Nederland

Eryn and I went to the Netherlands with her family for a week this May. We stayed in a cute AirBnB in Broek in Waterland, a small village about 8 km north of Amsterdam.

Eryn and I landed at Schiphol Sunday morning and caught a train to Amsterdam Centraal. From there we wandered south along the Damrak to Dam Square to gawk at the National Monument, the Royal Palace, and the Nieuwe Kerk. The rain really started to come down, so we ducked into Pizza Beppe Quattro to escape it and ended up enjoying a late lunch there.

A brick cathedral stands on the far side of a river, surrounded by smaller city buildings. In the foreground are two passenger ferries. — Co-kathedrale Basiliek van de Heilige Nicolaas

The front of a large train station made of brick. — Station Amsterdam Centraal

A stately building of gray stone stands on the far side of a plaza. In the foreground, a blue streetcar goes by. — Koninklijk Paleis van Amsterdam

Eventually we made our way to the village of Broek in Waterland and found our AirBnB just past the Broekerkerk. Betsy and Al arrived a short time later.

Two wooden chairs sit facing a small canal, with a table in between them. It’s a sunny day, and there are a couple of houses on the other side of the canal. — its charming back patio

The four of us had pancakes for dinner at De Witte Swaen. Anna and Quân got in later that night.

A small motorboat is heading away from the camera, out on a small lake surrounded by trees. — ’t Havenrak

The next day was Dodenherdenking—Remembrance of the Dead—the day set aside by the Dutch to commemorate their war dead. We were all quite tired from our long day of travel, so we kept things very low-key. At one point Eryn and I went for a walk around the village, but that was about it.

A dark body of water is under an overcast sky. There are a number of trees on the grassy land around it. — Waterways of Broek

The day after Dodenherdenking is Bevrijdingsdag, Liberation Day, which we spent looking at flowers under unexpectedly clear skies and sunny weather at the Keukenhof. I took hundreds of photos of flowers, and posted some of the best the other day. Afterwards we took a cruise around Amsterdam’s canals. When we got back to Broek, we had dinner at De Drie Noten before calling it a night.

A strand of pink and white orchids. — Purple and white orchids at the Keukenhof

Six tall houses in Amsterdam are pressed up next to each other, all facing a canal. The houses are all somewhat askew, and appear to be holding each other up. — De Dansende Huizen

I headed into town before the others on Wednesday so I could meet 邱慕安 (Chiou Mu-An) at Bakkerij Wolf for coffee and snacks. We just happened to both be visiting Amsterdam the same week and it was great to catch up. I rejoined Eryn’s family in time to tour the Begijnhof with them.

Then it was off to the Van Gogh Museum. We happened to visit the museum at the tail end of its current special exhibition, Yellow. Beyond Van Gogh’s Colour, which collects several famous works of his, including Sunflowers (1889) and Wheatfield with a Reaper (1889), as well as some interesting work from other artists, such as a large installation by Ólafur Elíasson. From the permanent exhibit, the three main standouts for me were Trees and Undergrowth (1887), View of the Sea at Scheveningen (1882), and Léon-Augustin Lhermitte’s Haymaking (1887). I also really enjoyed Wheatfield with Partridge (1887), Portrait of Camille Roulin (1888), Wheatfield under Thunderclouds (1890) (from Van Gogh’s Windows XP era), Cypresses and Two Women (1890), and Almond Blossom (1890).

I spent over four hours in the Rijksmuseum the next day, trying (and failing) to take it all in.

One of the big highlights for me was getting to see Jean-Laurent Mosnier’s 1791 portrait of the Chevalière d’Éon. It’s hard to explain how it feels to see a centuries-old portrait of an openly trans person who was generally accepted in society.

A portrait of a late-18th century French noblewoman. She’s wearing black. Her hat is adorned with white feathers and some patriotic ribbon. On her breast she wears the Cross of the Order of Saint Louis.

Some of the other things that stood out to me, besides all the obvious stuff, were several portraits by Thérèse Schwartze. I really enjoyed Young Italian Woman, with ‘Puck’ the Dog (c. 1885), as well as Portrait of Lizzy Ansingh (1902), a cousin of hers. Obviously there were tons of other interesting pieces and I couldn’t possibly list them all here.

After I finished up at the Rijksmuseum I hurried to meet up with everyone else to tour the Anne Frank House, which was exactly as hard to get through as I expected it would be. After our day museuming we talked about what we had seen over some drinks at Café De Prins, dinner at Shah Jahan, and slices of apple pie from Winkel 43.

Eryn and I split from the group on Friday and took a train to Utrecht to see my dear friend Alice & her partner Zoë. We had lunch together at Broei before walking to Sonnenborgh Observatory. Then we wandered into Utrecht’s old town and caught up over wine and snacks at Talud9.

In the foreground is a canal. The far bank fo the canal has a number of boats tied up, then a row of trees, then a number of townhouses. — a canal in Utrecht

Three women pose for a photo in front of a row of buildings. Above them, the street sign reads “TRANS”. — Trans op de Trans

Many people sit at small cafe tables along the bank of a canal in a European-looking city. — in Utrecht’s old town

Anna & Quân left early Saturday morning. Eryn, Betsy, Al and I visited Zaanse Schans: we toured the Zaans Museum and explored the innards of two windmills, De Kat and Het Jonge Schaap. 🌬️

Several windmills stand under a sunny, partly cloudy sky. — De Zaanse Schans

Three Dutch windmills stand above a grassy field. There are some goats on the field. — De Zaanse Schans

We had dinner back in Broek at Het Broeker Huis, where there was a lively band playing.

After checking out Sunday morning and saying our goodbyes at Centraal, Eryn and I had a bit of time to kill before heading to the airport. We spent it exploring and having lunch in the Vondelpark. Then it was back to Schiphol, back on a plane, and back to SF.

Six people pose for a photo. Behind them is a canal lined with townhouses. Everyone’s smiling for the camera. The person on the right has their arm extended, so they are presumably the photographer. — L–R: Al, Eryn, Betsy, Anna, Quân, and yours truly.