When most people
think of Amsterdam, they probably conjure to mind images either of art and art
museums or of other, more unmentionable elements of human nature and
debauchery. This is categorically not what
I think of and I'll explain why a bit further down. But first, I'd like to
write about some of the other highlights of my time there.
I'll be honest. At
first glance, Amsterdam doesn't seem like a particularly pretty city. The
buildings are old, their gables stained black in some places from the soot of a
long industrial age, or perhaps just from time. A forest green painted door
here, bright red shutters on a window there, and the occasional market stall
tulips are the only splashes of color along a given canal--a silent, vivid
protest to the dreary neutral tones that cover everything else. But upon closer
inspection, you'll realize that the forest green door and the bright red
shutters have their own past, one you can glimpse by the chips in their aged
wood that someone, at some point, lovingly painted over. The market stall
vendor sells, not just vibrant tulips, but postcards that he painstakingly
makes himself throughout the day while people peruse his wares. And the
buildings themselves are remnants of history, with their forward-slanting
facades and their hooked beams jutting out from the gables that were used a
century before to pulley something big, a piano perhaps, up to a top floor.
This is the quiet, unassuming beauty of Amsterdam.
And Keukenhof is
where you'll find its universal, visually loud beauty. The Keukenhof Tulip
Gardens are a little bit outside of the city, but they're a sight everyone
visiting Amsterdam should see, if lucky enough to be there while the flowers
are in bloom. The gardens are truly seas of color, of blossoms arranged to
create designs that resemble a Van Gogh, of flowers I'd never seen before and
might never see again.
And of course, in
any discussion about Amsterdam, one cannot neglect to mention its historical
red-light district. I was not at all surprised when I turned down an alleyway
that looked just like any other and accidentally found myself in it. It was
more a realization of, 'Oh… Red-light district…
Huh.' What did surprise me though was that it is literally right across the street (well, canal) from Oude Kerk,
the city's famous 800-year-old church.
Nevertheless, when
someone mentions Amsterdam, I do not immediately think of art or tulips or the
red-light district. I will now always think of science. I had no idea that
Amsterdam was home to so many great science museums! My only regret is not
having enough time to visit them all, particularly the Body Worlds museum. I
did however get to visit Micropia, the world's first and only museum all about
microbes! And if you think that sentence seems undeserving of an exclamation
point, then you need to visit Micropia. It was easily my favorite museum out of
all the ones I went to this semester. Designed to be fun for adults and
children alike, it was educational, interactive, and just visually all-around fascinating. It did an excellent job of
conveying the ecological importance of microbes: those responsible for illness
and death, and those that humans and countless other organisms depend on for
survival in this strange interplay that we call 'Life'. And aside from all
that, it's the only place I know of where one can take pictures with a gigantic tardigrade--and really, what more
could a girl ask for?
No comments:
Post a Comment