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!