The Dam on the Amstel

So we arrived in Amsterdam at 8am and promptly went back to bed. 

At lunchtime we got a cab to a cafe but poor planning meant that we had to walk through the red light district to get to it. I love the oxymoronic contrast and diversity of this city. Within 10 minutes of being in the city, I had seen an intimidating sex worker and eaten a vegan pie with a steak knife. This amuses me…!

We popped into a cafe for a light lunch and sat in the gorgeous walled garden. Cafe De Koffieschenkerij is well worth a visit, just be aware that if you get a cab, you will need to cut through a couple of side streets from the taxi rank. The lunchtime sex workers did take us a little unawares, not that they bothered us at all. 

After lunch we walked along the canal to the Centraal train station, where we got tickets to ride around in the canal boats for 24hrs. Amsterdam’s canals ring out in horseshoe shapes with Centraal at the heart of it. The city gets its name from the dam that was built on the river Amstel in the 13th Century.

It’s a very pleasant pass time to get comfy on the canal boat, and get to know the city. We watched it all go by – the parks, museums, houseboats, beautiful architecture, bridges, Jewish quarter… there’s so much to take in.

Tired from the journey however, and lullabied by the lap of the water and the very slow bobbing along, we were all in need of a walk and some sustenance. We hopped off when we got back to Centraal and headed off down the main street Damm, looking for dinner. It was so busy, with people scurrying about in the heat of the evening. The businesses along the main streets are varied- museums and attractions, the film school cafe, souvenir shops, supermarket type shops and the odd restaurant. Looking for something a bit more ‘Amsterdam’ we went back a few streets and found a beautifully quiet place called ‘Paulie’s’. I had tortellini with Dutch cheese and it was amazing! 

In the evening, we had tickets to The Lookout which is on opposite side of the river to Centraal station. The Lookout has a flat roof with amazing panoramic views of the city, as its name suggests, and an ‘over the edge’ mechanical swing. If you’re in the UK you may have seen this featured on Richard Ayoade’s ‘Travel Man’ when they came to Amsterdam.

As it was Monday, I chose this as my location for my broadcast, and shared the amazing sunset view. Watch it here if you’d like to see.

I spoke about the difficult times we’re having at the moment; the Nazi history so present in Amsterdam is such a raw lesson about what can happen when we create divides between people. Maybe it’s extreme to draw comparisons between that and things that are going on in the world now, but it’s a time we need to pull together.
Talk and find solutions. Find change together. Build bridges.
Together we build bridges.
We all have a place 
Watch here.

We watched the sun set from this beautiful viewpoint, before heading gratefully to our beds.

On Tuesday we managed to get much coveted tickets to the Anne Frank museum. This is the actual secret annex in her father’s factory building, where she lived in hiding from the Nazis, with 7 other people, for 2 years, during the German occupation of Holland. This monument to the dark potential of humankind deeply disturbs me. Both inspiring and desperately sad, I’m glad so many people flock to it daily, to spread the word of how we must treat each other. At the end of the tour there’s a beautiful piece of film, interviewing famous visitors to the museum. Two that stuck out for me were Nelson Mandela and Emma Thompson. Nelson Mandela said that he and some of the other inmates read the diary whilst incarcerated on Robben Island, which gave them all hope. Emma Thompson stated that Anne was someone who would have spoken up for the dispossessed, and ‘all of her would-haves are our opportunities’ which I think is a wonderful lesson to learn. 

After a much needed cup of tea, we hopped back on the canal boat to the Rijkmuseum. This fabulous building designed by architect Pierre Cuypers, famously has a road through its belly, that the Amsterdam cycling traffic makes use of. Inside the underpass are beautiful pillars and a tiled ceiling. The beautiful acoustics attract buskers of the highest calibre.

I shared a clip of it here.

We listened to some Vivaldi before a luscious walk in the park, admiring the view.

After a bit of chill time and a peruse Of The Van Gough themed shops, we decided to hop on the tram back to the Main Street, to go to one of the museums there. This proved a bit more difficult than anticipated, and after getting lost, then on and off the tram for about an hour, (one of my favourite things to do – I love being lost with nowhere to be) we finally arrived at the Bodyworks museum.

The Bodyworks museum is a strange experience – it’s a scientific study of happiness, an academic investigation into the physical manifestations and effects of happiness on the body. It’s a museum of real body parts that have been plasticised. Equally grim and fascinating. I’ll spare you the photos! 

After dinner we strolled around the city taking in all its diversity. If you’re ever in the area, you must do this. Don’t judge, just have a stroll and take it in. There’s also a lovely macaroon shop on De Wallen, amongst some more exotic things to see and do…

Wednesday brought the rain, and the perfect day to feast ourselves on the wealth of museums in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt’s house is still there and we took the audio tour. My favourite part was seeing his studios – the large studio is where Rembrandt himself painted. We know what it looked like because he painted it himself. It’s the kind of place I just sit and absorb the atmosphere, which I did with glee. 

Across from the studio is Rembrandt’s special store where he kept interesting and exotic items for himself and his students to use for observation – tortoise shells, corals, busts of historical figures, African weapons, foreign coins… only a small portion of his collection was on display.

One floor up were the smaller studios where Rembrandt trained his students.

His program focused first on drawing from real life and portraiture first.

The master would set challenges for his apprentices and one that really spoke to me  was to develop storytelling through picture… his students would be given stories and props to create scenes from history, religion and mythology.

I’ve heard so many of the great creators allude to the art of storytelling – Bob Dylan, Heston Blumenthal, Steven Spielberg and now Rembrandt. 

What are your favourite stories?

What do you think we get out of it?

I just love a good story and it’s something I’ve spoken about with our film partners at length – it’s more important than genre to me.

On the plane on the way home I read an article by a writer called Lindsay Maclean ‘as humans, we’ve been telling stories since the Stone Age – they’ve been a primary form of communication for us .. to engage and evoke emotions’. 

It’s a lesson I will take forward into my art as a memory of this trip to the dam on the Amstel.