Susanna Lee is a former colleague of ours from both New England Memorial Hospital and Lahey Clinic. She has visited us once before in New Orleans and we have spent time with her at her lakehouse in Maine.
Our friend, peer and former colleague Susanna Lee arrived May 5. She took a red eye flight from Boston then after arrival at Schiphol airport took the train to Central station then the metro to Nieuwmarkt and then walked to our place dragging her suitcase over cobble stone streets until she got to us, proving how very tough and frugal she is.Like many of our “red eye” traveler friends she wanted to power through her jet lag so we took her out on a walking tour of the city. Here she and Jim are standing in front of the narrowest house in Amsterdam. Located at 22 Hoogstraat, it measures just 2.2 meters in width which is about the length of six wine bottles.After our walking tour we deposited her on a canal boat which we think is the best tour to take on day one to get an overview of the city.We watched as her canal boat took off nearly colliding with a few other boats all trying to reach the same dock. Fortunately there were no crashes, just some heated exchanges between the boat captains.We left Susanna to follow her own GPS back to our place. We went home to prepare a pasta meal for her knowing she would be too tired to go out to eat and it would be better for her to have a good meal here then relax some with us before heading to bed for the night. She did not manage to see this sunset at nearly 10 pm, but hopefully she will be able to stay awake during her stay to see others.On her first full day Susanna had bookings for Anne Frank House and Van Gogh museum. Since we had been to both she went by herself and we went to Our Lord in the attic museum which is a catholic chapel hidden in the attic of two well preserved 17th century canal houses. The chapel in the attic was commissioned by Jan Hartman, a wealthy merchant when it was forbidden to practice the Catholic faith in public spaces during what is referred to as the Alteration when Amsterdam became a fiercely Protestant capital and Catholic Churches were vandalized.Narrow corridors and stairs lead you to historically decorated living quarters, kitchens and bedsteads that end in the highlight of the museum which is a complete church in the attic.The beds years ago were short because people slept upright leaning against the headboard as they felt that lying flat was associated with death and also unhealthy. Some of the stairs were reproduced but these stairs are the only original ones from the 17th century.It was felt back then that symmetry of design produced a sense of harmony. It is achieved by arranging elements to mirror each other as you can see in this room where a balance is attained by lining up the marble floor pattern with the wooden ceiling pattern.Lord in the Attic Chapel complete with pipe organ.Our Lord in the attic church was not the only hidden church. This map above shows how many more there were. In all about 62 were found in Amsterdam between 1578-1853.We went to a Thai restaurant near our place and the waiter insisted that we try this appetizer since it is plated on an edible Thai pepper leaf. We were happy we agreed as it was delicious and a nice change from the usual Thai appetizer offerings. The waiter said they import these directly from Thailand and is a specialty of the restaurant.We have experienced a wide range of weather here. Today’s storm brought winds so fierce that our heavy wooden table and chairs on our roof deck were blown over. We went up to check on them for fear they were completely blown off the roof.We decided to hit the Rikjsmuseum as soon as it was open to beat the crowds. We arrived shortly after 9am and found there was still a good size crowd already present.Rembrandt’s famous painting The Night Watch is currently being restored at the Rijksmuseum. Large chunks were sliced off the sides of the painting in 1715 so the colossal canvas would fit a wall in what was then Amsterdam Town Hall. The strips were discarded and lost forever. Now the museum is using artificial intelligence to recreate the missing parts and restore the work to what Rembrandt intended.Vermeer’s Milkmaid c. 1660. It is so wonderful to see these famous paintings by the Dutch Golden Age artists.We love taking docent tours to learn about the paintings but when they are not available the audio guides are well worth purchasing and so much more meaningful than just looking at the painting and reading the brief description on the plaque next to it.This self portrait is one of just a few Van Gogh’s in the Rijksmuseum.During a tour of the museum the guide brought us to this painting by Van Gogh and the story behind the painting was that in 1885 while Van Gogh was waiting for a friend to arrive at Centraal station he decided to quickly paint the view of St Nicholas Basilica as seen from the station across the canal. Artists then always travelled with their art supplies. When his friend arrived Van Gogh put the painting which was still wet quickly away in his satchel leaving his thumb print behind in the top left corner of the canvas (circled in red).The Rijksmuseum has three doll houses that provide a detailed view of how affluent houses were once furnished. All the contents have been made of authentic materials such as porcelain from China and real silver and blown glass and the proportions are exactly correct. In the 17th century doll houses were not toys; they were instead the hobby of wealthy women as they were extremely expensive, sometimes even costing more than the actual house they replicated.The Rijksmuseum’s art-history library is the largest of its kind in the Netherlands. Completed in 1881, the library has largely retained its original form and ornamentation. It has four stories and contains one kilometer of books, which is just over a half mile. The most striking element is the cast iron spiral staircase which is hard to see in this photo located just below the window on the right hand side of the photo.We visited a 17th century Canal House, The Willet-Holthuysen House, but unfortunately we only have a photo of its garden. We really weren’t impressed with it anyway.We decided to take a day trip to Utrecht with Susanna. Here she is pictured as we approach Centraal Train Station.Utrecht is just a short train ride from Amsterdam and has a medieval center with tree lined canals.Our first attraction in Utrecht was the outdoor market where we purchased some cheeses.St Martin’s Cathedral has been destroyed many times by fire and storms and rebuilt.It has been a Protestant church since 1580.Susanna lit some candles in remembrance of her husband and also a friend who recently passed away.Cathedral cloister, note the nun in full habit in the background.We wanted to take some tours but the free walking tour of the city was not available and the guided tour of Utrecht’s DOMunder which is an underground tour was sold out so we had to settle for an underground tour of the Utrecht Palace which unfortunately was really bad. As hard as we tried there are no words other than quirky to describe this guide.Modern building we passed on our way to Utrecht train station.Susanna finally got to see a sunset from our roof on her last night. During her stay she did an overnight trip to Brussels in Belgium and did a tour of Parliament which she said was one of the highlights of her visit.
Susanna was our next to last guest, we have Ed and Andrea Conley arriving on June 1 and then we fly back to Boston and drive to Newport on the 4th. We will have had a total of 25 guests in all visiting us in Amsterdam which we think tops the list of most guests in any city or country we have been to over the past 8 years of our Nomadic Retirement lifestyle.
I especially loved your sunset photo taken from your apartment and I loved seeing the Thai appetizer. I’ve eaten Thai pepper leaves before and I agree that they are amazing!! Have a safe flight home!
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