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l33tminion) wrote2024-04-20 10:57 am
l33tminion) wrote2024-04-20 10:57 am
Netherlands in Spring
Last week, we took a family vacation to the Netherlands for Erica's April break, the first overseas flight that Erica will actually remember and the first international travel I planned for the family since before the pandemic.
Friday night and Monday: We took the night flight direct BOS->AMS. The idea is to sleep a few hours on the plane and get yourself through a long day to a normal-ish bedtime in order to mostly avoid the worst of jetlag. Was wondering if Erica would pull that off, but really wasn't a big problem. When we arrived, we took the train to Utrecht, had lunch at the mall near the train station, and checked into the Stayokay Hostel. The room I got there was surprisingly spacious for a hostel private room. The only downside was that the only window was to the central atrium, having no outside light is not ideal for the jetlag. Sound and light isolation weren't perfect, but it did get quiet and dark after lights-out hours.
The weather the first day was a bit rainy, and we took a walk around some of the parks before the rain picked up and we retreated by bus back to the mall. Did a little window shopping and had some very chocolaty gelato at the Lindt store, then went to Dom Under, a little exhibit of part of the archeological excavations under Dom Plaza. The plaza stands between Dom Tower and St. Martin's Cathedral. Originally the tower was part of the cathedral, but the nave of the cathedral was destroyed in a storm in 1674. The ruins weren't cleared for the creation of the plaza until 1826, so they stood in the center of the city for a century-and-a-half. Before the cathedral, the site was home to a series of churches, and before that the Roman fort that really marked the start of Utrecht as an urban area. The exhibit/tour was very interesting.
Afterwards, we went to a really nice restaurant, Koenraad, for an elaborate dinner. I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to get in last-minute, but it was pretty sparse on a rainy Monday night. The restaurant offered a chef's choice "carte blanche", which was a great choice for a first-night when you need motivation to stay up just a little longer to beat the jetlag and definitely are not in the mood for decisions. The place was really beautiful and it was a spectacular meal.
Tuesday: On Tuesday, we went to the Museum Speelklok, a museum of music-playing machines. This was the bucket-list item behind my specific choice of journey. I'd heard of the museum from Martin Molin's series of videos. After his marble machine music video for the band Wintergatan went viral, he did a whole video series about / in collaboration with the museum. The marble machine itself was on exhibit there at one point, but apparently they made Molin take it back some time ago. (Somewhat unsurprising, the machine worked well enough to create the music video with enough editing, but was never reliable enough for live performance. As a music-making machine that was large, not particularly old, and not working, not surprising it didn't keep making the cut in a museum that really wants to do live demonstrations of their historical collection. Molin is working on another iteration of the marble machine concept, but it's one of these ambitious projects that will be maybe some day turn into a finished product of some sort.) Anyways, the museum was really interesting and worth the trip. There's a lot of great material about and/or by the museum online, too, including on their YouTube channel.
The weather was scattered rain, but nothing too bad. We had dinner at a hotdog place called Dogma Hotdogs, was fun.
Wednesday: On Wednesday, we traveled back to Amsterdam and went to the Van Gogh Museum. The "see the masterpieces" highlights audio tour there was really good, I think it provided a structure to the experience that Erica found really helpful, she wouldn't have wanted to spend as much time there if we were just wandering the gallery. After the main exhibit, we went to the temporary exhibit on the art of Matthew Wong, a brilliant painter who struggled with mental illness and died of suicide at a young age in 2019. Wong's paintings are often elaborate, surreal landscapes with small, abstract figures almost lost in them. That sort of imagery speaks to me, and the brilliance of Wong's talent with composition and color is really striking. (I should be clear that the comparisons between Wong and Van Gogh were made before Wong's death; Wong found great commercial and critical success while he was still alive. His death didn't make his legacy, it only truncated it.)
Afterwards, we went to the garden in front of the Rijksmuseum and then to Dam Square. We had a very nice dinner at Cafe Brasserie Meuwese, across from the hotel.
The weather of the day again included some scattered rain, adding some hail to the mix while we were on the tram to the museum.
The hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam, Hotel Pagi, was pretty cozy. By which I mean it was the smallest possible room you could squeeze three single beds into. (Big, cheap, centrally located: For hotels you generally choose (at most) two.) I was a little worried by some mixed reviews, but it was nice. Though the sound and light isolation from the hallway weren't great (a little light came under the door and you could hear people coming and going), we didn't run into big issues (it was clean, wasn't smoky, people weren't being rowdy late at night). The room had an external window (just barely, but a window out onto the alley was probably quieter than one facing the street). I'm glad that Julie shares my preferences in hotels, and Erica is flexible about some things.
Thursday: On Thursday, we had a pancake breakfast at Mama Pancake. Then we went to the NEMO Science Museum, which was a pretty cool museum in an unusual-looking building. Erica had a great time there. Afterwards, we circled around the Oosterdok to their satellite exhibit hall, NEMO Studios, where they had an exhibit on longevity and technology. Was a nice walk (this was the best-weather day of the trip), and we got to see several drawbridges move for a convoy of bicycle tour boats that were passing through.
For dinner, we had fondue at Cafe Bern. And there was a spring street fair going on at Nieumarkt plaza there, so we listened to some of the music and I went on an old-fashioned carousel swing ride with Erica.
Friday: Friday morning, we had fantastic scones for breakfast at De Laatste Kruimel, a really lovely bakery. Then we went to the Fashion for Good Museum for a bit. Since that was right next to the hotel, it was a convenient short activity to squeeze in before our trip home. Then back to the airport for the trip home.
It was a long flight home, but the eight-hour day flight always seems less of an ordeal than the seven-hour overnight. (Night-flights being night-flights aside, the travel went well in both directions. Even the airline food was good.) Despite the long day, Erica definitely didn't want to hurry to bed, but did get to bed fairly promptly at 8 and fell asleep mid-story.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip. And it's nice to have the weekend to decompress before we're back to the routine on Monday.
Friday night and Monday: We took the night flight direct BOS->AMS. The idea is to sleep a few hours on the plane and get yourself through a long day to a normal-ish bedtime in order to mostly avoid the worst of jetlag. Was wondering if Erica would pull that off, but really wasn't a big problem. When we arrived, we took the train to Utrecht, had lunch at the mall near the train station, and checked into the Stayokay Hostel. The room I got there was surprisingly spacious for a hostel private room. The only downside was that the only window was to the central atrium, having no outside light is not ideal for the jetlag. Sound and light isolation weren't perfect, but it did get quiet and dark after lights-out hours.
The weather the first day was a bit rainy, and we took a walk around some of the parks before the rain picked up and we retreated by bus back to the mall. Did a little window shopping and had some very chocolaty gelato at the Lindt store, then went to Dom Under, a little exhibit of part of the archeological excavations under Dom Plaza. The plaza stands between Dom Tower and St. Martin's Cathedral. Originally the tower was part of the cathedral, but the nave of the cathedral was destroyed in a storm in 1674. The ruins weren't cleared for the creation of the plaza until 1826, so they stood in the center of the city for a century-and-a-half. Before the cathedral, the site was home to a series of churches, and before that the Roman fort that really marked the start of Utrecht as an urban area. The exhibit/tour was very interesting.
Afterwards, we went to a really nice restaurant, Koenraad, for an elaborate dinner. I was a little worried we wouldn't be able to get in last-minute, but it was pretty sparse on a rainy Monday night. The restaurant offered a chef's choice "carte blanche", which was a great choice for a first-night when you need motivation to stay up just a little longer to beat the jetlag and definitely are not in the mood for decisions. The place was really beautiful and it was a spectacular meal.
Tuesday: On Tuesday, we went to the Museum Speelklok, a museum of music-playing machines. This was the bucket-list item behind my specific choice of journey. I'd heard of the museum from Martin Molin's series of videos. After his marble machine music video for the band Wintergatan went viral, he did a whole video series about / in collaboration with the museum. The marble machine itself was on exhibit there at one point, but apparently they made Molin take it back some time ago. (Somewhat unsurprising, the machine worked well enough to create the music video with enough editing, but was never reliable enough for live performance. As a music-making machine that was large, not particularly old, and not working, not surprising it didn't keep making the cut in a museum that really wants to do live demonstrations of their historical collection. Molin is working on another iteration of the marble machine concept, but it's one of these ambitious projects that will be maybe some day turn into a finished product of some sort.) Anyways, the museum was really interesting and worth the trip. There's a lot of great material about and/or by the museum online, too, including on their YouTube channel.
The weather was scattered rain, but nothing too bad. We had dinner at a hotdog place called Dogma Hotdogs, was fun.
Wednesday: On Wednesday, we traveled back to Amsterdam and went to the Van Gogh Museum. The "see the masterpieces" highlights audio tour there was really good, I think it provided a structure to the experience that Erica found really helpful, she wouldn't have wanted to spend as much time there if we were just wandering the gallery. After the main exhibit, we went to the temporary exhibit on the art of Matthew Wong, a brilliant painter who struggled with mental illness and died of suicide at a young age in 2019. Wong's paintings are often elaborate, surreal landscapes with small, abstract figures almost lost in them. That sort of imagery speaks to me, and the brilliance of Wong's talent with composition and color is really striking. (I should be clear that the comparisons between Wong and Van Gogh were made before Wong's death; Wong found great commercial and critical success while he was still alive. His death didn't make his legacy, it only truncated it.)
Afterwards, we went to the garden in front of the Rijksmuseum and then to Dam Square. We had a very nice dinner at Cafe Brasserie Meuwese, across from the hotel.
The weather of the day again included some scattered rain, adding some hail to the mix while we were on the tram to the museum.
The hotel we stayed at in Amsterdam, Hotel Pagi, was pretty cozy. By which I mean it was the smallest possible room you could squeeze three single beds into. (Big, cheap, centrally located: For hotels you generally choose (at most) two.) I was a little worried by some mixed reviews, but it was nice. Though the sound and light isolation from the hallway weren't great (a little light came under the door and you could hear people coming and going), we didn't run into big issues (it was clean, wasn't smoky, people weren't being rowdy late at night). The room had an external window (just barely, but a window out onto the alley was probably quieter than one facing the street). I'm glad that Julie shares my preferences in hotels, and Erica is flexible about some things.
Thursday: On Thursday, we had a pancake breakfast at Mama Pancake. Then we went to the NEMO Science Museum, which was a pretty cool museum in an unusual-looking building. Erica had a great time there. Afterwards, we circled around the Oosterdok to their satellite exhibit hall, NEMO Studios, where they had an exhibit on longevity and technology. Was a nice walk (this was the best-weather day of the trip), and we got to see several drawbridges move for a convoy of bicycle tour boats that were passing through.
For dinner, we had fondue at Cafe Bern. And there was a spring street fair going on at Nieumarkt plaza there, so we listened to some of the music and I went on an old-fashioned carousel swing ride with Erica.
Friday: Friday morning, we had fantastic scones for breakfast at De Laatste Kruimel, a really lovely bakery. Then we went to the Fashion for Good Museum for a bit. Since that was right next to the hotel, it was a convenient short activity to squeeze in before our trip home. Then back to the airport for the trip home.
It was a long flight home, but the eight-hour day flight always seems less of an ordeal than the seven-hour overnight. (Night-flights being night-flights aside, the travel went well in both directions. Even the airline food was good.) Despite the long day, Erica definitely didn't want to hurry to bed, but did get to bed fairly promptly at 8 and fell asleep mid-story.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip. And it's nice to have the weekend to decompress before we're back to the routine on Monday.
no subject
Sounds fun!
Did you have any Dutch food per se? When I was in Amsterdam I mostly remember eating sushi or Argentinian or Brazilian etc, basically all "ethnic". I didn't even see Dutch-food restaurants and people were "why?" when I asked around. Finally someone suggested a hotel restaurant, where I looked at the menu outside and decided that "why?" was a fair response.
no subject