Amsterdam

Hi, I'm Rick Steves, back with more of the best of Europe.

This time, I'm trying to find my hotel

somewhere in the back canals of Amsterdam.

Thanks for joining us.

Amsterdam is perhaps

Europe's best-preserved 17th-century city.

Yet at the same time, it's got a fun, contemporary edge.

It's a progressive place invigorated by

a time-honored spirit of live and let live.

We'll cruise the canals and bike the back lanes.

We'll sample the Dutch masters from Rembrandt to van Gogh.

We'll drop into a coffee shop

that doesn't sell coffee,

And we'll ponder the Red Light District.

We'll remember Anne Frank,

we'll enjoy a feast of Indonesian food, Dutch style,

and we'll relax in Amsterdam's Vondelpark.

The historic core of Amsterdam remains much the same today

as when it was first laid out back in the 1600s.

That was Holland's Golden Age,

when Dutch merchant ships made this the world's richest city.

Amsterdam's touristy main drag,

Damrak, was once the main canal.

Today, it connects the train station

with the city's main square and the Royal Palace.

From this spine, the city opens like a fan,

with hundreds of bridges

and a series of concentric canals.

Wealthy merchants built this city

upon millions of wooden pilings,

creating a wonderland of canals lined with trees

and townhouses crowned with fancy gables.

Traditional bridges -- like this one,

which crosses the Amstel River -- were built

with a clever counterbalance.

They were fine-tuned

and bridge keepers bragged

they could raise and lower one

with a single finger.

The city's founders built a dam on the Amstel

back in the 13th century.

The community that gathered here was named

for that Amstel dam, eventually, Amsterdam.

This is where the river hit the sea.

From here, boats could sail into the interior of Europe

and out to the rest of the world.

Dutch merchant ships would sail right up the main canal

loaded down with material delights --

silks, spices, and porcelain from faraway lands.

Amsterdam's port is still huge.

But it's being transformed from a gritty industrial area

into a vibrant, modern, and very livable district.

A striking film museum and art cinema

is bringing new life to this now-revitalized neighborhood.

You can hop on a free shuttle ferry

to see this evolving district,

or you can cruise a different way,

by joining the hedonists and tourists

on Amsterdam's many canals.

Surprising to me, anyone can hire

one of these electric boats for a little independent exploring.

For some help with the navigation,

I'm joined by my friend

and fellow tour guide, Rolinka Bloeming.

Tell me about the difficulty of building here.

BLOEMING: Well, the soil is very swampy,

so everything you see, Rick,

all the houses, all the bridges,

and the walls of the canals are built on wooden pilings.

It's actually oak wood,

and it comes from the Black Forest in Germany.

-We have about 100 canals.

-Uh-huh.

BLOEMING: And they were all dug out

in the 17th century entirely by hand.

It took them about 30 years.

The most important one

was the Gentlemen's Canal, Herengracht.

And then there is the Emperor's Canal,

Keizersgracht.

And then there's the Prince's Canal.

STEVES: This has got to be the most beautiful canal in town.

BLOEMING: It's my favorite canal, Rick.

STEVES: So what is this neighborhood called?

BLOEMING: It's called Jordaan, this area.

STEVES: It's got to be the most characteristic

part of Amsterdam.

BLOEMING: Oh, today it's one of the most popular places to live.

STEVES: Beautiful.

The characteristic Jordaan district

offers a quiet slice of Dutch urban life.

Built in the 1600s

for warehouses and to house workers,

it's now home to artists

and inviting little restaurants and cafes.

While just a few blocks from the busy center,

the Jordaan feels like another world.

Everything's in its place, and life seems very good.

[Bicycle bell rings]

Amsterdam has about a million people

and as many bikes.

This multistoried bike garage

is for commuters who ride the train

and then pedal to work.

This is one of Europe's most bike friendly cities.

Bike lanes run next to the sidewalks,

and bikers whiz by silently.

Walk carefully.

[Bicycle bell rings]

One of the joys of visiting Amsterdam

is simply being in this swirl of healthy, busy, biking Dutch.

Bikers everywhere, doing chores,

flirting, delivering,

texting, you name it.

Around here it happens on two wheels.

The city is decorated with ornate gables.

The frugal Dutch made their simple buildings look fancy

by adding ornate facades.

Amsterdam's famous gables include the point gable

bell gable, step gable,

and neck gable.

17th-century land was expensive

and taxes were based on the width of the house,

so the Dutch built skinny and straight up.

In a merchant's house, the shop was on the ground floor,

the family lived in the middle,

and the attic served as a kind of warehouse.

With their cramped interiors and steep stairs,

houses came with a pulley

so goods could be hoisted up and down

on the outside with a rope.

That original design still works today.

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum

is one of the artistic highlights of Europe.

It was built to showcase

the art of the Dutch Golden Age.

Here we can gain insight into the industrious people

who made tiny Holland

so prosperous and powerful back in the 17th century.

This art is really all about money.

The Dutch worked hard, they were brilliant traders,

and the wealthy had plenty of money to match their egos.

Now, painters earned their living

working not for the church or the king,

but by painting portraits for local big shots.

The great Dutch painter Rembrandt --

this is a self-portrait at age 22 --

earned his money painting portraits.

These Dutch masters -- actually the drapers' guild --

all paid equally and expected to be portrayed equally.

Wearing the standard power suit of the day,

it's as if someone walks in and grabs their attention,

natural as a snapshot.

In Rembrandt's Night Watch, we see another group portrait.

But rather than the standard stiff pose,

this one bursts with energy.

It's the local militia,

which was also a fraternity of business bigwigs,

a kind of rotary club of the 17th century.

They tumble out of their hall, weapons drawn,

ready to defend their city.

While creative and groundbreaking

in its composition, some of those who paid the artist,

like this guy, were probably none too pleased.

This self-portrait of Rembrandt at age 55

shows a man who's seen it all

and woven those experiences into his art.

Rembrandt did more than paint for big egos.

In this painting,

the prophet Jeremiah laments the destruction of Jerusalem.

He slumps in defeat, confused and despondent.

Rembrandt's use of light to highlight certain details

set him apart from other artists of his age.

The Rijksmuseum has four rare

and precious paintings by Johannes Vermeer.

Here, the master of tranquility and stillness

shows an intimate street from his hometown of Delft.

In this quiet painting of an ordinary milkmaid, Vermeer,

who brings out the beauty of everyday things,

creates a scene where we can almost hear the trickle

of the pouring milk.

Perhaps for the first time, art catered to the tastes

and budgets of middle-class people, too.

Smaller canvasses by no-name artists

that a regular merchant could afford

and hang in his living room.

The work of Jan Steen offers a delightful slice

of 17th century Dutch life.

No preachy religious or political themes,

just light entertainment with a dose of folk wisdom.

Here, children teach a cat to dance,

mischief on their delighted faces.

But their father's upset that they're wasting time.

And in Steen's Merry Family, the parents party

while their kids copy their irresponsible behavior.

The girls learn to drink,

and the little boy picks up smoking.

The note warns -- "Parents beware,

your children are learning from your bad behavior."

This light-handed approach to morality

lives on in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam has plenty of examples

of their progressive approach

to subjects many people consider unsavory.

And, with the local passion for tolerance,

it's occasionally shocking.

Prepare for some differences --

curbside urinals,

prostitutes who are unionized, taxed, and regulated,

and coffee shops that sell marijuana.

Throughout the Netherlands,

places selling marijuana are called "coffee shops."

For decades now, the Dutch, like many Europeans,

view marijuana as a soft drug,

like tobacco and alcohol.

Marijuana is tolerated,

but hard drugs are strictly forbidden.

A lot of people think marijuana is a gateway drug.

They think if you smoke marijuana,

you'll be smoking harder drugs.

Marijuana here is soft drugs, like alcohol and cigarettes,

and hard drugs are still strictly forbidden.

What's the age limit for people buying marijuana?

-18.

-18.

And how much can you buy in one visit?

Five grams.

How much is five grams of marijuana?

This is five grams of marijuana.

STEVES: Okay, so that's five grams.

And if you wanted to buy a smaller quantity,

what is one gram of marijuana looking like?

It's about like a bud of this size.

Okay, so this is one gram.

And how much would this cost probably?

-11.

-11 euros.

WOMAN: This particular strain, yeah.

STEVES: Now, you have a menu with a lot of variety.

Yeah, we got all our sativa ones.

Make you happy, giggly.

We've got the indicas, that's more of a sleepy.

STEVES: Mm-hmm.

WOMAN: Got the organic ones, outdoor,

and I got a whole bunch of pre-rolled ones.

STEVES: Okay, so you can get the loose leafs,

or you can get pre-rolled joints.

-Yes.

-In the United States,

we still have so many people in prison because of marijuana.

Yeah, but here, we believe that it's better to tolerate

than to put more people in prison.

STEVES: Another example of Amsterdam's creative approach

to social challenges is its red light district.

Practitioners of the world's oldest profession

flirt and tease in windows as they have here for centuries.

When it comes to prostitution,

the Dutch figure, if it's going to happen anyway,

rather than criminalize it,

it's smarter to corral and monitor it.

The intention -- women run a safe, independent business.

If a prostitute needs help,

she pushes her emergency button and the police come.

For this spectacle, browsers are welcome.

The Dutch call their approach to social problems like this

"pragmatic harm reduction."

They consider legislating morality

to be counterproductive

and remind me that we Americans lock up

nearly 10 times as many people per capita as Europeans do.

Beyond the red light district, nighttime Amsterdam

has a relaxed and inviting charm.

Enjoying this dimension of the city

is my idea of a good time after dark.

Canal boats treat visitors to a scenic ride,

while privately hired boats of all sizes

create their own ambiance.

As the street lamps come on,

you'll enjoy yet another memorable dimension

of this romantic city.

This peaceful oasis is a begijnhof,

originally an almshouse

for devout women who served the church.

Its humble chapel has served

Amsterdam's English-speaking community since the 1600s.

The pilgrims,

refugees from religious intolerance in England,

likely worshiped here

before boarding the Mayflower for Plymouth Rock.

Amsterdam has a long tradition of welcoming the persecuted.

When the Netherlands won its independence

from Catholic Spain back in the 1500s,

the Dutch government outlawed Catholicism.

But locals here conspired to give Catholics

a place to worship, provided they kept a low profile.

This 17th-century merchant house

looks normal from across the canal,

but inside is a hidden Catholic church.

Called Our Lord in the Attic,

it dates from 1661,

when post-Reformation Dutch Catholics

were forbidden to worship in public.

Imagine this small church crammed with worshipers.

It's like a grand church in miniature.

Jews also found safe haven in Amsterdam.

Nearby stands the bold 17th century Portuguese Synagogue.

While the Dutch were tolerating Catholics here,

elsewhere, Catholic nations,

in response to the Protestant Reformation,

were expelling anyone who worshiped differently,

and that included Jews.

The ever-pragmatic Dutch smartly welcomed Jews

from Eastern Europe, Spain, and Portugal

and put their business acumen to use building their economy.

Amsterdam's thriving Jewish quarter

was a babel of tongues,

and this synagogue served its Portuguese-speaking community.

It's a commanding structure, built in the 1670s,

when Catholics were still worshiping in secret.

It survived World War II

and still functions as a place of worship,

with the Ten Commandments, in Hebrew,

still shining down on the congregation.

Whether Protestants, Catholics, or Jews,

through the ages, the Dutch have given refuge to the persecuted.

But they couldn't protect their haven from the Nazis.

This building, a thriving theater

in Amsterdam's Jewish quarter

before the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940,

was part of that sad story.

Visitors enter an assembly hall Nazis used

for local Jews destined for concentration camps.

Today, it's a thought-provoking memorial

that makes an indelible impression on its visitors,

whether tourists or school groups

having a thought-provoking field trip.

On the wall, thousands of family names

represent the tens of thousands of Dutch Jews

who were assembled here

before being deported to camps in the east and death.

And that included the family of Anne Frank.

At the Anne Frank House,

visitors learn the story of eight Jews who, in 1942,

went into hiding.

They went behind this secret swinging bookcase,

into the attic above a shop,

and hid almost silently for two years.

Among them was 13-year old Anne,

whose journal has inspired millions of people.

You'll see how Anne's father, Otto,

tracked the progress of the allies after D-Day.

And pencil lines tracking

how Anne and her sister were growing up in hiding.

Anne's room is still decorated

with photos and magazine clippings,

showing the idols, dreams,

and passions of a 13-year-old girl.

A small window letting in a splash

of the outside world lifted her spirits.

Then, one fateful day, the Gestapo came.

All eight were deported,

sent east to concentration camps.

Only her father survived.

Anne died just weeks before the end of the war.

Her handwritten diary inspires visitors,

and her book has been translated into 70 languages.

Visiting the Anne Frank House

humanizes the horror of the Holocaust

through the story of just one of six million victims.

Nearby, the Dutch Resistance Museum

takes you behind the scenes during the Nazi occupation

and tells how the Dutch fought back.

Pistols were hidden in books.

With this corset, stuffed with ration cards,

a woman who looked pregnant

helped feed both hidden Jews and resistance fighters.

And courageous moms with strollers

did their part, as well.

Resistance fighters falsified IDs.

This student, wanted by the Nazis,

disguised himself as a woman.

While the Germans confiscated all radios,

the Dutch secretly got their news from England

via miniature radios.

This one's hidden in a matchbox.

The suffering was horrific.

Many starved.

And many barely survived on a diet

of tulip bulbs.

So your grandparents actually lived through this.

Yeah, the winter of '44-'45 was called the "Hunger Winter,"

where people in the cities were starving,

and they started to eat tulip bulbs

just to have something in their bellies.

Grandparents starved so that children could live.

And that entire generation of people

is actually shorter than their countrymen.

Today, we eat well,

and our young people are the tallest in Europe.

STEVES: And eating well in the Netherlands today

includes enjoying cuisine from some of its former colonies.

Indonesian food is a popular choice,

and the ultimate meal here is a grand rijsttafel.

-Oscar, this is beautiful.

-Yes, sir.

BLOEMING: So this is what we call a "rice table," rijsttafel.

And there's actually no starter,

there's no main dish, there's no dessert.

It's just a festival of different dishes.

STEVES: Our waiter, Oscar,

patiently tells us what each dish is.

OSCAR: Fried chicken, shrimp, sweet-sour for the shrimp.

Fried egg,

tomato with sauce, fried banana.

This is a tofu soybean cake, beef with soya.

Beef with Padang sauce...

STEVES: I'm still thinking about the fried bananas.

OSCAR: Vegetables, sweet-sour vegetables...

STEVES: Hmm, I'll never remember all this.

I guess I'll just have to try everything.

Wow!

Oscar, how many plates altogether?

-28, sir.

-28 plates.

And there's a proper way to try each of the 28 dishes

You put the rice in the middle.

BLOEMING: You put the rice in the middle,

and then the different dishes come on the side

so that it doesn't mix.

STEVES: Okay, so you don't mix it together.

You want to appreciate each distinct spice.

Exactly.

Can you imagine that tiny Netherlands today,

once, 350 years ago, had colonies all over the world,

and these kind of dishes and spices came from Indonesia?

They were called the Spice Islands.

So, wait a minute.

Indonesia was originally the Spice Islands?

BLOEMING: Mm-hmm.

And today, centuries later,

we're celebrating the spices of Indonesia in Amsterdam.

I love it, the connection!

An entire museum is dedicated to the work

of the great Dutch artist, Vincent van Gogh.

The Van Gogh Museum,

laid out as a stroll through the story of Vincent's life,

shows how intimately his life

and art were intertwined.

Van Gogh grew up in poor, rural Holland.

From the start, he had an affinity for working people.

In paintings like his Potato Eaters, a painting as dark and grainy as the soil itself,

he gives these farm laborers

the same dignity Rembrandt gave to merchants

and aristocrats.

As a young man, Vincent was very religious.

He studied to be a pastor

and did church work in poor communities.

But this wasn't his true calling.

He decided to paint,

to capture the world he felt so intensely on canvas.

He moved to Paris, and the "City of Light"

opened up a whole new world of color.

Vincent hobnobbed with the Impressionists.

He studied their bright colors,

rough brushwork, and everyday scenes.

He painted shimmering reflections like Monet...

café snapshots like Degas...

still lifes like Cézanne...

and self-portraits like nobody else.

But Vincent longed to strike out on his own.

In 1888, he headed for the south of France,

arriving just as winter was turning to spring.

Energized by the sun-drenched colors and the blue, blue sky,

in just two years,

Vincent produced an explosion of canvases.

His unique style evolved beyond the Impressionists.

Thicker paint, brighter colors,

and swirling brushwork

that made even inanimate objects pulse with life.

Vincent's ecstasy alternated with depression.

Eventually, he was admitted to a local hospital.

His letters home told of his great loneliness.

While in the hospital, he found peace

painting calm scenes of nature.

But he also wrestled with his inner world,

capturing spiritual scenes with surreal colors,

twisted forms,

and dark outlines.

In this, one of his last works,

the canvas is a wall of thick paint,

with roads leading nowhere

and ominous black crows taking flight.

Overwhelmed with life,

Vincent walked into a field

like this one and shot himself.

A stroll in the park is a good compliment

to a thoughtful museum experience.

Somehow Amsterdam manages to be both

vibrant and mellow at the same time.

You feel that best in Vondelpark

on a sunny summer afternoon.

It offers a fun look at the city taking a break.

The park is popular with romantic couples,

free spirits sharing blankets and beers,

and young families.

The easygoing hedonism here

seems to say, "Inhale, exhale, and relax."

Amsterdam offers everything a sightseer can want.

And with a determination to embrace life,

a visit here can contribute mightily

to that ultimate souvenir -- a broader perspective.

I'm Rick Steves.

Until next time, keep on travelin'.

Tot ziens.

It's a progressive place invigorated by a...

time-honored spirit of live and let live.

Collar good?

Wardrobe good?

Hair good?

WOMAN: Yeah, yeah.

I'll have my zipper down on the urinal shot.

Prostitutes who are unionized, taxed, and regulated,

and marijuana shops that sell coffee.

I feel all mucky and sweaty.

Ugh.

The ever-pragmatic Dutch smartly welcomed...