12/18: Amsterdam's Beguines, Canals, Dope, Flowers, Gables, Hidden Churches & Squares

About three months ago I returned from being away on vacation with a friend in New Zealand and Australia for 3.5 weeks. In case you also want to follow that really fun trip Down Under, here's a link to the newest blog: www.bergersadventures7.blogspot.com

These were our last views of the signature azuelos we loved so much in Porto, Portugal before flying off to the Netherlands, our last stop on our 3.5 month trip that was spent mostly in Central Asia. I had wanted to travel through the Benelux countries - Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg - for ages so was glad we got the chance to see at least one of the three now. 

If we had any doubts that the Dutch loved their bikes, they were put to rest when we arrived at the Centraal Station and saw more in one place than we'd ever eyed before! The station was built in the late 1800s on reclaimed land that was once the harbor mouth. 

One of the towers had a weather vane with the hand pointing south or zuid right then!

On the other side of the station was the IJ, the body of water that gave Amsterdam access to the North Sea. If we turned left from the station, we'd have hit the Old Town, the historic neighborhood that has recently become the Red Light District. We weren't in any rush to go there but preferred to follow Rick Steves' Amsterdam City Walk which took us on Damrak past the marina and a slew of shops that featured every Dutch cliche: Heineken fridge magnets, wooden shoes, wheels of cheese, etc!

The city's most notorious commodity was on display at the Sex Museum to remind everyone that Amsterdam was a port town that catered to sailors and businessmen away from home. 

In case I may have misled you, our first minutes in the city center were not only tacky and low brow!

I never knew Santa Claus liked cheese, just cookies!

The impressive, long building was the Stock Exchange, a symbol of the city's history as a trading town and built with nine million red bricks. As Steves wrote, it was erected on a foundation of 5,000 tree trunks hammered vertically in the once marshy soil.

No French fries in Amsterdam - instead we could eat Vlaamse friets or Flemish fries as they were developed in the Low Countries. Mayonnaise, not ketchup, was the condiment of choice with the fries. 

It'd been a good long while since we'd heard a hand-cranked barrel organ.

In Beursplein Square was the new Stock Exchange as the older one was turned into a cultural center in 1984. I couldn't quite fathom what the very modern white structures were in front of the historic building - they seemed out of place to me.

Walking along Damrak for a few more minutes took us to Dam Square, the historic heart of the city since about 1250 when fishermen settled along the banks of the Amstel River and created a small village called Amstel-damme. In the square was the Royal Palace that became a 'royal palace' when Napoleon installed his brother Louis in 1806. After Napoleon's fall, it became the royal residence for the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange. It's now one of the four homes of the current king.

The triangular pediment showcased sea creatures cavorting with Neptune and his gilded copper trident that were appropriate for Amsterdam seafarers and sea traders. 

The small balcony was where city leaders in the past appeared for major speeches, pronouncements and executions. Nowadays, newly married royal couples blow kisses to the crowds!

The obelisk or National Monument, built in 1956 in the middle of the square, paid homage to those who suffered and died in WW II. When the Nazis occupied the country from 194-1945, they deported some 60,000 Jewish Amsterdammers, driving many -including young Anne Frank and her family - into hiding.

Though the monument, with its carvings of Christ, men in chains and dogs, were reminders of a grim time, it has also become a monument for peace. 

Surely this was the largest Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum anywhere!

Steps from the Palace was the 600 year old New Church as it was one hundred years newer than the 'Old Church' in the Red Light District. Though we chose not to pay the $35 to enter the church, we were able to see from the museum shop some of its beautiful stained-glass windows that depicted Dutch royals from 1579 to 1898 .

Of greater interest was the De Papegaai Hidden Church that dated from a period beginning in the 1500s and lasting for the next two centuries when Catholics in Amsterdam were required to worship in secret, when Protestant extremists took control of the city and expelled Catholic leaders and outlawed the religion. Catholics were driven underground and could only worship in humble, unadvertised places like this. 

The Parrot Hidden Church got its nickname from a parrot or papegaai that was carved over the entrance of the house that used to be on this site. The stuffed parrot hanging in the nave was a reminder of the original one!

Above the archway that led to the entrance to the Amsterdam Museum and Civic Guards Gallery, was a red shield and three Xs and a crown. The Xs didn't refer to the city's sex trade but rather represented the crucifixion of St. Andrew, the patron saint of fishermen. According to the queen, they also signified the virtues of heroism, determination and mercy after the Dutch experience in WW II.

Below the shield was a relief from 1581 that depicted boys around a dove asking for charity to signify that this building was once an orphanage. 

Six hundred years ago, there was a monastery here until the building became the City Orphanage from 1578 onward. Tens of thousands of children lived, worked and were educated here until 1975 when the boys were relocated and the Amsterdam History Museum moved in.

I remember thinking when we were here last December that we must have been in too many cemeteries around the world as these looked like funeral crypts. 

They were really, though, boys' lockers intended for the tools they used when they were apprenticed to carpenters or to work at the Dutch East India Company beginning at the age of 12. In the 20th century, the lockers were used for boys' shoes until the 1950s when they became rabbit hutches so the boys could have a pet animal. 

The 'museum street' had portraits of people who played a role in the city's history, all under the watchful eye of Goliath, a wooden giant from the city's Golden Age.

The Arrival of Napoleon in Amsterdam in 1812:

On the Bottle depicted members of the Wine Rackers Guild and an apprentice discussing how they transferred wine from large casks to small barrels.

In a modern take on Amsterdam's Civic Guards was this portrait from 2001 that showed the Maid of Amsterdam with a joint in one hand and Rembrandt's face tattooed on her breast, surrounded by leading figures such as Anne Frank and Alfred Heineken! The word 'Mokum' at the bottom was a popular name for Amsterdam derived from a Yiddish word for 'place.'

Have you ever had a chance to 'walk on art' before? We hadn't so it was intriguing seeing artist Barbara Broekman's colorful carpet in which she selected a single, outstanding, characteristic detail to represent each of the 180 nationalities that make up Amsterdam. Her work was called My City: A Celebration of Diversity.

The first was from New Zealand, a country I'd be visiting in March; the second was from my native Canada - no way was I going to pass up the latter!

The gallery had been a wonderful detour and shortcut to our next destination at the far end of the gallery as one block further was a simple gate that led to Begijnof, a courtyard that was lined with homes around a church where women have lived since 1346. Since then pious women known as Beguines chose to remove themselves from the outside world to dedicate their lives to God. When it was first established, it was literally a women's island as the circle of homes facing the courtyard was surrounded by water. 

We stopped first at the statue of one of the Beguines whose numbers grew during the Crusades when so many men took off, never to return, or when the women were widowed by the hazards of overseas trade and lived out their lives as Beguines. The members of the lay order of Beguines weren't nuns but were obedient to the Mother Superior. They spent their days in prayer, and busy spinning wool, making lace, teaching and caring for the sick.

Though the last Beguine died in 1971, Begijnhof was a still thriving community of about 100 single and mostly Catholic women seniors. It was also one of dozens of little housing projects surrounding courtyards in the city.

The brick English Reformed Church was built in 1420 for the Beguine community but was taken over by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1578 when Catholicism was forbidden. The Begijnhof survived, though, and the church became Anglican in 1607. It served as a refuge for English traders fleeing persecution in England and strict Protestants, including the famous Pilgrims, found sanctuary in tolerant Amsterdam and worshipped at this church. 

The stained-glass window showed the Pilgrims praying before they boarded the Mayflower.

The Bible, encased in glass, was from 1763. 

The intricately carved wooden pulpit by the famous Dutch abstract artist, Piet Mondrian, was one of his first professional jobs.

Along one wall was an old pew where the Pilgrims were thought to have sat on while in the church. 

By the exit was a 1607 proclamation about a sermon preached in the church the Pilgrims likely heard. 

Since the church was empty, we had a lovely long chat with Susan, the interesting guide who was originally from the small town of Berea, Kentucky, a town we'd visited several times on our summer  trips to or from Florida. She mentioned she'd met her Dutch husband at the small liberal arts Berea College that is well known for providing free tuition for all students. She's been living in northern Holland for the last thirty years.

In an example of what a small world this is, we happened to see Susan the next day riding her bike in another part of Amsterdam!

You can imagine by now that Steven and I have been in hundreds of museums, churches, etc around the world where there have been pamphlets in a few foreign languages.The only other place that came close to the number of languages was a small religious site in Lourdes, France, that we'd seen earlier on this trip. There was information in the Catalan language from one region in Spain but not Euskara, so the Spanish and French Basques weren't too happy!

If we hadn't known to look right across from the English church, we would have missed exploring the Catholic Church because the doorway gave few clues it held a church inside. That was because when it was built, Catholics were being persecuted and it had to be a low-profile, 'hidden' church. It served the city's oppressed 17th century Catholics who refused to worship as Protestants, as Steves noted. 

Though attractively decorated inside, I felt quite claustrophobic in its small confines.

One of the homes in the idyllic courtyard was a 500 year old wooden structure that was the city's oldest even though originally the whole city had wooden structures just like this one. That changed when they were replaced with brick homes to reduce the chance of fire with so many homes built so closely together. 

A few steps from the painted house was a display of painted, carved gable stones that once adorned house fronts and used as street numbers.  

It was a little sad leaving such a peaceful enclave in hectic Amsterdam but what a joy learning about a way of life that was new to both of us. This small corridor led us back into the modern Amsterdam where time hadn't stood still. 

Who would have thought this doorway through which we'd just come would lead to such an enchanting area as the Begijnhof?

The corridor had taken us to Spui Square, an area filled with bars and cafes but it looked pretty empty in mid December.

Though the statue of Queen Wilhelmina showed her daintily riding sidesaddle, in real life she was the real life inspiration for the Dutch resistance against the Nazis. 

If we're ever lucky enough to return to Amsterdam, perhaps then we can return to this same spot and take a canal cruise from the yellow canal house. When Steven and I were visiting our daughter, Natalie, and her husband, Adam, in Chicago in early May, they kindly treated us to a fun architectural cruise where we had a blast seeing that city's many bridges. 

How my formerly pipe-loving father would have loved stopping for a spell in the House of Hajenius, known for "showing 175 years of tradition and good taste as a temple of cigars and pipes." Popping into the Art Deco building with its painted leather ceiling from 1910 was like stepping back in time and reminded me of long forgotten scents from my childhood.

Even the leather ceiling was something worth gawking at!

In the center of Spui Square was Mint Tower which marked the outside of the medieval walled city and was one of its original gates. Until around 1500, beyond the tower was nothing but marshy fields and some farms on reclaimed land. The steeple was added in 1620 as was marked under the clock face. According to Steves, the tower is a favorite place for Amsterdammers to come at 16:20, the traditional time work is over, so they can light up a joint! As marijuana was legal in Amsterdam, we cold smell it a lot while walking around the city. Neither of us minded at first but the pervasive odor got pretty annoying after a few hours. 

What comes to mind when you think of the Netherlands - perhaps wooden clogs, canals and wheels of cheese like we saw earlier and, I imagine, tulip bulbs? The Flower Market was certainly the right place to be for the latter as it was a tribute  to Holland's love affair with flowers. I hadn't known that the Netherlands was the largest European flower exporter by far and also a major world flower power. 

We could have brought back tulip bulbs but the customs officers would definitely have frowned on a Cannabis Starter Kit!

I don't think I had ever seen the royal blue shade of tulips before and unsure whether I liked them. Do you?

Longing for some cheese to munch on? This would be the place! All I could think of how long a wheel would last once opened.

On the next square, Koningsplein, was a herring shop we could have downed some chopped fish served with onions and pickles but neither of us were hungry, sorry to say!

A little further on we came to the canals along Leidsestraat; the first was the so-called Golden Curve of Herengracht named for the heren, the wealthy city merchants, who lined the canal with mansions and topped with some especially nice gables. These 'cornice' or straight across gables topped the classical-looking facades. As Herengracht was still a pretty high-rent district, no houseboats were permitted here. More on houseboats in a bit, though.

Abercrombie & Fitch had a pretty swanky locale for its shop in Amsterdam.

Near the next canal was a 'smart shop' that sold a variety of perfectly legal drugs but many of which would have been illegal here in the US. I didn't care about the shop or its contents but did like the sweet frieze above it with its playful frolicking children. 

This has got to be the smallest car ever!

Prinsengracht or the Princes' Canal was lined with some of the city's estimated 2,500 houseboats that were once cargo ships. When they had become obsolete by the 1930s, though, a new use was found as houseboats which made perfect sense in a city where dry land was so pricey and limited.  

The former cargo holds were transformed into cozy living spaces and the powerful engines were removed for more living space. As moorage spaces have been grandfathered in, even some of the junkier boats were worth more than we'd have thought at first glance. Owners can plug in hoses and cables into outlets along the canals to access water and electricity. The boats must have running lights on all sides at night. We've all heard of DUI but I hadn't come across CUI or cruising under the influence - something police boats know to be on the lookout for!

It was fun trying to figure out the different gables or false fronts whose purpose was to enhance the generally sharp pitched roofs. I was pretty sure the gray building had a 'point' gable that just followed the roof's triangular shape. The home to its left had 'bell gables.'

Some of the gables were even decorated with animal and human heads as well as garlands, urns and scrolls. 

Steves described Leidseplein as being the city's liveliest square and filled with outdoor tables under trees, ringed with cafes, theaters and nightclubs, and bustling with tourists, diners, etc. That was likelier the case in warmer months, but certainly not in mid December.

Since I had a newfound appreciation for gables, I again admired the ones on this corner. 

The square's south side was taken up by a gray neoclassical building where Apple Store was probably sitting on what may have been the city's most expensive piece of real estate! 

Near Apple was the city's main serious theater whose company dated back to the 17th century Golden Age. It was little surprise the red brick and turreted Stadsschouwburg from 1890 looked so much like the Centraal Station we saw at the beginning of the day as they were both designed by the same architect, Pierre Cuypers, who also helped rebuild the city during its late 19th century revival.

One of the most unusual locations for a cafe and coffee shop was this one as it used to house a police station! A small green decal on the window of the flagship Bulldog Cafe and Coffee Shop indicated that it was a city-licensed "coffee shop" where marijuana was sold and smoked legally, a practice that has occurred in the city for almost forty years. 

Instead of finishing off the post with yet another reference to Amsterdam's dope culture, I hope this photo of a stunning building along one of the city's canals will make you think of beautiful Amsterdam.

Next post: Although we spent the rest of the day at the spectacular Rijksmuseum, one of the world's leading art museums, I may postpone that post to another day and instead write about our harrowing visit to the Anne Frank House, the sobering Dutch Resistance Museum, etc.

Posted at lonnnnnng last on July 5th, 2019, from our home in Littleton, Colorado, after returning a few days ago from our extended vacation in Florida via the Grand Canyon.