{"id":334,"date":"2014-04-28T18:51:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=334"},"modified":"2016-08-23T20:31:28","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T20:31:28","slug":"friday-saturday-april-25-26-day-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=334","title":{"rendered":"Friday & Saturday, April 25-26, day 6 &"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday. \u00a0<\/strong>Walked to Nine Streets, looking in the windows at things I things I can\u2019t afford, but enjoy admiring. Stopped for apple pie and coffee (it\u2019s a Dutch thing) and drew a couple of postcards.\u00a0Cranked up a Rick Steves\u2019 audio guide of the Red Light district. It\u2019s a hoot, like having your pastor show you around. The guide discussed the church while prostitutes tapped on the glass to attract customers; a different kind of window shopping.<\/p>\n

Inside the church, I visited Saskia\u2019s grave (the first Mrs. Rembrandt). \u00a0An art installation was in progress in a side room, involving embroidery on church chair cushions. In another alcove, a black & white animated movie explored the effect of religion on the artist\u2019s ancestors. Just outside the Lady Chapel, another film ran; a heavily pregnant, naked, brunette woman leaned forward and collapsed in slo-mo, falling out of the frame, the film maker\u2019s response to the Virgin of the chapel.<\/p>\n

\"mary2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Following that, I had lunch in the church\u2019s caf\u00e9, out in the garden. A note on my plate informed me that my soup was made by (formerly) sex-trafficked women. Amsterdam seems to relish contradiction and thrive on containing multitudes.<\/p>\n

More walking, and I nearly stumbled over the\u00a0bronze breasts and hand underfoot. Such is Amsterdam that I can’t tell\u00a0what the artist’s intention might be. Shame? Pride? Weighing fair measure for money paid?<\/p>\n

\"boob\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Crowds increased, testosterone rose. Walked into the New Church<\/strong> to use the bathroom, stayed \u00a0for an exhibition of the top photographs of 2014. http:\/\/www.worldpressphoto.org\/<\/a>\u00a0The impact was the\u00a0emotional equivalent of\u00a0a punch in the stomach. I felt gutted by the fifth image, but kept going until it was done. Soldiers under fire, \u00a0a\u00a0man making IED bombs, domestic violence, collapsed building victims, cancer-riddled athlete, Boston marathon bombing, tsunami aftermath. There\u2019s a lighter side; nudists, a subsistence farmer stirring plum jam, hermits in rakish leaf hats, bonobos. My favorite; a man bringing a sheep home for a festival dinner. The ewe sits calmly in his car\u2019s passenger seat. The image captures the moment the man behind the wheel lights his cigarette and you think, eh, that’s a really\u00a0awkward blind date.<\/p>\n

“Occupied Pleasures” photo by\u00a0Tanya Habjuqua<\/em><\/p>\n

\"DLS2-EL_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Walk back to the B&B past men unloading and setting up scaffolding, barricades, and port-a-potties, gearing up for the first King\u2019s Day<\/strong> in 129 years.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s Day, Saturday. \u00a0<\/strong>In orange socks and my orange polka dot scarf, I walked toward the museum through the Vondelpark<\/em>, which Amsterdam sets aside on this holiday for children and their families. It’s a cross between a PTA bake sale, a yard sale of outworn clothes and toys, and kids playing violins or guitars, with a hat for tips.\u00a0Not bad at 9am, but inside of an hour even this park on the fringes geared up from busy to crowded to crushed. I skedaddled to the Rijks<\/strong>. Lucky for me, it meant the museum was not slammed and I had a great morning there.<\/p>\n

Since I was here the other day, \u00a0oversized yellow post-its have popped up. They are\u00a0a commentary on a\u00a0common response to the art, and what it might mean looked at from another angle. I start following these because so many of them echo what I\u2019m thinking, then give it a spin.\u00a0It feels subversive, and I like\u00a0the way it jostles my thinking. Here’s\u00a0an example.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8940\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I walked back to the B&B around 2pm, there was blasting music from boats packed to capacity riding low in the canal, drunks everywhere, a sea of orange people. Population on the sidewalks was at capacity. Enterprising people are selling access to their toilet for 1 Euro a pee.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the orange jungle.<\/p>\n

Depending on your point of view the atmosphere was either enthusiastically festive or borderline mob. I got pushed into the street a few times by the oblivious throng. And this isn’t where the party is – that’s in the center.<\/p>\n

I called it a day, lazed around in my room,\u00a0read a book and wished King Willem-Alexander many happy returns of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday. \u00a0Walked to Nine Streets, looking in the windows at things I things I can\u2019t afford, but enjoy admiring. Stopped for apple pie and coffee (it\u2019s a Dutch thing) and drew a couple of postcards.\u00a0Cranked up a Rick Steves\u2019 audio guide of the Red Light district. It\u2019s a hoot, like having your pastor show you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[14,137],"tags":[115,152,208,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-amsterdam","8":"category-short-trips","9":"tag-audio-tour","10":"tag-church","11":"tag-park","12":"tag-rijksmuseum","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/boob.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7OBxc-5o","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2278,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions\/2278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}