. Even in our distant imagination we did not know that we were going to walk into scene, the real scene.This garden was the ultimate heaven made of flowers.
The sights , no matter which way you look is something we would have seen on wallpapers, or desktops, or on greeting cards. Eyesight always landed on something that's worth a picture that deserved to be printed. That is how pretty and mind blowing beautiful the garden was. A flurry of all possible bright colour combinations that will put the best computer generated creative work on a PC to shame. Millions of flowers carefully manicured kept us walking for five hours. Yet we could not get to all corners of the Garden. We had to say good bye to the garden with a heavy heart when our coach arrived. Just a packet full of Tulip bulbs we had in our hands to let us seed one of finest natures creations to make it a living souvenir.
Back to the city now and we had a few more hours worth of power left in us, so decided to use the boat tour of the city. It was an hour long tour via the canals of the city. The electronic guide explained why the city was laid out this way and why none of the houses in Amsterdam are vertical, they either sway forward or lean backward or tilt one way or the other. More than half of the city was reclaimed from the sea, thanks to the thirty thousand wind mills that once dominated the landscape. They pumped the sea water out and dykes kept the sea out. The soggy soil did not make strong foundations for the buildings. Hooks at the roof top of every building to lift large household articles from the boats to into the house was a norm. The guide also explained why Amsterdam was famous for the Red light district. Amsterdam was famous for its maritime legacy. Sailors who stayed out in the sea for several months at a time, needed some sort of an entertainment when they returned thus allowing the oldest profession in the world to flourish. The sailors are long gone, but the profession never went away. Day two came to a close.
Day three began nice and early and we headed straight to Amsterdam central to take the bus city tour. The bus picked us up and we were taken to the Diamond factory. That is when we were made aware that Amsterdam is also known as the city of Diamonds.
There is a vibrant diamond polishing industry in Amsterdam. We were educated quite well about how diamonds are polished and what to look for in a diamond. The four C's,which stood for Clarity, Carat, Cut, Colour. The price tags on some of their work of art purely designed to draw the females dropped my jaw to the floor. My good wife, knew quite well that my pocket was not that deep. We got to see Anne Franks home and the royal palace from the gates. After grabbing some quick lunch we made it to the next attraction. The Avoca maritime museum. The history of the Dutch with the sea was well laid out. Its rich whale oil industry and trade with India stood out. The highlight was the "Dutch east India" tall ship. This was a replica of the ship to scale that once traded spices and good with India back in the sixteen hundreds. I was delighted to see how such a vessel made of wood initiated the move to make the world a smaller place that we currently live in. We then walked on to the terrace of NEMO, the science museum. We could see all of the city from there. A horizon to remember. The packed backpacks which stared at us often was reminding us that we have a home to go back to.
Like the elders say, A well traveled man , will live as a wiser man. I realised that even more on this tour. Never knew about Tulips, Never knew about Diamonds, Never knew about so many other things that this short visit has thought me. I cannot end this without mentioning one feature of the city slickers of Amsterdam. Their absolute obsession to bicycles. Everyone , young and old, mothers and executives all of them on the move and not in a gentle cautious manner. Even the prime minister of Holland can been seen on a bike, cycling away to his office some days. Everyone on their own bike at a brisk pace like as if the bike is an extension of the body. A city of eight hundred thousand inhabitants has 1.6 million registered bicycles . The cycle lanes well laid out made it all look so seamless and effortless. I so wish every other city embraced to the most efficient transport machine man has ever created.
One last closing quote, "Amsterdam; you Rock!"
For more pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/110909333838706695436/albums/6004684824655293265?authkey=CPnDnPDxu5umpAE
My Mrs being diligent about our holidays had done some ground work before we left for Amsterdam.She did find out about "Holland Pass" which offered several free passes and discounts on several other touristy items. Since we had that and 72 hours to roam about, we prioritized the things we could cover day by day. On day one, given the weather was a bit damp. Museums it was.
The famous Rijksmuseum and several other was just 10 minute walk away from where stayed. Straight after breakfast we headed to this grand museum. After ten years of renovation and restoration this place opened up for tourists in 2013. The scale was grand. The beautiful paintings, the fine tapestry, luxurious crockery and cutlery, grand furniture , timeless clocks kept us on the move for 5 hours. Some of the clocks, 150 years old still worked and played music for the hour and twelve different types at that! Our feet had tired but not our spirit to see this place. Stepped out to grab a quick wrap. Mueseumplatz offered several other museums and the next highlight was the Vincent van Gogh museum.
Day two was even more packed the day before. As tourists we were quite lame in doing our research work about the destination, but as individuals we were quite lucky because we had landed into Amsterdam bang at the start of the Tulip festival. We booked two tickets for a day tour to a Tulip farm and then to the famous Keukenhof tulip gardens.
Back to the city now and we had a few more hours worth of power left in us, so decided to use the boat tour of the city. It was an hour long tour via the canals of the city. The electronic guide explained why the city was laid out this way and why none of the houses in Amsterdam are vertical, they either sway forward or lean backward or tilt one way or the other. More than half of the city was reclaimed from the sea, thanks to the thirty thousand wind mills that once dominated the landscape. They pumped the sea water out and dykes kept the sea out. The soggy soil did not make strong foundations for the buildings. Hooks at the roof top of every building to lift large household articles from the boats to into the house was a norm. The guide also explained why Amsterdam was famous for the Red light district. Amsterdam was famous for its maritime legacy. Sailors who stayed out in the sea for several months at a time, needed some sort of an entertainment when they returned thus allowing the oldest profession in the world to flourish. The sailors are long gone, but the profession never went away. Day two came to a close.
Day three began nice and early and we headed straight to Amsterdam central to take the bus city tour. The bus picked us up and we were taken to the Diamond factory. That is when we were made aware that Amsterdam is also known as the city of Diamonds.
Like the elders say, A well traveled man , will live as a wiser man. I realised that even more on this tour. Never knew about Tulips, Never knew about Diamonds, Never knew about so many other things that this short visit has thought me. I cannot end this without mentioning one feature of the city slickers of Amsterdam. Their absolute obsession to bicycles. Everyone , young and old, mothers and executives all of them on the move and not in a gentle cautious manner. Even the prime minister of Holland can been seen on a bike, cycling away to his office some days. Everyone on their own bike at a brisk pace like as if the bike is an extension of the body. A city of eight hundred thousand inhabitants has 1.6 million registered bicycles . The cycle lanes well laid out made it all look so seamless and effortless. I so wish every other city embraced to the most efficient transport machine man has ever created.
One last closing quote, "Amsterdam; you Rock!"
For more pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/110909333838706695436/albums/6004684824655293265?authkey=CPnDnPDxu5umpAE
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