Day 80 - Monday 22 July - Amsterdam

Monday 22 July

We slept in this morning, then saw to the laundry.  Despite there being a washing machine in the kitchen which we walk through every time we go in or out, we are not allowed to use them.  They are reserved for ?permanent residents?, though it says on my receipt we have microwave, dining table, dryer, dishwasher and other stuff useful for eating.  So we had to go downstairs to the laundry service, and leave our washing to be done for us. We went off at about 10:00.

First we went to see St Nicolaas' church which is near the station, so I noticed it last time we were here (2006?), but it doesn't open until 12:00.

We walked then to "the church of our Lord in the attic". History lesson - Holland was RC, but then the protestants revolted, and took over in mid C16. They outlawed catholicism, and stripped the churches, converting them to protestant. But they also believed in free speech and beliefs, so they turned a blind eye to people of other faiths (RC, Jews, Baptists) still worshipping in private. So, 'house churches' sprang up around the city, and people went to worship in a church in a house. That is what this is, having survived since 1663.  The church was built by a rich merchant who owned 3 adjacent buildings, and he took 3 floors over the 3 houses to make the church.  The downstairs rooms are partly furnished for living and for business (he was into textiles).

  A nice carved nativity - lots in the house

 The kitchen downstairs

From the back of the church

 From the 2nd balcony

 Behind the 2nd balcony, pulleys for lifting up the textiles into an upstairs storeroom.

 

We walked the short distance to the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam's oldest building 1307. Having been protestantized, it is a big empty barn. Now we've seen so many, we missed all the statues and side chapels full of paraphernalia.

 

 It is still used for worship, but has only a few chairs in the middle facing the pulpit on the side.

 Old paintings on the ceiling of the aisles.

 The whole floor was made of burial slabs, many of those in the choir were very fancy, with coats of arms etc.

  

A curly staircase to a secret, lead-lined room for the safe storage of important documents.

 We had lunch by a canal, and had intended to go to the Rembrandt House museum, but time was running out. Instead we had to make do with the life-sized sculptures of the characters in his 'The Night Watch', standing in a park with their creator. 

From there we walked to the Van Gogh museum for our 15:15 entrance time.

Lots of people, lots of paintings, David still is underwhelmed with Vincent.

 

 Tulip Fields near The Hague - Monet - 1886

Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint Pierre - Vincent - 1887

 The Harvest - Vincent

 Haymaking - Leon-Augustin Lhermitte

The Potato Eaters - Vincent - 1885

 The Apple Harvest - Paul Serusier - 1891

All the sunflower pictures were in another section, no photos allowed, and the starry nights are kept by other museums, so they weren't mentioned.

By 17:45 we'd had enough, and got a tram home in time to pick up our washed and dried and folded bundle.