Lady Daffodil's Blog

Thinking about how to celebrate my previous-post-mentioned-birthday, the Dragon had this brilliant idea of visiting famous and infamous Amsterdam. I bet your first thoughts when reading our destination is something like “Ahaa! Weeds & Red Light Ladies”, unless you know a bit of art and might think of Van Gogh or Rembrandt. Regarding your sequential questions, the answer to all those is that I’ve seen a bit of everything. Initially I though the city will be full of contrasts, but now, when the memories are in the drawers and what is left is about 300 MB of pictures, I guess Amsterdam is just a city for the feeling, for the emotions, for arts in general, for large windows and painters, for poets and for lovers.

We started the Amdam quest by paying our dues to Mr. Rembrandt. Since I had already seen most of Van Gogh’s work, I decided I’ll go for Golden Age, for something classic. The Night Watch is a definite must see. It is just impressive in its size and colors, in its contrasts between light and dark, between the rough motion and the gentle lady. However, that is not the painting that left the most emphatic impression on me. At the time when we were looking at it, I thought I liked it just because it is a proper context to feel some empathy with the story portrayed and the smiles around us underlined this idea even more. I don’t argue that there is some seed of truth in the previous statement, but at least I am not the only one thinking that Rembrandt’s Jewish Bride is indeed one of the most impressive paintings coloring love in the most delicate and elegant manner possible.

Feeling enchanted by the beauty of the paintings, we headed towards the maze of streets that lead to the heart of the capital. The atmosphere is just magical. It is like a starry starry night looking down on narrow streets and baroque architecture. Heart is probably the most suggestive word to describe the oldest and most central part of the city, as it is literally red. The very famous and infamous Red Light District fans around Oude Kerk, which is the oldest church in town. In some kind of poetic justice, the oldest business in the world intertwines with Amsterdam’s oldest sights and treasures. Red Light District is first of all a lesson of civilization. The windows either display a lady of the night or the menu of a coffee shop, but regardless of the offer, the general aroma is rather peaceful. A lot of tourists, ladies and gents, couples and singles, young or older, all alike stroll down the streets where the red light spawns from lanterns hanging on the walls.

The sentimental scent left by this city is one of art, of love, of Bohemia. Unlike other cities I visited, Amsterdam is probably not a city I would necessarily like to live in, but it is a city I would like to go have a coffee, when both me and the Dragon have time, where I can wander and clear my thoughts from the hectic pace of our very tech-embedded lives, where my artistic part can fly freely around for couple of days. For that to happen, the other days must be spent broadly harvesting cash, as the trip can get quite pricey (especially when you leave your hundred-fifty horses random). In the souvenir section we checked the plants for which Amdam is renowned and bought Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled, which is just about a central European dreamlike and surreal city matching entirely the wonderful two days spent in the canal embraced town.