Amsterdam 2

On the eve of my departure from Amsterdam, I feel confident that I have explored the city's many artistic, historic, and cultural offerings to the fullest! Wish I could say the same for some of the shady characters lazing around the Flying Pig Downtown hostel as we speak. That's their problem, I suppose...

Following the Rijksmuseum, the other big two on the list were the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. Both were a tad crowded (I can only imagine the line for Anne Frank during the summer!), but neither was dissatisfying.

The Van Gogh Museum praises hell out of a man who lived his short life enjoying virtually no praise from anybody. What a testament to the output! 800 paintings in ten years! A few masterpieces were notably absent (i.e. Starry Night, which is in New York.), but the collection on display was wonderfully thorough, arranged so as to trace the artists' many trends and developments, including his dabbling in Japanese woodblocks!

The Anne Frank House I took in this morning with a pair of short Argentineans, Denise and Alejandro. We were impressed by how expansive and yet well-hidden the Secret Annexe truly was. Having re-read (most of) Anne's Diary just before my visit, I was moved when I recalled how from this hideaway she often could hear nighttime air battles, and even see Jews being arrested on the streets through tiny slits in the curtains.


I'll turn in the book report and diorama later. (I promise! Here's a note from my Mom!)

Now it's off to Belgium!

Amsterdam

Wrapped things up in London on Wednesday and hopped a cheap flight to Amsterdam.

What a beautiful city! This is my first experience with canals, so I'm really doubled over just walking around. Skinny houses, cute little brick bridges, blondes on bikes: lovely, all of it. Still pretty cold, though, so I can't stop and stare for too long. Luckily, my trademark airheadedness with maps has spared me at the moment, as I'm finding Amsterdam's streets to be easily navigable.

First sightseeing venture was yesterday at the Rijksmuseum, where the works of several Dutch masters from the "Golden Age" of the 17th Century are on display. The museum, which is gigantic, is actually undergoing renovations right now, so the collection has been pared down to fit a single wing, only about 25% of the whole complex. I didn't mind: It was much like a highlights tour. All the Rembrandt's were in one room, including The Nightwatch. Elsewhere were Vermeer, Hals, and many other artists I hadn't known before. Also there were many artifacts from the glory years of the Dutch East India Company, like a baby cradle ornately designed in ebony and ivory.

On to the Van Gogh Museum today, Anne Frank house tomorrow. Hopefully I can add photos later.

London: Lovin' That Longitude

All is well in London, where I've had a few days to tube around. Finally found a computer that will let me download photos!

I'm staying at a hostel in the neighborhood of Hammersmith, which is a half hour west of city center.

Weather's good and chilly. Coming from Minnesota it isn't much, but then again, strolling down those old, storied avenues, wind whipping my back, only to read "Toilets are for customers only" on all the restaurant doors -- this is disconcerting. Y'all know I aint no customer in no restaurant. I'm more the fish 'n chips type, which also has its drawbacks in that fish 'n chips is strictly a take-out food, no exceptions. They hand you the cone of cod and it's off you go, old chap.

Visited No. 3 Abbey Road yesterday morning in the place of church. I had every religious right to be there, you know, seeing as how Sgt. Pepper's was created there. It amazes me how you can go to St. James Park, right off Trafalgar Square, and literally watch Japanese tourists snapping photos of squirrels, then come out to the Beatles recording studio to find it delightfully unmarked, unadorned. There were session musicians carrying their violins out to their Mercedes, so I knew I'd reached the right place. Very nearly wept. (Proper church came this evening, at evensong in Westminster Abbey! Thanks to those who recommended it!)

The British Museum had certainly captivated me as a lad, en route to India with my family back in '95, so the return trip was inevitable. All the magic, all the splendor of an aging empire that won't give anything back. The Rosetta Stone is sure to impress, as with the other Egyptian artifacts, but what blew me away even more were the Assyrian temple pieces, and how you could walk right up and touch them! Also saw the entire frieze and many other decorations from the Parthenon. (Apologies to my sister Emily, on a trip to Greece at the moment: We got all the good stuff over here!)

I've long known it that London is home to some of the absolute best and absolute worst in news reporting. The fact that nearly every one of today's editions contained a four page commemorative photo insert on the bloody whale that wandered into the Thames, well, gave me something to read on the ride home.

And finally, dig the shot of me at Greenwich Observatory, straddling the Prime Meridian! This is where time begins, folks. Made a point of synching up my new Casio Illuminator F-105 while I had the chance.

Hopefully will be able to share more about London before I'm off to the continent!

Who wants a postcard?

Shoot me an email with your address, and you WILL receive a postcard from India!

lchennig@gmail.com

Now's your chance! Before I'm too road weary!

L.

Route Map / Itinerary

First of all, I'll be in Europe (London, Amsterdam, possibly more) for the first two weeks (19 Jan - 2 Feb).

My itinerary for travels within India, then, should look something like this. Please note that plans could change for any old reason, from bum weather to my own little whims. What I know about each of these places isn't much; just little factoids from friends who've been and my trusty Lonely Planet. How I'll soon know more!

One bit that is set in stone is my arrival into DELHI on 2 February. I'll spend a few days acclimating to the food and time change, also having a look around. Then I'll hop the first of far too many Indian trains, bound for VARANASI. Set along the Ganges River, Varanasi draws millions of Hindu pilgrims looking to commit loved ones' remains.

Around this time I may visit two other cities, BODHGAYA and KHAJURAHO, though I don't know just how accessible they are. I'll write more if I actually visit them.

On to AGRA, where I'll take a single, horizontally-oriented photograph of the front of the Taj Mahal.

Next is JAIPUR, the capital of Rajasthan. Part of this city is colored in pink. Don't know much more about Jaipur. Then up to AMRITSAR, the capital of Punjab, and home to the Golden Temple of the Sikhs. I'm hoping to fit in a famed India-Pakistan border closing ceremony in nearby Attari.

Then the trip gets really cool. DHARAMSALA is the home to the Dalai Lama and thousands other exiled Tibetans. Few days there, then over to RISHIKESH, where I'll camp out in an ashram for a week of study as part of the 2006 International Yoga Festival. Also, Rishikesh is where the Beatles went in 1968 and wrote most of the White Album songs. Enlightened all kindsa different ways, it's down to GOA next, to chill on the beach at least a week.

My father, Gene Hennig, will be joining me at this point. (Or am I joining him?) He flies into CHENNAI on 18 March, where we'll form a kind of goodwill junket, visiting the various Bethania projects and tackling other business. This will take us to BANGALORE, NAGERCOIL, and finally KODAIKANAL, where my family lived in 1995!

Broken, beaten, and screaming for a glass of Kemps 1%, I shall return to St. Paul on 2 April.

L.

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Happy posting,

L.