Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Today was our first field trip. We went to Amsterdam. Our train left Leiden at 9:01 AM so it was an earlier morning than what we were used to. With a few stops, it took about 35 minutes to get to the Amsterdam Central Station. We began our day with a canal boat tour. The tour first went into the harbor which has the second largest amount of ships arrive in it each day. Along the canals we saw many homes and businesses. We passed by a Dutch West India Trading Company warehouse. We also saw the Magere Brug or Skinny Bridge. Apparently this is the most famous bridge in Amsterdam. The bridge opens to allow boats to pass through. The canal tour took us past the Anne Frank House. Our boat operator must not have had this job very long. He was not very good at navigating some of the canal turns. He even ran into one of the bridges. After our canal tour, we had to go through part of the red light district to get to a museum. It was “interesting” and I think I will leave it at that.

We went to Amsterdam’s second oldest museum, Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, which translates to Our Lord in the Attic. We were told that the building we were in used to belong to a wealthy merchant. The merchant purchased three neighboring houses in 1661. He had his store on the ground level and his family lived above. There was one room that was used for entertaining guests. This room was very elegant. It had a pattern on the ceiling, a marble floor, and a beautiful fireplace. The fireplace was the focus of the room. The merchant had twisted marble columns imported into the country for this room. There was also a painting above the fireplace. In fact, there were many paintings throughout the house. During this time, Catholic worship was banned. This is where the story gets interesting! As we climbed up a flight of very narrow and steep stairs, we came upon a between room. This tiny room was between two floors and had no windows. It may have been a Catholic priest’s bedroom. We then continued to climb up another flight of very narrow and steep stairs. When we got to the top, we found a Catholic church. Even though Catholicism was against the law, people came together in hidden churches to worship. The Protestants in Amsterdam knew they were there but ignored the situation. The attics of the three buildings that were purchased by the merchant were transformed into a beautiful church. There is even an organ in the attic which is located opposite of the alter. The alter looks like marble however it is really what Steef calls “Dutch Marble.” Since there are no natural stones in the Netherlands, the Dutch would paint wood to look like marble. I have seen a few examples of this and it really does look like marble. There were other rooms in the museum many of which had paintings of Christ. There were also two kitchens which were set up to look like they would have in the seventeenth-century and nineteenth-century.

After the museum, we continued through the red light district and suddenly we were in China town. There were numerous Chinese restaurants, which I am told are authentic and very good. We entered a temple there and looked around a little bit. I found it interesting that a sign said only vegetarian food was allowed inside the temple. There was also a warning sign that said if we were with a tour group our guide may not know what he or she is talking about, so if you had questions you were to ask the temple volunteers not your guide. After the temple, we walked around the city. It always amazes me about how much Steef, our program director, knows about the history of the cities and buildings. As we continued exploring the city, we walked through Dam Square which is the center of the city. Dam Square is full of history and has now become a site where tourist and pigeons flock. On one side of the square, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam is located. It was originally built to be the city hall, but now it is one of the three Palaces the Queen can use. It is mainly used for official state functions. Also in Dam Square was a monument that serves as a remembrance of the lives lost in World War II to the present day.

After all the site seeing, we were all getting hungry so we stopped at one of Amsterdam Universities eating places. It was a little cold and windy today, so I of course was a little cold. I decided to try some of the soup. Of course I couldn’t read what it was, but to me it looked like broccoli cheese soup. I was wrong, but it was still good. It had green beans and a few onions in it. I also had a slice of bread and a kroket, which is fried, containing meat and potato. (I had one the other day and tried to explain it in another blog but now I know the name of it).

After lunch, we continued walking around Amsterdam. We saw Rembrandt Square which actually wasn’t too exciting. The Dutch originally did not think too much of Rembrandt but other countries found his work fascinating. A select few decided that the city needed to do something to commemorate his achievements. So they built a statue of him in what is now known as Rembrandt Square. Originally the statue was supposed to be made out of bronze, but the Dutch are cheap and the statue is made out of cast iron. We continued on our walk and saw another hidden church. This one however was a little more obvious, just not out in the open like most churches. Near this was the oldest wooden house in Amsterdam. There are actually two remaining homes that are made out of wood and we were able to see both of them.

We ended our day by going to the Amsterdam Historical Museum. The buildings used to be the city orphanage. The museum was set up in chronological order from the beginning to modern day. It contained many paintings and other objects. There was so much information in the museum it seemed like we only skimmed the top of it. At around 4:40 we left Amsterdam by train. We arrived back in our rooms around 5:30 and we were all exhausted. So after a long day of learning and walking, we spent the evening resting. I tried to watch some of the Obama inauguration coverage on the internet and was able to catch some of his speech. It was sort of disappointing missing an event that will definitely be written down in the history books. But I guess a day in Amsterdam isn’t bad either.