Central Station and other Amsterdam, Netherlands Things to Do Tips

The main hub of transportation in The Netherlands, this building was designed as a major architectural statement by P. J. H. Cuypers. Although sporting many Gothic motifs (including a unique wind vane disguised as a clock in its left tower), it is now considered a landmark of Dutch Neo-Renaissance style. Cuypers must have derived great smugness in having designed the city's other main gateway, the Rijksmuseum, which lies like a mirrored rival on the other side of town. The building of the station required the creation of three artificial islands and the ramming of 8,600 wooden piles to support it. Completed in 1885, it represented the psychological break with the city's seafaring past, as its erection slowly blocked the view to the IJ river. Other controversy arose from all its Gothic detailing, which was considered by uptight Protestants as a tad too Catholic -- like Cuypers himself -- and hence earned the building the nickname the "French Convent" (similarly, the Rijksmuseum became the "Bishop's Castle"). With more than 1,500 trains passing through daily, Centraal Station long ago learned to live with the guilt. And you should certainly not feel guilty about fighting your way through the street performers and backpackers who litter its doorways. If you have time to kill, perhaps take a return trip on the free ferry to Amsterdam North that departs directly opposite the rear entrance; or check out the rather sci-fi-looking multilevel bicycle parking lot to the right when exiting the front entrance.

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Address: Stationsplein
Website: http://www.ns.nl

Skinny Bridge. Of Amsterdam's 60-plus drawbridges, the Magere is the most famous. Whether or not this is mainly because of its name (which derives from "meager" in Dutch), the legend of its birth -- it was purportedly built by two sisters living on opposite sides of the Amstel who wanted an efficient way of sharing that grandest of Dutch traditions, the gezellig (socially cozy) midmorning coffee break -- or because it is spectacularly lighted with electric lights at night, we can't say. Have your camera ready at all hours, since the bridge is often drawn up to let boats pass by. Many replacements to the original bridge, constructed in 1672, have come and gone, and this, dating to 1969, is but the latest.

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Directions: Between Kerkstraat and Nieuwe Kerkstraat

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During the sixties flower power in the Netherlands was symbolized by the famous Damslapers, a 'bunch of hippies camping out on Dam square'. Nowadays the square has lost a lot of it's former easygoing charm but it's still one of the focal points of the city. Not surprising, as Dam square is the physical center of the city ever since the dam was built to keep the Zuiderzee (Southern Sea) out.

In the midst of the square is the Nationaal Monument, dedicated to the Dutch soldiers and members of the resistance who died during World War Two. To the west the square is flanked by the Royal Palace.

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Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is probably Amsterdam's greatest storyteller. But from the outside, it is somewhat hard to believe that this gray-stained building -- with its aura of loneliness highlighted by the fact that it is one of the city's few freestanding buildings -- was once called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" when it was built between 1648 and 1665 as the largest nonreligious building on the planet, and that it is still used by the royal family for the highest of state occasions. From the inside, its magnificent interior inspires another brand of disbelief: this palace was actually built as a mere city hall -- albeit one for a city drunk with cockiness for having created in a mere 100 years the richest and busiest harbor in the world.The prosperous burghers of the 17th-century Golden Age, wanting something that could boast of their status to all visitors (in particular, visiting monarchs who belonged to a species that they had always done without), hired the leading architectural ego of his day, Jacob van Campen, who had traveled to Italy to study the heights of perfection represented by the classical world before the Middle Ages so rudely interrupted. With the commission for building the City Hall, he thought that he finally had the opportunity to create something perfect in its dimensions, spatial relationships, and symbolic meaning -- a veritable sermon in stone. The first problem was to create a surface on the blubbery former riverbed that was solid enough to build on. He used the standard local technique of driving wooden piles down to the solid subsurface -- a method that inspired Erasmus to comment that Amsterdammers were the only people he knew who lived on treetops. What was less standard was the sheer total, 13,659 -- a number that is still pounded permanently into the minds of every Dutch schoolchild by the formula of adding 1 to the beginning and 9 to the end of the number of days of the year.

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Address: Dam 20
Website: www.kon-paleisamsterdam.nl

New Church. Begun in the 14th century, the Nieuwe Kerk is a soaring Late Gothic structure whose spire was never completed because the authorities -- preoccupied with the building of Het Koninklijk Paleis, the city palace next door -- ran out of money. Whereas the Oude Kerk had the blessing of the Bishop of Utrecht, the Nieuwe Kerk was supported by the local well-to-do merchant class, which resulted in an endless competition between the two parochial factions. At one point the Oude Kerk led the race with a whopping 38 pulpits against the Nieuwe Kerk's 36, but first prize should go to Nieuwe Kerk for its still-existing pulpit sculpted by Albert Vinckenbrinck, which took him 19 years to complete. Other features include the unmarked grave of the poet Vondel, known as the "Dutch Shakespeare," and the extravagantly marked grave of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, who daringly sailed his invading fleet up the river Medway in England in the 17th century, to become this country's ultimate naval hero -- and who also proved himself to be the ultimate down-to-earth Dutch boy by spending the next day "sweeping his own cabin and feeding his chickens." The Nieuwe Kerk has also been the National Church since 1815, when it began hosting the inauguration ceremony for monarchs. Since this does not occur that often, the church has broadened its appeal by serving as a venue for organ concerts and special -- and invariably excellent -- exhibitions, which attract a half-million visitors a year. These exhibitions have covered everything from Dutch photography to Buddhist treasures.

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Phone: +31-20-6386909
Address: Dam 34-38
Website: http://www.nieuwekerk.nl

New Market. Home to the striking Waag gatehouse -- where Rembrandt came to watch Professor Tulp in action before painting The Anatomy Lesson -- and also some of the most festive holiday celebrations in town, the Nieuwmarkt has been a marketplace since the 15th century. In those days, de Waag -- or Sint Antoniespoort (St. Anthony's Port) as it was then known -- formed a gateway in the city defenses. It was not until 17th-century expansion that the current form of Nieuwmarkt was established and farmers from the province of Noord-Holland began setting up stalls to make it a bustling daily market. The Kruidenwinkel van Jacob Hooy & Co. (Kloveniersburgwal 12), Amsterdam's oldest medicinal herb and spice shop, and a small row of vegetable stalls are the only vague reminders of those times.Before the 1796 Civil Liberties Act, when Jews were restricted from most trades, many took up street entertainment and Nieuwmarkt evolved into a favored location for many fairs and circuses complete with acrobat, horse, and freak shows. Nieuwmarkt still maintains these festive roots, especially on Chinese New Year, as the area forms the heart of the city's modestly sized China Town (that is, until New China Town, envisioned as a mini-Singapore, arises in the next years to the east of Centraal Station), which extends down Zeedijk and Binnen Bantammerstraat. The community originates from a 1911 seafarers' strike that motivated the hiring of Chinese sailors from England and Hong Kong. Many more came via Suriname after its 1975 independence from Dutch colonial rule. A slightly more curious celebration is the medieval-rooted Hartjes Dag ("Heart Day") in August, which involves that holy trinity of alcohol, firecrackers, and cross-dressing.

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Address: Nieuwmarkt
Directions: Bounded by Kloveniersburgwal, Geldersekade, and Zeedijk,
Website: www.waag.org

Vincent Van Gogh Museum. Opened in 1973, this remarkable light-infused building, based on a design by famed De Stijl architect Gerrit Rietveld, venerates the short, certainly not sweet, but highly productive career of everyone's favorite tortured 19th-century artist. First things first: Vincent was a Dutch boy, and therefore his name is not pronounced like the "Go" in Go-Go Lounge but rather like the "Go" uttered when one is choking on a whole raw herring.Although some of the Van Gogh paintings that are scattered throughout the world's high-art temples are of dubious providence, this collection's authenticity is indisputable: its roots trace directly back to brother Theo van Gogh, Vincent's artistic and financial supporter. The 200 paintings and 500 drawings on display here can be divided into his five basic periods, the first beginning in 1880 at age 27 after his failure in finding his voice as schoolmaster and lay preacher. These early depictions of Dutch country landscapes and peasants -- particularly around the Borinage and Nuenen -- were notable for their dark colors and a refusal to romanticize (a stand that perhaps also led in this period to his various failures in romance).
EUR9. Daily 10-5.

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Phone: +31-20-5705252
Address: Paulus Potterstraat 7
Website: http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl

This is the major 'entertainment' area for rowdy Amsterdammers and out-of-towners. Bars chock-a-block with people singing along to Dutch folk songs at the top of their voices, and a few large disco's with heavy security at the door. Because all bars and disco's close at the same moment, sometimes things get out of hand a bit. Strangely enough the square is surrounded by major gay spots like the iT, and just off the square is the Halvemaansteeg, a small street packed with gay bars. No problems here, so maybe Amsterdam really is a tolerant city. Also nearby is Reguliersdwarsstraat, currently the hippest nightlife street of Amsterdam.

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