THE
ABC CITIES BY TRAIN
AMSTERDAM, BRUSSELS AND
COLOGNE
by Leslie Gilbert Elman
Given the opportunity, I’ll gladly
ride the rails, especially in Europe. So when I had
the chance to travel by train from Amsterdam to Brussels
to Cologne, I grabbed it.
The Thalys (http://www.thalys.com)
is a high-speed train that links the aforementioned
“ABC Cities” and Paris. Truth be told, the
accommodations are nothing special, although if you
travel in first class, beverage and snack service is
included in the price of your fare. You won’t enjoy
any Cary Grant & Eva Marie Saint moments in a cozy
compartment; then again you won’t be on the train
long enough to mind. The selling point of the Thalys
is speed, which means you can hit all three cities in
a week with no muss, no fuss, and no driver-navigator
debates with your traveling companion (you know what
I mean).
I began my journey in Amsterdam.
Besides being “alphabetically correct,” this
makes sense because, of the three ABC cities, it has
the most air service from the United States. After arriving
at Schiphol Airport, I boarded the airport express train.
Fifteen minutes later I was in the city center. Although
Amsterdam Centraal (the main train station) is architecturally
unremarkable, the fact that I could zip from the airport
to the city center that fast more than compensated.
I wanted to find an interesting neighborhood
to explore. When I asked for suggestions from locals,
everyone directed me to the Nine Streets, De
Negen Straatjes in Dutch (http://www.theninestreets.com).
Southwest of the train station, the
Nine Streets is a grid, with canals running north-south
crossed by pretty little bridges that connect the narrow
east-west streets. People live here of course (at least
the people who were lucky enough to buy in early, since
the neighborhood is now highly desirable—read expensive),
but it’s mainly a terrific area for café
dining and boutique shopping. If you’re worn out
on the usual big-name designers, you’ll find the
fashions here a refreshing change of pace. Clothing
runs the gamut from vintage to fresh-from-design-school,
and the Dutch know how to wear it. The women in particular
dress with such self-confident individuality they put
style mavens in some of the so-called fashion capitals
on notice.
 The
fact that the Dutch are now the world’s tallest
people (It’s been documented) helps them cut a
long, lean, stylish figure. As someone who is none-of-the-above,
I merely marveled at my surroundings and felt duly chastised
when I spotted a shop called Stout (Berenstraat
9) that sells sexy lingerie. “That’s funny,”
I told my Dutch companion. “In English, stout means
fat.” “In Dutch, it means naughty,” she
informed me (Sigh). After that, Bree Amsterdam
(Berenstraat 22) cheered me immensely since the shop
sells terrific bags, accessories, and other things you
don’t need to try on. You can pick up a “gay
map” of the city there as well.
People say that the Nine Streets seem
to encompass more than nine streets. One reason is that
the vibe of the Nine Streets is spreading its slender
fingers north into Jordaan, originally a 17th-century
workers’ residential area, more recently colonized
by students and artists and poised to make the leap
into full gentrification any day now.
If you’re rambling between the
Nine Streets and Rembrandt Plein along the Amstel
River, you’ll find critical mass of gay and lesbian
bars. While here, stop for dinner at d’Vijff Vlieghen,
or The Five Flies (Spuistraat 294-302. http://www.thefiveflies.com).
The unappetizing name notwithstanding, it’s an
atmospheric restaurant housed in five adjacent 17th-century
buildings and serving “New Dutch Cuisine,”
which sparks dishes such as lamb and pork with unexpected
flavors such as vanilla and cinnamon.
To absorb some culture, after dinner
I headed to the Van Gogh Museum (Paulus Potterstraat
7. http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl).
It houses the world’s largest Van Gogh collection,
yet it never feels overwhelming, and because the works
are presented in chronological order, you really have
a clear sense of his artistic progression. Two reasons
to go on Friday night, when it’s open until 10:
you avoid the huge crowds that collect there during
the day, and you get to experience the multimedia lounge
(with DJ) that takes over the atrium once a week. Another
manageable museum is FOAM, the Amsterdam Museum
of Photography (Keizersgracht
609, http://www.foam.nl).
Its thought-provoking shows have included James Nachtway’s
heart-stopping photos from 21st-century war zones, Raimond
Wouda’s fly-on-the-wall photos of daily life at
a Dutch high school, and historical exhibitions such
as the pre-World War II family photos taken by Anne
Frank’s father, Otto.
Continued
1
| 2
NEXT>>
|
