We then went outside and saw that it was raining - thank goodness I bought a water-resistant jacket, and Suzy had an umbrella. We walked a ways for the tram we had to get on to go to the Van Gogh museum... well... that didn't work out at all, for we waited forever, and then, we walked a ways down, and a bit more, then it poured, and we couldn't find the next stop for the tram. UGH. So we stopped in a store for a couple of minutes, and then the rain let up. It didn't last too long which was a good thing. It sprinkled for the rest of our walk. Then based on the Tram map at the next tram stop, we figured we were close, so we went on a street where we thought the museum was located at - turns out it was not the right street. We stopped at a car rental place and asked for a map with street names and all. We realized that we were on the wrong side of the park and had to go through the park to get to the museum. We eventually made it to the Van Gogh museum... thank goodness. We were getting a tad bit wet from the rain!
The museum, or gallery if you will, had Van Gogh's work was organized in a timeline of his life. His first attempts at art were very dark (and drab). The colors consisted a lot of blacks and browns... a bit too dark, even for my taste! As his life went on, his work improved with experience, and some studying of art. We saw a photo that we both liked in particular - and took a photo. I wasn't even sure if we could take photos in this place, but I went ahead and took it! It was the only photo I took in this entire museum!
As the years passed, Van Gogh's art became a bit more colorful, and were very detailed with his "spot" style of painting - like the notable Starry Night painting. Well, there were other paintings that were colorful, detailed and beautiful. There were also areas on the walls where they described his history. They never said he went crazy or anything - just said that he had an illness along with epilepsy of some sort, and he went into a home to get help for his illness. We all know that means an asylum. :) They didn't mention that his ear was cut off, or anything that resembled that he was crazy. Near the end of his life, when living in the "asylum", he started to "copy" the work of other artists, from photos in a book or whatnot. He did a beautiful job making it look like their work, but with Van Gogh's style in portraying an "astract" of the painting. There was a painting of a woman doing something, and it seemed to be fictional - as if the person wasn't real, but she appeared as a woman. It was beautiful. Now I wish I took a photo of that. :)
In the museum there were also a couple of other floors with the artwork of other artists during the time of Van Gogh. They were pretty interesting too but Van Gogh's history was amazing.
After this visit, we asked the people who worked there about the "I amsterdam" monument. We wanted to take our photo with that... Sure enough, it was right behind the museum! Not too much walking for us! YAY.
After this, we decided we were hungry and wanted to go to the Anne Frank Huis. So we found a tram that would take us to the area, and... we went to a nice little restaurant. We split a hamburger, fries with a salad - only to find that the "salad" meant lettuce and tomatoes as a topping of the hamburger. Then after a bite of our hamburger, we both agreed that it tasted like meatloaf. It even looked like meatloaf, and not a hamburger... that was interesting. The water bottles were also re-used - which was so very european - they're environmentally conscious! I could tell the bottles were re-used (and I'm SURE they cleaned them very well before filling them with water and redistr
ibuting to retailers and restaurants) because you could tell on the glass that there was some wear and tear from clashing with other bottles in packagings during delivery, and all that...After our nice little lunch, we walked over to the Anne Frank Huis, just across the canal. We had to wait in line and waited only about 45 minutes. While we waited, it rained some... yea, we were outside the entire time until we bought our tickets to enter the landmark. Photos weren't allowed inside this place. Upon entry, there was a room where there were four photos of Anne Frank, probably at the age of 12 or 13, just before the family went into hiding. The hairs on my arm went right up. I haven't seen the house yet, but I'm already struck by the photos of this young girl. We went through the house and I was purely confused on how the family could go into hiding if the father was operating a business out of this place! Then I later realized that the hiding was in the house behind the house we were in! The only way to access that house was through a hole that was behind a bookshelf. They had to move the bookshelf (opened it like a door would) and step through the hole and up some stairs. As we entered, it was chilly in this part of the house - but I'm quite sure the stove/oven was what kept that area warm. Anne's room was amazingly small. She shared it with her brother, and posted pictures and clippings from newspapers across the walls. Some of them were still there on the walls but in poor condition - it still got to me.
I couldn't believe what the family had to endure - for two years. It seemed that Anne made the best of her time in hiding by writing her diary - which nobody ever saw her write, except once, where one of the people who worked for her dad came into that portion of the house. Anne really didn't like it when the woman had entered, so she threw a nasty look on her face. This woman was startled at how Anne had reacted. She slowly closed her diary and then her mother entered the room. The mother said "We have ourselves a little writer". Anne said "I'm writing about you too", to the woman in the room. We learned of this scenario from one of the few videos that were displayed in the house, which had subtitles - in English, Spanish and some other language... That was very touching.
The day is not over yet - but I'm going to close this for now, and continue in my next blog entry.
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