Catching Up (Still!): Amsterdam

After Normandy, we headed to Amsterdam -- as much as I love French, it was really nice to be in a country where basically everyone spoke perfect English. Amsterdam is also a really diverse city: everyone seems super active and fit, and there were many occasions during our three days there that I nearly got run over by a bike, bus, or tram -- all common modes of transportation in the city aside from cars. I loved all of the canals throughout the city, and it was so nice to go on a few river cruises too. What I didn't love so much about Amsterdam was that, much like Paris, it was cold and rainy most of the time, and I ended up with an upper respiratory infection while I was there. If you've never been sick in a foreign country, I do not recommend it at all. In a city where marijuana is easily accessible on nearly every street corner in a "coffee shop," I had to argue with a travel doctor for no less than half an hour (including a few dramatic coughs and a lot of medical jargon) to get a prescription for antibiotics -- and believe me, they are not cheap. Other than that minor travel snag, I did get to see a lot in Amsterdam: Anne Frank's house, the Rijks museum (the day before it closed for renovations!), and Rembrandt's house, just to name a few.

The train station in Amsterdam!

The portraits at the Rijksmuseum were so cool - just look at the expressions of everyone in this painting.

This portrait by Frans Hals is another that we focused on in class -- it's different from most of the works we saw in the Louvre. Aside from being a portrait (Protestant art is more portrait-focused, while Catholics painted more religious scenes), it also shows the man and woman as equals: they're painted about the same size, and they look like they might actually enjoy each others presence (somewhat uncommon in Catholic art apparently).

In front of one of the many canals!

I think this is a science center -- it looks like a huge ship, which I thought was really cool.

With my wonderful roommate on a canal cruise!

In this picture, 7 bridges in the canals line up!

Learning how Rembrandt made paint at the Rembrandt house - I didn't realize how labor-intensive a process it was! Not only do you have to carefully select your pigments, mixing the paint itself is actually really difficult to do!

An art installation at the Old Church in the Red Light District of Amsterdam. This was definitely not my favorite church, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, is buried at the Old Church -- it was really cool to see her grave!

Amsterdam by night!

Just a few Abbey-ites on our night canal cruise!