Amsterdam Retrospective

We’re on our way to the Cotswold’s via a 2 hour express train.  I haven’t written on the blog for a while so I am going to just do a little catching up retrospectively.

A few comments about Amsterdam…it’s one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen…the architecture, canals, cobblestone streets, lack of cars, mass quantities of bicycles and great pubs and cafes everywhere all contribute to it’s magical feel.  The reflection of the white street lights off the canals at night creates an ambience that is dreamy.  Walking down the streets and peeking up into the absolutely stunning homes was so fun….seeing people serving family dinners and laughing around their dining room tables made us miss home and our families. 

The most moving experiences were the Anne Frank House and the Dutch Resistance Museum.  The Anne Frank House was something that we’ve all read about since we were young, so to walk through it was extraordinary.  There are places filled with such emotional history that they seem to have layers of experience occurring simultaneously.  You can’t stand in the house without acknowledging what occurred there in a very intense and impactful way.  It’s almost as if all the residual energy that’s accumulated over it’s history still remains.  I couldn’t help but think for the rest of our time in Amsterdam that in May 1940 (not really that long ago) Nazi’s invaded and occupied the peaceful country, hunted down all their Jewish citizens and killed millions of them.  It permeates your being when you walk through the very rooms that a young girl and her family hid in for 2 years, not to mention the fact that many other Jewish families were forced to hide for their lives at that time.  The kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms are all intact.  The space was larger than my imagination had always conjured up (but still dreadfully small for 8 people) – in reality it was the size of the house on Plymouth without the living room, but the thought of never being able to leave was the most unimaginable.  The space (carved out of their original living space) was impressively concealed and all the windows that would normally have provided fantastic views of the lovely canals were covered from the inside and could NEVR be looked out of for fear of someone seeing them.  I think most dreadful to me was the constant paranoia they must have lived in.  This was an interesting thing for me to think a lot about because I live in a bit of paranoia myself – afraid I will get fired, not be liked or loved, not achieve what I need to, not be able to provide for myself or others, etc…I’m not kidding, a few of you know this.  Anyway, to then come face to face with considering being afraid that you and everyone you love may be arrested, dragged away from each other, tortured, starved and killed is just heartbreaking.  All of these experiences make you realize how lucky we are and how imperative it is to stand up for others who cannot stand up for themselves for whatever reason.

Otto Frank, Anne’s father, had fled once with the family in 1933 from Germany to Amsterdam sensing the impending danger.  He then had to transfer his successful business to a friend (Jews were not allowed to own business as part of the atrocities against them began even before the war broke out) but continued to manage it while in hiding, which was fascinating.  Sadly, he was the only member of his entire family to survive the Holocaust.  When he arrived back in Amsterdam after being freed from Auschwitz by the Soviets he was expecting at least some members of his family to be there.  He found no one.  The woman who had helped hide the family had found Anne’s journal after the Nazi’s dragged the family away and had kept it until Otto’s return. He was apparently astonished at the depth and introspection of her writings (she was only 12 years old) when he first read the diary, and commented that no parent really ever knows their child. He worked feverishly to get it published in her (and the rest of his family’s) honor and to fulfill Anne’s dream of being a published writer.  

I’ve attached the website which goes in to more depth and has photos and some of the exhibits - simply cut and paste to your browser- http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=1&lid=2

The Dutch Resistance Museum was awesome because it was a very low key, off the radar museum – with the most heroic and inspirational stories of the Dutch people resisting the Nazi’s.  Amy did a great job describing the premise and the questions that it forces you to ask when something lacking tolerance occurs, we have a choice to  – “adjust, collaborate, or resist”   The courage it took for people to be defiant was extraordinary, since the consequences of this were death.  There were stories of spies that were getting the Allies information on the movements of the Germans, underground newspapers and publications that kept people informed and gave them hope, and Europeans who helped Jews and others escape through underground means (similar to Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad) including providing them with forged documents.  It’s hard to imagine the things we take for granted – free speech, right to bear arms, availability of food, resources and kindness – all being stripped from us.  We are lucky to live in a Democracy and a country build on diversity, freedom, individuality and social justice - allowing any of those attributes to be taken away would be a dangerous beginning to a potentially radical change for us.

One of the exhibits was a real door from the front of a house (they are exceptionally beautiful throughout Europe)…the story written above the door was that when Jewish people realized they were getting rounded up they had to desperately search for a hiding place (I mean really, can you imagine?)  So in this “experience” as you are standing on a stoop with a big beautiful door in front of you the directions say to ring the doorbell.  When you do a voice says “I’m sorry ma’am.  I understand that you’re in danger and I don’t agree with what the Germans are doing but I don’t want to put my own family in danger.  I’m sorry, we have no place for you.”  Then you ring a second doorbell and a woman’s voice says, “You should really leave here before someone sees you.  I don’t know what you people are thinking”.  Then, there’s a third doorbell and when you ring it a man’s voice says “you filthy Jew, get off my door step before I call the SS…JEW!!! JEW!!! JEW!!!”  The experience transports you to the helpless and dangerous situation that Jews, homeless people, gay people and many others experienced during WWII in Europe.  Here’s the website, if you’re interested in learning more… http://www.verzetsmuseum.org/museum/en/museum

My favorite experience was on my way to the conference I was attending one morning. As I stopped into the espresso café in the hotel an elderly gentleman took my order and then we started talking.  The day before I had been at the conference and poured a cup of coffee and then put the milk in it, as usual.  What I noticed was that the milk was kind of brown.  I drank the coffee with milk but thought it tasted pretty terrible.  So I asked the man at the café what it was, since it was out at his coffee stand too, the same brown milk.  He explained that it’s the milk from a newly nursing cow – apparently it has more nutrients….uh…gross.  Maybe for a nursing calf or a baby, but not for a 40 year old American.  Anyway, that led to him telling me that he grew up on a farm and that they had to milk cows and get this special early milk, etc, etc.  I asked him if he lived in Amsterdam as a kid and he said in the countryside nearby, but said they were poor farmers and that during the war they had to really scrape for food for the large family.  He went on to tell me that his mother and father hid an entire family of Jewish people in their house for 2 years.  In addition to their own 5 children this family took care of the Jewish family in hiding for all that time.  After the war the Jewish family moved to Israel but came back to the farm periodically to visit.  He said that his mother also got in touch with the German soldiers who were patrolling the property at the time because she felt sorry for them – they were young men 15, 16 years old and didn’t even know what they were doing or why.  She was sure that they knew but never told of the family she was hiding.  She invited the German soldiers and the Jewish family back to their farm at the same time and they were part of a documentary of reconciliation between Germans and Jews.  It was pretty amazing to talk to him – I really didn’t want to leave but I had to get to work.  Old people are so cool.  Thank God, since we’re all on our way there. J

The “brown cafes” were fun.  In the first one we found we ended up meeting a guy from Manchester (UK) and proceeded to have a very deep conversation about yoga, the energy of the World and how we can change it and life.  It was one of those random conversations with an absolute stranger that I LOVE (made me miss JR and wish he was there with us because he, too would have loved it) and was touched by.  I think JR and Sean, in particular, will love to visit Amsterdam, and not for the obvious reason either! J  It’s just a cool city with a very refreshing vibe.

Getting our furniture and the rest of our things last Saturday was great.  Amy has us all settled in now and it feels like a nice home.  She’s been trying new recipes and making us healthy dinners every night.  We rarely go out to eat and like to spend our evenings (if I get home at a decent time) relaxing.  Amy’s been patient, as always, with my hectic schedule, but I need to figure out how to get home at a regular time at night.  I am enjoying the walk to work and the option of the regular busses.  The gym at my office is where I can be found most days at lunch.  I found a trainer that I work out with once a week who’s fantastic.  I feel like I am finally making a contribution at work now that I have my bearings and a routine again.  Amy and I are embracing the opportunity to travel and look forward to getting to many more places in the next few months. 

This Sunday is the London Marathon, which is probably a bit of a precursor to what it would be like here during the 2012 Olympics.  LOTS of people! J

We’re almost to our destination, Evesham, in the heart of the English countryside.  The trip has been beautiful, big green pastures, lots of sheep and cows and a perfectly blue sky.  It is supposed to be a nice warm weekend.  I have one conference call when we arrive and then the phone gets thrown in the backpack so I can focus on Amy and our weekend.  We (Amy) packed lightly and each brought a new book to dive into.  I can’t wait to get out of my work clothes, put some comfy jeans on, sit out in the garden, drink a glass of wine and read my book.  Yikes, I AM getting old!


Love,
Jeri Jo