What makes me happy

Determined to avoid the queues, I woke before dawn and headed for the Van Gogh museum before sunrise.  Impressed?  (Sunrise is 8.50am.)  I arrived as the ticket office was opening and had time take the obligatory picture of the IAMSTERDAM sign and grab a coffee to drink in the queue before it opened at 9am.  It was well worth it.  I was right at the front of the queue and about the third person into the building.  For a few lovely minutes I had those lovely paintings all to myself.  The audio tour was an extra 5 euros but it was very well done.

I think I was smiling for most of the gallery, except when I was nearly crying.  I was smiling because I was glad to be there, and because it's hard not too when you're surrounded by Van Gogh's paintings with all their colour and light.  The audio tour explains the paintings, but mostly gives you a glimpse into Van Gogh's life.  Snippets of his very close relationship with his brother Theo with whom he exchanged hundreds of letters.   Theo supported and encouraged Vincent in his art - and sent him money regularly.  The sadness was that Van Gogh has periods of mental illness, and he knew he was mentally ill, but could not overcome it.  In some of his paintings from the asylum, he brings colour into what I imagine was a very dark place.  In the end he killed himself with a bullet into his chest.

The queue to the Rijks museum the day before had been ridiculously long - even for those who already had tickets.  For some reason today there was none at all.   The Rijks covers Dutch art from the middle ages to the twentieth century.  It celebrates the great Dutch artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer.  My sister would have loved it, but for me it was a bit like the Louvre.  I could appreciate the brilliance and innovation of these masters, but only in a theoretical sense.  They didn't put a spring in my step like Van Gogh did.  There were large cards at various points explaining the details of various important pieces which I found very helpful.  There was quite a bit of ceramics, vases and furniture which I just can't bring myself to think of as art (the cool new stuff, yes;  the old stuff that the queen probably has in her sitting room, not so much).  I didn't really like the twentieth century stuff, although they did have a political poster from the 70s on display.  It was a full frontal of a naked woman in front of a cow.  I'm going to write to the Davids in the Labour party and suggest it for the next election.

I returned to the hotel in the early afternoon and rang the restaurant to confirm my booking.  Five minutes later I got a call back from the reservation service to tell me that actually, the restaurant was closed.  Feeling a bit pissed off and a bit sorry for myself, I took the only appropriate action: I had a nap.  Half an hour later and feeling much better about everything, I got on my bike (yes, I hired a bike thinking this would be a good way to get around on NYE) and went down to my local supermarket. 

Bubbles, several cheeses, fudge, chocolates, cashew nuts, bread, some little red Dutch berries and yoghurt were my feast for the night (just about all of my favourite foods).  I spent a bit of time in the executive lounge first drinking wine and eating nibbles (really really really nice chocolates, chicken tenders, spring rolls, some nice cheesy bready bites) and watching the fireworks from that side of the building.  Then back to my homemade feast (except I was kind of full by then, so only really picked at it), bad television and more fireworks.  I was going to go up to the cocktail bar for midnight, but I was all nice and comfy in my jammies so watched the fireworks from my room instead.  It's on the 14th floor so it's a damn fine view. 

NYE fireworks in Amsterdam is amazing.  Just about every street has it's own display.  I'm pretty sure that all the households in each street pool together their life savings and go wild in an attempt to have fireworks that last longer than everyone elses.  Most just kept going and going and going till 12.30, about half kept going to 1am, but the winner - still going at 2am - was just outside my window.  I love fireworks, and I probably had one of the best views in the city.  It rained most of the night and I imagine that it would have been a nightmare trying to cycle home through the fireworks madness, so in the end, I was quite glad that I hadn't gone out.

New Year's Day and I decided to put the bike to use.  I decided to head out of the city along the Amstel to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.  The woman at reception told me I should come back and do it in summer, but I'm quite pleased that I did in now.  In summer, I would have to share it with hundreds of other cyclists.  But I had it all to myself - along with the occasional walker, runner, or other cyclists in proper gear on a bike with 15 gears to my one.  It's all pretty flat but there was quite a head wind in places so it was quite slow going on the way out.   At one point, a runner passed me (he was going very quick....)  It's an interesting cycle through a less 'scenic' part of the city and then it's fields and sheep and naked trees and the wind in my hair (quite cold wind actually).  It was a great feeling.

As it was New Year's day, most things were closed at the village, but I found a spot for a coffee and then took a few pics around various parts of the town before heading back on the other side of the river.  The wind was behind me this time so it was a quicker trip - or it would have  been if I hadn't got lost.  This unplanned detour did take me past some quite a large group going for a swim in one of the canals.  I had thought this might be a good idea when I was planning the trip in sunny New Zealand.  I'm quite pleased that I came to my senses.