River Cruise 2018 Day 20

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Last day in Amsterdam and last day of this trip, as we leave tomorrow morning for home. Over breakfast, we decide what we want to do today. Violet is interested in a tulip museum and I was just reading about the area of Amsterdam known as Jordaan, close to the Anne Frank House. Serendipitously, that's where the tulip museum is, so that's our first destination for today.

Alighting from the tram, we decide to explore Westerkerk, the huge church in the square near Anne Frank that we saw two days ago. To be truthful, I am lured in by beautiful organ music wafting out to the street. This is the largest Protestant church in the Netherlands, consecrated in 1631, and has the highest bell tower in the city. Inside it is very open and filled with light; the windows are all clear with no stained glass, very Protestant. It turns out the organ is regarded as one of the best in the country, with its own page on Wikipedia. I presume the organist is practising, because the music occasionally stops and starts but the soaring suspensions and resolutions of Bach resonating in the air bring tears to my eyes. And the organ pipes themselves are a sight to behold, decorated with all manner of gold carvings and inscriptions related to music. The church is also a cemetery in that bodies are interred underneath the floor, rich people in the centre and poor people around the edges. Rembrandt was buried in this church as a pauper. The location was lost, and at some point his bones were removed and destroyed along with other paupers.

We exit the church, cross the bridge to reach the tulip museum. It is really a shop with a museum in back. The shop sells bulbs, of course, but also every imaginable type of merchandise that can be branded with a tulip motif. The museum is free with our Amsterdam passes. I was not expecting much, but the museum is actually nicely done. I learn quite a bit about tulips, including where they come from (Turkey), how Amsterdam became the tulip capital of the world, the great tulip craze and subsequent crash in the early 18th century, and the growing and processing of tulips today. I love word etymologies and am happy to learn that the word "tulip" derives from the Turkish word for turban, reflecting their somewhat similar appearance.

Next is a stroll around the Jordaan area. It is an interesting quarter because it is a bit like Ottawa's Glebe, in that here heritage houses have been renovated and refurbished to create one of the city's most exclusive addresses. Many shops and even more cafes and restaurants. As usual, living quarters are upstairs from street level. Beautiful architecture. Every house is a miniature marvel. However, if you stop and look at a row of houses with a critical eye, you can see that they are often leaning slightly one way or another. Amsterdam is built upon marshlands.

As we stroll along one street, we suddenly spot a full-grown heron standing on an elevated house porch. It eyes us warily but seems completely accustomed to humans. Wow.

Back to the tram and we head once again for the waterfront, descending at Central Station. We didn't enter this massive and beautiful building yesterday, but we want to today. Dozens of train tracks are laid out on the harbour side of the building, and passengers are bustling to and fro as announcements fill the air. As it's now 1 pm, we're feeling hungry, so we ask a police officer where the restaurants are. All we can see is people rushing to make their trains. He directs us to the main lobby and up some stairs. But in the lobby, I am waylaid. There is a "play me" piano there! I sit down and play a bit, but my fingers are tree trunks. Oh well, I'll fix that soon.

We find the modestly named First Class Restaurant upstairs. It is a tourist attraction in itself, with wood carving throughout and an enormous mahogany bar. And it has a live cockatiel named Elvis who watches over everything and squawks loudly when something is not up to his standards. I order sea bass and Violet prawns. Both are good, but Vi's dish wins hands down. Delicious. And expensive.

After a stroll around the waterfront, we hop back on the tram and head for the Amsterdam Museum, another freebie with our Amsterdam card. This museum traces the entire history of Amsterdam from a small fishing village in the 12th century perched on piles, through its position of dominance in the 17th century (the Golden Age), through to developments in the 20th century. Amsterdam has a long traditional of tolerance for different religions and moralities; notably, the Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001. Another interesting tidbit for me is that the Amsterdam Hilton is where John and Yoko started their bed-in back in 1969, as recounted in the Ballad of John and Yoko. Overall, not a bad museum but I'm glad we didn't have to pay for it.

It's now about 4:30 pm. We rest up with drinks at a street cafe and decide that we are done for the day. We return to the hotel and start organizing our things for our departure from the hotel at 9 am tomorrow.

For supper, we're not in the mood for more walking, so we pick a restaurant across the street. The restaurant is full downstairs, but has an overlooking upstairs area that we get to ourselves. My dish is really interesting: pulpo (octopus!) on a red bean and grain mixture. Very tasty.

Homeward bound tomorrow morning.

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Photos

Interior of Westerkerk including organ pipes
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jordaan
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tulip bulbs for sale
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Another view of Jordaan
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Heron on a porch
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Bar in First Class Restaurant
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam Museum
Amsterdam, Netherlands