Nearly time for the mountains

We're off to the mountains tomorrow!! Looks like we're going to have to wrap up warm....

Weekend Weirdness

On Friday night I was woken around 2am by the sound of an angry mob rioting outside. My initial panic was soon over when I remembered that we received a letter informing us that the snackbar on the corner of our street was to become a temporary film set for the night. When I read the film summary of 'Nachtrit' (which translates as 'Night Ride') a few days before I didn't quite prepare for a sleepless night, but looking back I should have expected it. The film tells the story of a young taxi driver who falls into a life of crime, resulting in 'Oorlog in de straten', which (judging by the din outside) aptly translates as 'war in the streets'. I guess I was hoping that they would be filming the scene where the main character buys a frikadel in a quiet and orderly fashion. The rioting went on til 2am.

Despite lack of sleep, I was up bright and early on Saturday morning and off on my bike to the Amsterdam Dance Centre for their Open Day. Me and my friend Sarah went along to sample a few free classes and to try to remind our rusty bodies how to dance. The best class of the day was the Beginner's Tap Dance session. In reality we were actually doing more thudding than tapping because none of us had tap shoes (trainers don't have quite the same effect) but due to the enthusiasm of the lovely teacher we all had a great laugh. My memories of tap classes as a kid aren't that great (naff plastic hat and cane, dodgy lycra outfits, you know the thing..) but this experience was altogether more positive. I might even sign up for the course!

Last night me and Peter ate at Shiva, my favourite Indian restaurant in town. While we were there a group of people came in and sat down to eat at a long table. Their focus was on an Indian man sat at the head of the table, dressed in long white robes and saffron coloured scarves. He had long hair, a flowing beard, wore a distinctive Hindu caste mark on his forehead and looked every inch the 'spiritual guru'. We were just tucking in to our Chicken Tikka when suddenly the whole table broke out into a spontaneous round of 'ommmmm-ing'. Once the 'guru' man had got that out of his system he sparked up a Marlboro before digging into his curry. Now I'm not exactly knowledgeable in the area of the Hindu faith, but surely smoking a fag isn't the way to spiritual enlightenment?!

Another rich and varied weekend in Amsterdam draws to an end...

Museum Nacht 8

On 5th November (when all the Brits were busy burning things and gawping at airborne explosives) the Amsterdammers were busy indulging in a bit of museum hopping.

The 8th annual Museum Night was taking place. For the price of an all-in ticket of a few Euros participants get to visit practically every museum or institution in the City (42 in all) between 7pm and 2am. Each venue organises something special to lure visitors in and the city fills with cyclists, each zigzagging between their own chosen spots. The night takes on a party atmosphere and it's great to have a snoop round places that you wouln't normally think to visit. It's funny to see the 'hushed atmosphere' that you normally associate with these places being transformed into something much more alive.



I started my bike tour at the Verzetsmuseum- a really great little museum in the east of the City which documents the Dutch experience of World War II. As well as seeing the exhibitions I got to enjoy some live Gamelan music in the foyer and sample some rather lovely Indonesian corn patties.

Back on the bike, and a race to the Van Gogh Museum to meet friends Elin and Sandor, where we stood at the top of the building and got an aerial view of thousands of people swarming around the ground floor like ants. The security guards didn't look too happy about the amount of people getting drunk in the near vicinity of such priceless paintings.

Next stop was a the trendy Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst (Netherlands Institute for Media Arts for some strange video installations starring men in basques and stilletos playing football and a family eating dinner wearing rubber suits. More interesting were the bank of TV screens behind the entrance desk showing a variety of faces (all painted blue). The faces were morphing (playdough-like) into each other - I wanted to stare at it for hours.

Another short hop on the bikes took us to De Nieuwe Kerk (The New Church) on the Dam Square. This beautiful church was hosting an Indonesian market and was a great place to thaw out and enjoy a cup of tea and some spekkoek (Indonesian layered cake).

Last stop was the Stedelijk Museum, newly (and temporarily) relocated to the north of the City in an old Post Office sorting building. We stopped en route to watch a lazer display over the water outside before going in to see some really great portraits by Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra.

By this time it was 1.30am and I decided that I'd had enough culture for one night!