AMSTERDAMMAGE

I am not too sure what I am referring to as I title this post 'Amsterdammage'. The first could be that I did some serious damage to Amsterdam, or the city did some serious damage to me. Regardless, the weekend turned out way more interesting than I could have ever anticipated.

 

As the clock struck 5 o clock on Friday afternoon, a grabbed my bike and my and backpack and dashed to the station. On safely arriving at Amsterdam Centraal, I then had to navigate my way to my friend Basti's apartment where I was staying for the weekend. It was all pretty daunting as I was riding in the dark and had never been in that particular area before. I might add that my sense of direction was impeccable, with the help of Google maps and my phones navigation of course. On arriving at number 16B, Basti's roommates all invited me out to a local bar for some drinks. A jovial night we had, so good In fact that we returned at 3 AM.

 

 Just casually biking down a beautufull canal in Amsterdam, what a dream!

I awoke that morning to a pounding headache (as one can imagine after a night in Amsterdam with locals and lots of beer). 'So much for my museum packed Saturday' was my initial thought, but I managed to muster up enough energy to go and see the Stedelijk Museum. Seeing work from Marcel Wanders, Philippe Starck and Daan Roosegaarde was a real highlight of the museum as was seeing a Piet Mondrian in the flesh. I had a fat smile on my face at seeing the names and products of famous designers I had learnt about whilst studying Industrial Design at University. Piet Mondrian, Theo von Doesburg, Wassily Kandinsky, Roy Lichtenstein and Vincent van Gogh to name but a few.

 

I covered the entire museum in under 2 hours and all thoughts were being consumed by food by the time I was done. I bought a baguette,  a bag of rocket and a few tomatoes and made a terrible attempt at making a sandwich on the Museumplen grass whilst overlooking the Rijks Museum. This was a very intimidating sight as I knew I had to dedicate the remainder of my afternoon at the Rijks. Instead, I opted for a glorious nap back at the apartment. This was well deserved and boy was I glad I did because I only got to bed at 5AM the next morning.

 

 The view from het Stedelijk looking out onto the museumplein

 

 DUNE by Studio Roosegaarde (Daan Roosegaarde)

 

Museum ticket and information design

 

 

 Knot Chair by Marcel Wanders for Droog Design

 

 An installation by Paulina Olowska

 An onlooker admiring a Roy Lichtenstein

 An installation by Paulina Olowska

 

 

 A Piet Mondrian in the flesh, and if you look close enough, a partial self portrait too

 

Sunday consisted of an afternoon coffee with Basti on his return home from Germany, a sandwich for lunch followed by a movie and yet another afternoon nap. All in all it was a hectic day, hah!

 

Although I returned home with 3 new bruises(from what, who knows?), a pounding headache and some new memories, I'd say I did more damage to Amsterdam than it did to me...

 

 

NOTE: DUE TO THE TRAGIC LOSS OF MY CAMERA, I HAVE HAD TO RESORT TO MY PHONE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE, HENCE THE TERRIBLE QUALITY. ALSO NOTE THAT SOME IMAGES TAKEN WITHIN THE STEDELIJK HAVE A 'PEE YELLOW' TINGE TO THEM. THIS FRIENDS IS NOT A URINE STAIN BUT THE LIGHTING AND PROHIBITANCE OF FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY.