{"id":1592,"date":"2016-04-19T06:30:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T05:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1592"},"modified":"2016-04-19T06:45:20","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T05:45:20","slug":"week-16-amsterdam-and-home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1592","title":{"rendered":"Week 16: Amsterdam and home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The week began in Amsterdam, where I spent a full day walking around the city, re-visiting some of my favourite spots. <\/p>\n

16_1<\/strong>
\nI arrived at Amsterdam Central Station on the train from Eindhoven, left my bag in a locker and ventured out. First, I stopped at the Febo shop across the street. Febo is a Dutch culinary institution. Its main purpose is to provide greasy snacks at all hours, especially useful if someone is drunk and hungry and it is very late:
\n\"DSF9739\"<\/p>\n

16_2<\/strong>
\nThis is the kind of food you get at Febo, in this case croquettes whose content can best be described as “mystery meat.” This is the first time in 3 years I ate such a thing, but I was determined to make my Amsterdam experience complete:
\n\"DSF9890\"<\/p>\n

16_3<\/strong>
\nI walked down the Damrak to the Dam Square, home of Amsterdam’s royal palace. There are often various demonstrations on the square, and this time Falun Gong was there:
\n\"DSF9890\"<\/p>\n

16_4<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9885\"<\/p>\n

16_5<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9887\"<\/p>\n

16_6<\/strong>
\nStaying with the Chinese theme, I found it amusing to see a bunch of Chinese tourists in front of a Chinese massage parlour:
\n\"DSF9752\"<\/p>\n

16_7<\/strong>
\nMy first port of call was the Rijksmuseum. I had visited it when I lived in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2007 but it has since been renovated and I wanted to see it again. Behind the museum there as the IAmsterdam sign, made up of huge letters. People climb on them to be photographed or to make selfies:
\n\"DSF9770\"<\/p>\n

16_8<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9772\"<\/p>\n

16_9<\/strong>
\nTwo women behind the Rijksmuseum:
\n\"DSF9777\"<\/p>\n

16_10<\/strong>
\nOne goes to the Rijksmuseum to look at many things, of course, but the Flemish masters are clearly the main draw. The crowd looking at Rembrandt’s Night Watch:
\n\"DSF9790\"<\/p>\n

16_11<\/strong>
\nThe museum provides information sheets in several languages about the most famous masterpieces:
\n\"DSF9788\"<\/p>\n

I continued through the galleries. The most fantastic part about seeing those paintings is to look into the faces of the people depicted in them. The next several images present such close-ups. In some cases I remember the painting (or have been able to track it down on the museum’s website); in some cases I do not, but anyway–just look at the light and the incredible details.<\/p>\n

16_12<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9792\"<\/p>\n

16_13<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9793\"<\/p>\n

16_14<\/strong>
\nThe Massacre of the Innocents, Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, 1590:
\n\"DSF9794\"<\/p>\n

16_15<\/strong>
\nA Shepherdess, Paulus Moreelse, 1630:
\n\"DSF9797\"<\/p>\n

16_16<\/strong>
\nA Shepherdess, Paulus Moreelse, 1630:
\n\"DSF9795\"<\/p>\n

16_17<\/strong>
\nThe Merry Fiddler, Gerard van Honthorst, 1623:
\n\"DSF9796\"<\/p>\n

16_18<\/strong>
\nBanquet at the Crossbowmen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Guild in Celebration of the Treaty of M\u00c3\u00bcnster, Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1648:
\n\"DSF9800\"<\/p>\n

16_19<\/strong>
\nBanquet at the Crossbowmen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Guild in Celebration of the Treaty of M\u00c3\u00bcnster, Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1648:
\n\"DSF9799\"<\/p>\n

16_20<\/strong>
\n\"DSF9804\"<\/p>\n

16_21<\/strong>
\nThere is also modern stuff at the Rijksmuseum, here a work by a member of the Cobra group:
\n\"DSF9808\"<\/p>\n

I also looked at some small sculptures.<\/p>\n

16_22<\/strong>
\nA grimace:
\n\"DSF9798\"<\/p>\n

16_23<\/strong>
\nMan against wall:
\n\"DSF9801\"<\/p>\n

16_24<\/strong>
\nA drunk:
\n\"DSF9802\"<\/p>\n

16_25<\/strong>
\nAnd reflecting the colonial and trading past of the Netherlands, there is also a collection of Asian art:
\n\"DSF9818\"<\/p>\n

16_26<\/strong>
\nI left the Rijksmuseum and walked back towards the centre (the museum is south of the centre, just outside the inner ring) along the canals. The seagulls in Amsterdam look very well fed:
\n\"DSF9833\"<\/p>\n

16_27<\/strong>
\nAiring the bedding; this is a habit the Dutch have in common with the Swiss:
\n\"DSF9849\"<\/p>\n

16_28<\/strong>
\nAmsterdam bicycle, the kind people use to run errands and yes, to go drinking:
\n\"DSF9851\"<\/p>\n

16_29<\/strong>
\nMy next stop was the Kattenkabinet, a unique gallery devoted to art featuring cats:
\n\"DSF9859\"<\/p>\n

16_30<\/strong>
\nThere are also several real cats living in the Kattenkabinet:
\n\"DSF9865\"<\/p>\n

16_31<\/strong>
\nTypical Amsterdam traffic:
\n\"DSF9868\"<\/p>\n

16_32<\/strong>
\nThere are two good English-language bookstores in the centre of Amsterdam. I popped into the American Book Center on Spui. And of course I could not avoid buying a book. I got a biography of Leon Trotsky from this series:
\n\"DSF9876\"<\/p>\n

16_33<\/strong>
\nI also walked past the other English-language bookstore, but this time my goal was the herring stand outside. What the Dutch call “new herrings” is one of the few Dutch foods I really miss in Spain. Here is the server preparing the delicacies:
\n\"DSF9878\"<\/p>\n

16_34<\/strong>
\nYou can get them plain, or in a type of sandwich:
\n\"DSF9880\"<\/p>\n

16_35<\/strong>
\nI opted for the sandwich. It was heavenly:
\n\"DSF9879\"<\/p>\n

16_36<\/strong>
\nIn the evening, a friend who now lives in The Hague picked me up at my hotel near Schiphol airport and we drove to Haarlem to have dinner there. Haarlem is a very charming town, about 15 km from Schiphol:
\n\"DSF9892\"<\/p>\n

16_37<\/strong>
\nThe evening was a nice one:
\n\"DSF9893\"<\/p>\n

The next morning I flew home to Alicante.<\/p>\n

16_38<\/strong>
\nBack home, a friend from England was visiting, and we went for lunch at a beach restaurant called Casa Domingo:
\n\"R000151\"<\/p>\n

16_39<\/strong>
\nTaking the order:
\n\"R000142\"<\/p>\n

16_40<\/strong>
\nBringing the paella:
\n\"R000147\"<\/p>\n

16_41<\/strong>
\nGrilled artichokes. The area just south of Alicante is a major producer of artichokes, and they are in season now. Fresh and totally delicious:
\n\"R000146\"<\/p>\n

16_42<\/strong>
\nThe flan<\/em> was very good too:
\n\"R000152\"<\/p>\n

16_43<\/strong>
\nMy street in morning light:
\n\"DSF9896\"<\/p>\n

16_44<\/strong>
\nAnother picture seen while walking Cheeta. A bee is busy with a flower:
\n\"R000162\"<\/p>\n

16_45<\/strong>
\nReally busy:
\n\"R000163\"<\/p>\n

16_46<\/strong>
\nSpain’s economy is beginning to recover from the crisis. Sights like this are a tangible sign:
\n\"R000184\"<\/p>\n

16_47<\/strong>
\nBut the hangover from the crisis is still there:
\n\"DSF9902\"<\/p>\n

16_48<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning, as I often do, I cycled to the Carrasqueta mountain pass. A lot of other cyclists had the same idea–right now the weather is ideal, not too hot not too cold:
\n\"R000188\"<\/p>\n

16_49<\/strong>
\nThis is the spot where people take a break–and a lot of selfies:
\n\"R000189\"<\/p>\n

16_50<\/strong>
\nA bit further along the ride, there is a spot where the Vuelta a Espa\u00c3\u00b1a has passed by several times. At that point in the ride, after 70 km and lots of climbing, and about 30 left to go, encouragement is very welcome:
\n\"R000193\"<\/p>\n

16_51<\/strong>
\nOn Wednesday night, I went to a local bar to watch the Atletico Madrid-Barcelona Champions League quarterfinal. Barcelona had won the first leg at home, 2-1, so a 1-0 victory would be enough for Atletico to knock out Bar\u00c3\u00a7a from the tournament. This man, obviously an Atletico supporter, was watching intently:
\n\"R000170\"<\/p>\n

16_52<\/strong>
\nConcern; Barcelona is having a good spell in the match:
\n\"R000172\"<\/p>\n

16_53<\/strong>
\nA calming sip:
\n\"R000179\"<\/p>\n

16_54<\/strong>
\nCelebration at the end. Atletico has won and Barcelona is out:
\n\"R000181\"<\/p>\n

More Amsterdam pictures can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The week began in Amsterdam, where I spent a full day walking around the city, re-visiting some of my favourite spots. 16_1 I arrived at Amsterdam Central Station on the train from Eindhoven, left my bag in a locker and ventured out. First, I stopped at the Febo shop across the street. Febo is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1535,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1592"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1599,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1592\/revisions\/1599"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}