Amsterdam

Ah yes, home territory for the Kroons. I did in fact see some advertising for something called Kroon. It might have been beer, which seems apt. I have to say that it was over 150 years ago when John's ancestor, Johann Cornelius Kroon pulled his finger out of the dike and popped across to New Zealand. John didn't have much curiosity about his past and wasn't interested in the Dutch connection, so we know very little, but I do know that Sophie wanted to find out more, and possibly the boys do too. Anyway. Suzanne met us at Brussels Midi Gare (she lives in Charleroi) and we got the good old train to Amsterdam. No problems, although there is some work being done on the line, and we had to change trains unexpectedly which I would have found quite tricky had I been on my own.
When we arrived we decided not to check in straight away, as the hostel was a wee out of the centre of town, and it wasn't too difficult managing the packs. First up, a canal cruise! Yay!
I am thinking of writing a book - Canal Cruises I Have Known." Or a poem perhaps.
A super way to spend a day
Is cruising on a waterway.
It's quite relaxing, worthwhile too,
And yes, you get an overview.
I could spend the next hour trying to perfect that and add 15 verses, but I will exercise restraint!


It WAS good of course. We intended seeng a different perspective by doing a bus tour as well, but we couldn't quite fit it in.
We then walked round to the Anne Frank house. There was quite a long queue and we thought - uh oh! However, we asked the security man and he said that the wait would be half an hour. And indeed it was - well, 35 minutes but we'll forgive him that. :-) So that was hardly a long wait at all. This is Suzanne et moi waiting in the queue.
Now you know I have a huge interest in the war. Both world wars in fact. I have read so much about Anne Frank and have in fact seen the house from the outside once before, but I haven't ever been in. This is moi in front of the house. I don't think that outfit is very flattering. Hmmm....
And so now I have been inside. We got to go in and see the rooms exactly as they were when the Frank family and others were living/hiding there. Anne's room was still decorated with pictures of filmstars of the day, the young British princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and the usual sort of young girl things. It was the very ordinariness of it that made it so moving. And of course the fact that it was such a prison really. They couldn't walk around, run water, flush the toilet.... And in the end after all that someone betrayed them. My god, that whole man's inhumanity to man thing. Now I will just be a bit political here....(who, me?) I was reading on-line about Melissa someone who is standing as a candidate in Mt Albert and she stated that she doesn't want horrible South Auckland people popping in to Mt Albert. I had this really good idea. She could get all South Auckland people to wear something that identifies them - oooh, I know, what about a yellow star? And they would only be able to go to certain places. Heaven help them - us - if they venture out of bounds. And then it could be taken further.... Well, I will stop there, but you know, it is that kind of thinking that can cause such misery and heartache in the world.
Anyway, there were films and many exhibits. The main one being the actual diary. I can't talk too much about it all really. It isn't something you can just prattle on about. I'm just glad I went there.
Afterwards we were in great need of something to quench our thirst and went into the attached restaurant. (There is a new part built next door.) Well, very interesting. The serving person, who spoke perfectly good English, couldn't understand either Louise's or my New Zealand accents!! I haven't struck that before! She quite literally didn't know what we were saying and we both fancy ourselves as speakin' proper, like. So there you go! In contrast to the man in the gift shop who asked if we were Kiwis. We told him about the serving person, and he said, "Ah yes, but she doesn't have my advantage of having been born in Australia!"
So that was Saturday. Most of it at least. We got the tram to our hostel to be be greeted by a man who had been trained in the School of Total Indifference. We were pretty much ignored and given no information. We came down for dinner and found that the dining room was closed. Had we been told it was about to close we would have eaten then and there! Never mind. We walked along the street to find somewhere to eat. The first one, "No, we're closed," said the man. Well, it was full of people but perhaps they were all his mates? So on to another one. It was full too - of people smoking! To cut a long story short we ate at a takeaway place next door to the hostel. Ordinary. A polite description. :-) The hostel was a bit weird - quite huge - with a long, long corridor which could have accommodated at least 3 cricket pitches. And the carpet was very stained and smelt suspicious. But we didn't have to sleep in the corridor and the room was spotless.
Our packs seemed to have strangely got heavier by the next day, but Louise and I took turns again at carrying our shared one. I don't know who put the rocks in it! We started off at the Rijks Museum. A very short queue again. Not bad at all!
It was a great place to visit, and somewhere I have always wanted to go. The museum is actually undergoing refurbishment so there were things we didn't get to see, but that wasn't entirely a bad thing. These visits can be very long! Great paintings, ceramics, sculpture... It was very interesting. The current exhibition is by Vermeer and although there weren't many of his works they were fantastic.
Time for lunch whilst sitting in the sun. Just have a wee look at the man sitting near us. He broke the chair he was sitting on!
Then Suzanne headed off as she needed to be back home a bit earlier than Louise and me. And we went to the Van Gogh museum. Another queue which seemed quite long but it moved fairly quickly so no problems. Well, I've always been interested in Van Gogh without feeling anything special about his work. But I'm so glad I went - it was just great! There was such a lot of his work and so much information to go with it. In fact we became a bit exhausted and almost didn't last the distance - there was an awful lot to see. The highlight was a special exhibition "Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night." It was just magic. I am always so utterly impressed by the way artists paint light - quite incredible really - and painting night was kind of the same. (Monet does wonderful things with light, and Vermeer has a nice gentle daylight. I am quite good at stick figures.) Just wonderful.
So that was that. Back to the station and back to Brussels. Including a very confusing train change again. And the weekend drew to a close.
I like Amsterdam and I like the way they are green and so many people ride bikes. Although they do assume a sort of divine right(eousness?) and will just crash into you if they think you are in their way! There are bikes everywhere, and the photo is just a small part of one of the many storage places. I like the canals and the tall thin houses with the hooks on the top, and ..... it was good. Here is another verse to my poem.




So if we want to get the crowds
And offer something really showy
I think that we should dig canals
And cruise round Papatoetoe.