*To see that Floridian trip, please use this link: https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2016/07/our-trip-to-ft-lauderdale-part-1-of-4.html
Across the street is the Tropenmuseum (Tropical Museum), originally founded to display souvenirs that the Dutch East India Company obtained abroad, during the 17th-century. The current edifice was erected in the 1920s.
It is part of a larger complex (seen below), which belongs to the Royal Tropical Institute.
Found in 1910, it was initially called The Colonial Institute, and its Neo-Renaissance building was opened by Queen Wilhelmina in 1926. As decolonialization occurred, its name became Royal Tropical Institute (Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen = KIT). In 2017, the Sustainable Development Goals ]of the United Nations were begun within KIT. 50 organizations share the building. Across 40 countries, KIT's 196 projects train thousands of healthcare, government, and intercultural professionals about equality, agriculture, and medicine.
The museum fee is €16, but it was free with our City Cards. It had an exhibit called "Cool Japan", including historic art, erotic anime, fashion, cartoons, and video games. It was considered "child friendly" because Dutch society is more tolerant of sexuality and does not make it a taboo subject.
Showing its energy-conservation, the exhibits darkened when not in use, and were relit when people approached; some relit when you pushed a button.
Interestingly, figurines like this were traditionally placed in the front room of Indonesian homes to ward off disease. Offerings were made to it.
One wall was decorated with handwritten cards from people of all ages, expressing Dutch society's open-minded acceptance.
Many of the notes exhibited the pleasantries that we encountered throughout our trip. According to locals, such values are taught early in life and are reinforced/supported throughout life. Learning and development never stops.
Considering that it was Gay Pride Week, some of the comments were inspiring. They gave us hope of goodness in the world.
Pursuant to the image above, it was recently reported that America's largest chocolate manufacturers, such as Hershey and Mars, still use underpaid African child labor for harvesting. They are 20 years behind-schedule to stop such uncivilized practices. They can afford to stop, but they choose not to.
The museum has a cafe with outdoor seating by a fishpond. It hosts food trucks, culinary events, cultural events, and open-air cinema.
Next, we visited the Artis Royal Zoo, founded in 1838. Admission is €24, but it was free with our City Cards.
If graphic pictures were okay for children to see at museums, the zoo was equally eye-opening! Ha ha!
They had animals that I never saw before: capybaras, tapirs, hyenas, margays, guanacos, Komodo dragons, dessert foxes, alpacas, red-ruffed lemurs, red-billed hornbills, anoa, maras, kingfishers, meerkats, kestrels, Gouldian finches, tamarins, piranhas, white wolves, gibbons, emus, oryxes, and wallabies.
Our favorite part was the aviary where exotic butterflies fluttered all around us!
The aquarium was our second-favorite area! We saw how they keep it clean, too. :-)
Wearing the Dutch color, this orange frog—the most poisonous animal in the world—was no bigger than my thumbnail.
Here is short movie showing the miracle of coral reef creatures! Turn the sound on to hear an apropos song...
Lewis and I took the #1 and then the #3 trams to the early-twentieth-century alcove of Kinkerbuurt, in the vibrant Oud-West neighborhood (in the District of Amsterdam-West). We were told that it's a popular area with great restaurants and nifty shops. It's true, and we recommend it.
We had espresso at Lot Sixty One, amidst a cluster of pretty buildings with stepped gables: a Dutch architectural style.
It has a nice view of the waterway.
It roasts its own beans with a mighty Probat Roaster,
sends its baristas to "cupping classes",
and bakes its own cookies onsite. A batch came out of the oven as we arrived. They were superb. (FYI: the word "cookie" has Dutch origins). Like many corner-properties, the shop has a diagonal-facing doorway.
The baristas greeted us in Dutch, and as soon as we said that we were from New York, they smoothly switched to English. A double-shot of espresso was €2.25.
The shop's Aussie founders relocated from New York and love their new home. They created a popular, yet rustically gezellig place. Their core values include recycled materials, beans from eco-friendly farms, renewable energy, and instilling happiness.
Like many parts of the city, the area has modern housing that blends stylistically with the existing landscape.
We walked to Foodhallen, a collection of international cuisine set up in a reclaimed tram garage... hence the big doors and rails in the floors.
Netherlanders believe that mealtimes should be adorned with candles and fresh flowers. It was always lovely!
We ate bitterballen, a favorite snack: savory meat-based balls (beef broth, butter, flour, and spices), deep-fried with a crunchy breadcrumb coating, served with mustard. Despite its name, a bitterbal is not bitter, ha ha. The recipe originated in 200 B.C. with the Batavian tribes. The ancient Romans adopted it. Ours were flavored with crabmeat, truffles, and cheese.
Even their three-in-one utensils are cleverly designed!
In the retail section, The House of Denim caught our attention. Lewis bought his mother a pretty chambray blouse and a denim jacket for himself.
Outside, another daily Street Market was underway, called Ten Katemarkt. For only 1 Euro, Lewis bought a nutritious bottle of freshly-squeezed orange juice! Unbeatable.
We tried freshly-fried spring rolls from a Vietnamese food truck. They were lekker!
Burning off calories, we explored the picturesque streets, such as Wenslauerstraat and Bellamystraat. We passed El Tawheed Mosque and wandered southward through an alcove called Overtoombuurt to the Vondelkerk (Vondel Church).
Nearly every neighborhood has a playground, as well as attractive public seating areas.
Many townhouses have front gardens and quaint seating.
Flowerpots and fishing were admirable, too.
Thanks to unpolluted waters, amateur fishermen catch pike, perch, and zander in the canals.
To make our own "Happy Hour", we went across the city to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, ensconced in a row of six Canal Mansions from the 1600s and 1700s. It is near the Mayor's House and the Consulates for Nepal, Belarus, and Chile. In 2014, the joining of those monumental double-front mansions was done by a local architectural firm named OZ, and the interiors were finessed by GA Design in London.
That was fun for me because a relative of my maternal grandmother worked as a chef at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria. I knew nothing more about him, and I cherished the antique silver coffee urn that he purloined from the hotel. Seen below, the 5-star hotel is utterly gorgeous.
Their lush garden is an oasis in the bustling metropolis: the largest private courtyard in Amsterdam and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Its restaurant, Spectrum, won 2 Michelin stars. It earned them within 7 months of opening, and it upheld them for six years!
The hotel cultivates its own honey with rooftop bee hives, which is tasty during High Tea in their lounge, named Peacock Alley.
Downstairs, Vault Bar occupies an old bank, circa 1760, replete with safe deposit boxes behind the bar. We went there.
The menu is cleverly printed on faux money and presented in a wallet.
A French bartender named Charlotte and a French West Indies bartender named Meric Masclaux regaled us with their opinions of "drinking places" in the city.
They immigrated to Amsterdam within the last two years and love its healthy food culture, safe biking, and the ease of finding jobs. They love their current jobs; colleagues are like family. Their General Manager is so great that the King knighted him!
Each of their concoctions—including an off-menu creation—was remarkable. Watching such talented craftsmanship was satisfying... whetting our appetite for the first sips.
Lewis ordered a lobster roll and 3 foie gras lollipops, which were delicious. They came from Chef Sidney Schutte's Two Michelin Star kitchen.
Schutte is a Dutchman who gained experience in Hong Kong and Belgium and received the highest culinary award in the Netherlands from the Foundation of Professional Competence & Hospitality.
Those 4 items + 4 cocktails = €109. (In a high-end NYC hotel, that cost only buys you 4 cocktails).
Charlotte recommended two places for more drinks: a fancy place and a speakeasy-type. We liked how she was willing to share her customers with other establishments. The first was called A Bar, inside the Intercontinental Amstel Hotel. We went there straightaway. It's situated against Sarphatistraat, named for Dr. Samuel Sarphati who beautified the city and helped create the waterside hotel.
Opened in 1867, it achieved Green Globe Certification in 2014. (The City of Amsterdam has 18 hotels at that level! The entire United States of America only has 30...
Hence, "bigger is not always better"!)
The historic 5-star hotel is gorgeous!
Just past its Tea Room (seen above) is A Bar: an airy cocktail lounge. We were early, so we had the whole place to ourselves.
Since the Netherlands is the birthplace of gin, I ordered a "Museumplein" made with Gin 1689, Bols sloe gin, peach liquor, lemon, rosemary, and egg whites.
During the 1600s, VOC ships sailed around the world and brought back herbs and spices, which prompted Amsterdam to distill liqueurs. Coming from the Netherlands, William III made gin popular in England when he became its king. It is still considered a quintessential English libation. In 2016, the Dutch founders of Gin 1689 researched William's original recipe of 1689, and found it in the Royal British Library. Their gin has the flavors of juniper, quince, apple, citrus rind, anise, nutmeg, and cloves.
Bols dates back to 1575, so it was a great ingredient to try. Despite its name, it is actually a liqueur made from blackthorn sloe berries.
While the drinks were shaken up, we sat on the sun-drenched terrace and watched boats on the Amstel River—which Amsterdam took its name from.
Antique canal boats were tethered to the lower terrace.
Adjacent to the hotel is an ornate arched bridge (#246) named Hogesluis, inspired by Paris' Pont Neuf (which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The corner of each arch is emblazoned with the city's coat of arms. It is a bascule bridge, so its center span has drawbridge capabilities.
That terrace was the perfect place to sing Aan de Amsterdamse Grachten! (Technically, we overlooked a river, but the song was fun anyway).
The breeze fluttered the flowers, and rays of sunshine illuminated our cocktails.
Lewis requested a drink that was recently taken off the menu, but the bartender remembered how to make it. "De Dam" was served in a glass pipe, evoking the wooden pipes that historic Dutchmen used.
The second bar that Charlotte recommended was called Hiding In Plain Sight, just north of our hotel. But first, we decided to have an Indonesian dinner at Mama Makan, which is down the road from the Amstel Hotel.
Environmentally, it is in the "greenest" hotel in the Netherlands: the Hyatt Regency. It's the first one in the city to recycle its bottles into glassware—which are used in Mama Makan. The hotel's eateries participate in IAmStrawless.
Born in Indonesia, Chef Rosmina Napitupulu is a powerhouse of flavor and creativity. From an immensely hospitable waitstaff, we ordered the Seasonal Tasting Menu for €35, with a Dutch beer pairing of 3 types for €13. It was a great deal (and the Dutch have a rich beer brewing history). Indonesian cooks prepared our meals in an "open kitchen".
In 1603, the Dutch East India Company began a spice trade in Indonesia, muscling out other European colonial powers. When they went bankrupt in 1800, the kingdom took control and forced the natives into indentured servitude. In 1901, reforms emerged for ethical treatment. WWII caused the Dutch to lose the archipelago to Japan. After the war, Indonesia won its independence... similar to Iceland from Denmark and India from the United Kingdom. It occurred during Queen Juliana's reign, and she officiated it in Amsterdam in 1949. Today, the Netherlands is Indonesia’s prime trade partner, and their cuisine influences Dutch food. All of the streets in the city's Indische Buurt region are named for Indonesian geography. Likewise, there is an Amsterdam Island in Indonesia.
Seen above, my preferred beer was made by Lowlander. It's a Belgian White Ale made in Amsterdam and brewed with Curaçao orange, chamomile, and elderflower. Curaçao is a liqueur named for the nation of its origin, which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curaçao became a Caribbean Dutch colony in 1634. It was first colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s. When the Dutch achieved independence from Spain, they took the island-nation. Curaçao won equal status as its own nation within the kingdom in 1954. Its coat of arms shows an strong relationship with Amsterdam.
Lewis liked the pilsner made by a Dutch brewery called Brand Bierbrouwerij in the Village of Wijlre. For dessert, we munched on exotic fresh fruits, gelato, and custard.
*It was fun to watch the kitchen prepare our meal. If you want to see another open-kitchen experience that we loved, go here:
Getting off the tram, we heard a guitarist playing on the quay (where the Pride Parade began).
Here is a video proving the bartender's talent and caring...
He uses a "Japanese Method" of hard-shaking.
The result was beautiful!
The bartender was Romanian; his hometown girlfriend was the waitress. Last November, they visited a friend in Amsterdam and loved it so much that they ignored their flight home to explore the city more. Getting as little vacation time as Americans, they spent it returning to Amsterdam. Several months ago, with only $500, they relocated to Amsterdam, temporarily shared someone's apartment, and got jobs at the SkyLounge of the Hilton Hotel. Their deposit for an apartment equaled three month's rent. Overcoming challenges, they integrated and made the city their home. The happiness in their eyes proved it! He bicycles to work, 30 minutes each way, and LOVES his commute: parkland, waterways, scenic landscapes—all invigorating. Their customers are patient and polite, the society is welcoming, everyone speaks English as a common dialect (he is learning Dutch), and the quality of life is much better. True, the European Union makes it difficult for outsiders to relocate to Europe, unless you're an expert in technology or finance. Nevertheless, that story inspired Lewis and I.
With such happy feelings, we meandered through the streets. Anywhere we chose to go felt safe. We admired how dusk colored the sky. We stayed out until nightfall and watched the city's lights twinkle, as the moon shone.
Liberation Day (May 5) is celebrated there, with floating stages, an orchestra arranged on a bridge, attendance by the King and Queen, and fireworks!
It is one of many summertime performances, such as the Prinsengracht Concert, Summer Breeze Salsa, and Grachtenfestival. Use this link to see a spectacular one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFoUEXdaNjo
When it was time to leave, Lewis and I relished the reliable punctualness of the train to the airport.
The Royal Marechaussee greeted us at the Security Checkpoint with a timely process that got us through quickly!
We got aboard our jet earlier than expected, so we had extra time to be comfy in our seats, and the well-run airport got our flight airborne on-time. (For Americans, those are amazing things to experience!) We understand why the world likes Netherlandish promptness and efficiency.
We had a magical week in Amsterdam and can easily understand why people relocate to make it their home. Upon returning to our current one, unchanged problems at outdated JFK Airport caused our jet to sit on the overcrowded tarmac for an entire hour before letting us get off at a gate. The self-check-in computers crashed—causing a further half-hour delay. The taxi queue was unmanageably long. Our Uber ride displayed a new additional 2.5% surcharge (to help support the pathetic Black Cars that nobody wants to use). Regulations stipulate that rideshare organizations must put a 2.5% “Black Car Fund” surcharge on fares for payment into the New York Black Car Fund, which pays those workers' compensation benefits. Why are ridershare users paying for the Taxi-Limousine Commission’s medical benefits?
A newly-created NY Congestion Surcharge is basically an MTA fee, so the MTA still gets paid whenever people use a car to avoid its broken transit systems.
Then, we lost another hour, due to mindless rubbernecking and traffic delays (which are unchanged since I was born).
Finally getting near my neighborhood, construction debris still remained. Five years ago, when Consolidated Edison was finally blamed for a deadly gas explosion that collapsed two buildings on Park Ave and 116th Street (the neglected pipe was from 1887), ConEd began digging up roads to check their outdated century-old pipes. Despite their huge profits, their unfinished debris is still abandoned all over the city's five boroughs. Is that our dollars at work?
Worst of all was the oppressive heat and humidity.
Lastly, my mailbox contained a letter from a medical facility that my personal data had been electronically hacked and stolen from their unguarded computer files. It was the second time that such a thing happened to me in the same year. Those things show the ineptitude, ignorance, stupidity, and greed in America's overpriced system.
We can't wait to go to a place that makes Life better. :-)
