Amsterdam Heat Wave

Alex joined us on Friday, just in time for a a major heatwave, temperatures up to 90 degrees and not a cloud in sight. Makes for a stunning photo though!

During our day trips in the car, we would pass-by the freeway exit to nearby (13 minute drive) Schiphol airport so we told Alex he didn't need to bother with an Uber as we could easily drive to pick him up.  We realized, as we were driving in circles, by accident getting back on the freeway instead of circling the airport, that there is no passenger pick up point other than for public transportation, cabs and Uber. Fortunately we remembered that the Uber pick up spot was at a Sheraton Hotel across the street from the airport and, with the help of GPS and one missed try, were able to navigate to that spot - where he could have easily picked up an Uber!  Oh well, hopefully we were more fun to talk to than an Uber driver.  

On Saturday we headed into Amsterdam on the bus (bus stop 3 blocks from house).

Jim now has his coffee buddy, so that was the first stop.

We walked around a bit, opting for the shady side of streets, and after lunch met up with our tour guide, also Alex, for a scheduled free walking tour.  We booked this same tour in 2017 through Sandemans New Europe - we have also used them in Dublin.  But different tour guide showing us different spots and with uniques stories, humor, and perspective.  

And, lucky for us, we were a small group as 7 people didn't show up likely either lost or scrapped the idea due to the heat.  He was great at finding shady spots to stand in at each stopping point.  He also invited us to ask him any questions: "just say 'hey, Alex' and one of us will give you an answer."

I could not even begin to summarize the extensive history he shared about Amsterdam, as well as political commentary about the monarchy, city decisions about things like building Central Station and completely blocking of the port access, or tearing down old buildings to create ugly "modern"architecture in the city center

Learned about Spinoza, a controversial, radical Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish origin, from the 1600's.  He was shunned by Jewish religious authorities, society and his family at age 23.  He died young, at age 44, but remains known for his influence on 17th century philosophy "Age of Enlightenment."  Our tour guide was fascinated with him but said trying to read his written works is quite a challenge and he can never get past page 3.

Loved this metal sculptured gate 

Rembrandt's House

These cute typical Dutch structures were not part of the tour, but I saw them in the window of the Legos store.

After the tour we needed to hydrate again so stopped for water (all of us) and beer (Alex and Jim)

We did some more walking and ended up finding an air conditioned restaurant on one of the canals before heading back to the house.

Sunday we were back out in the heat for another scheduled tour - this time focusing on the Jewish history of Amsterdam.  Our public transportation in was a bus to the Amsterdam Zuid transit station and then the Metro.  While waiting on the platform we appreciated the architecture of some of the buildings

On this last one you will notice the exterior stairs  that encompass the structure.  It goes around all sides and we figured it may have been built after 9/11 - with the increased awareness that there needs to be alternative ways to exit a tall building.  Or maybe just because it was architecturally interesting.

When she heard about our trip, my Aunt Mona linked us up with a tour guide that she met years ago and they became friends.  We met up with Mia at the Jewish Museum, but after a stop for coffee.  It was Sunday morning and none of the cafes were open yet, so the only place close to the museum was a "Coffee Shop" (AKA coffee and marijuana).  Only coffee was purchased.

Mia is an amazing woman - both in her detailed knowledge of European (Sephardic and Ashkenazi) and local Jewish History, and the early settlement and growth trajectory Amsterdam.  She was also generous in sharing some of her history as a World War II survivor.  While much of her extended family, neighbors and friends died in the concentration camps, which she emphatically states should only be call murder camps, her immediate family (parents and sisters) survived, but were "hidden" separately in all different locations.  She was hidden from age 8 to almost 11 years old.  She had to alter the 3-hour tour plan due to the heat, but we visited parts of the museum, the National Holocaust Names Monument, and the Portuguese Synagogue.

New since our visit in 2017, the National Holocaust Names Monument was unveiled in September of 2021 and displays the names of more than 102,000 Dutch victims of the Holocaust.  At its entrance is the Hebrew word for "in memory of" which is written on the wall, but would also be spelled out from aerial views of the structure.

Each brick has a name, their date of birth, and their age when they died.  A quiet and solemn place. Mia pointed out the bricks of her grandparents and talked about coming with her granddaughters when the memorial opened, and they helped her find the names of her grandparents and great grandparents.

Nearby, she pointed out this row of houses, and then the plaques on the sidewalk across the canal - called the Shadow Wall.  Each plaque is numbered, corresponding with the house number across the canal, and shows the names of the residents of that house who died in the Holocaust.  This monument of sorts was created by the current residents who decided to commemorate the 200 people from their canal who were "murdered because they were Jewish."

After the tour we walked across the bridge to the Plantage district.  Mia recommended a restaurant there, and tour guide Alex, had also suggested that neighborhood.  He had described it as a quiet, green oasis in the middle of the city.  It was just that and great for a late lunch in the heat.

This is the restaurant where we ate - if you look close on the left side you can see little kids cooling off in the fountain.  

That was the end of our busy weekend and, fortunately the heatwave has also ended.  While still warm, there are clouds in the sky and some rain.  Not sure what the next few days will hold for us - just managing one day at time.  We did book train tickets, Thursday - Monday, to go to Paris and to stay with my cousin there.