Oh Amsterdam...

It's been seven years since I was introduced to Amsterdam by my loving Great Aunt and Uncle. It was a quick visit, as was this most recent one, but I knew I wanted to come back. Amsterdam is SUCH a beautiful city with so much culture. And there's something so progressive about the city and yet so historic. What made this trip even more special, however, was the fact that I got to see the city through my Dutch friend, Barbara.

Barbara and I went to Stella Adler together. When I first found out she was from Amsterdam I boasted about my trip to that wonderful city and my obsession with Stroopwafels (two thin wafer/waffles held together by honey). When she visited home she kindly brought genuine Stroopwafels back to New York. Back in her home country and bubbling with creative energy, reconnecting with Barbara was refreshing. But seeing her with her friends, in the neighbourhood she spent so many years in before coming to New York, I saw Amsterdam through the eyes of a city native. The benefits do not just include zipping through the main attractions in about two hours and not having to navigate a map, but seeing Amsterdam separate from the touristy bits.

What sticks out most in my mind:

1) The Dutch are a very open society (i.e. Marijuana is legal and sold in coffee shops and Prostitution is partially legal and regulated by the government)
2) The HOUSES. They are tilted from the foundations shifting after hundreds of years. Plus, the doors are so narrow that people, even today, use pulleys outside the house to hoist furniture into flats.
3) The staircases! Visiting Anne Frank's House and going up those stairs are very steep. But the stairs to Barbara's place were equally dangerous!
4) The canals. Oh so beautiful. Water is soothing, and those canals are just so romantic and really do transport me back to what I would think Amsterdam was 50, 100, 200 years ago.
5) Bikes/trams. They are everywhere. And crossing the street is dodging traffic from all directions!

I found, or maybe it's because I'm on holiday, that the Dutch seemed to be a fairly relaxed group of people. They ride bikes, they go to museums, they love their friends, their lovers, their beer, and they love to have a good time. I feel like that's something general I've seen in Europe and I think America should incorporate that sense of relaxation. They don't hang around and do nothing, far from it, but the worries or anxieties of the world don't consume them. They enjoy life and the people in it. Whether it's the numerous cups of coffee they drink at home, in the cafes - it's amazing! And the homes, are just so cozy. It's expensive to eat out in Amsterdam, but it's not that expensive to buy food - and just being in Barbara's house and seeing the atmosphere around her place: the home is an important place. (So is the cafe!)

Back to touristy things: I visited the Dutch Resistance Museum, the Anne Frank Huis, and the Van Gogh Museum. The DRM was nice in the same way the other museums I've been to in different countries. I like to learn how WWII affected each country, city, and group of people. What happened in Amsterdam was different from Copenhagen, from London, etc. And boy did the Amsterdam-ers resist. Newspapers, radio, sabotage. And the Amsterdam-ers didn't like the Dutch who cooperated with the Nazis either. What it highlighted, however, was how the Dutch in the beginning easily gave the info to the Nazis (Jewish or non - many people were sent to work camps or to work for the Nazis) and how they didn't think twice in the beginning. Also, few Jews in Amsterdam survived. And the exhibition highlighted how difficult it was for Jews to find hiding.

On the WWII theme... revisiting Anne Frank's Huis was difficult for me. The first time I saw it it was interesting. This time, I was choked up from the first part of the exhibition. Everything sunk in more: Anne's innocence and youth was taken away from her at such a young age. She had to know so much pain and fear and once that started, there was really no redemption. Her diary showed her complex thoughts but it also showed how quickly she grew up. As for Otto Frank, I don't know how he could bear losing everyone in his family, especially his children.

But I don't want to end this blog on a sad note. Instead, I want to emphasise how much I love Amsterdam. And... how being away from London makes me love London more. I also have begun to realise how at home London feels. And... when it comes time to leave I will be sad and will hope for the day when I get to live back in London again. Maybe if this acting thing works out I'll get a job here for a few months... One can dream.