Christmas Markets, selling decorations, gifts, food, and drink, originated in Middle Ages Germany but now are common throughout Europe. A number of major markets are held in the Netherlands during the holiday season. Ice Village Amsterdam combines a market with another popular Dutch winter tradition, ice skating. An enjoyable 40-minute walking tour through central Amsterdam brought us to the market, and on our evening return trip we took in the holiday lights and some of the Amsterdam Light Festival displays.
Below are highlights from Dec 26th, 2016. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps
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Wolf
Position: 52°22.99’N, 4°53.57’E
Wolf restaurant near our marina is built on an old swing bridge.
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Canal and Bikes
Position: 52°22.52’N, 4°53.16’E
Ever-present bicycles locked to a bridge overlooking Keizersgracht (Emperor’s Canal), one of the three canals built during Amsterdam’s 17th-century expansion.
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Hotel Nadia
Position: 52°22.44’N, 4°53.13’E
Hotel Nadia wraps along the bending road.
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Rijksmuseum
Position: 52°21.64’N, 4°53.17’E
The Rijksmuseum art and history museum was founded in 1800 in the Hague and moved to the current location in 1885. It’s the largest and most visited museum in the Netherlands and annually sees over 2 million visitors.
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Musicians
Position: 52°21.58’N, 4°53.08’E
The fast-paced style of this street orchestra playing underneath the Rijksmuseum reminded us of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
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Van Gogh Museum
Position: 52°21.47’N, 4°52.91’E
The Van Gogh Museum near the Rijksmuseum opened in 1973 and is dedicated to the Dutch painter and his contemporaries in the Netherlands.
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Ice Rink
Position: 52°21.51’N, 4°53.01’E
Outdoor ice skating is very popular in Amsterdam and a number of rinks are setup around the city in the winter. This is the Ice Festival between the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum.
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Christmas Market
Position: 52°21.51’N, 4°53.01’E
A Christmas market beside the ice rink sells food, drink and gift items.
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Fried Potato Sticks
Position: 52°21.52’N, 4°53.04’E
Fried potato sticks were a popular item at the Christmas market—everyone seemed to have one and the purchase line-up was at least 20 people deep.
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Rinkside
Position: 52°21.52’N, 4°53.02’E
Rinkside at the Museumplein Ice Festival enjoying a local microbrew from the Christmas Market .
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Zamboni
Position: 52°21.52’N, 4°53.02’E
We’ve never seen a Zamboni clean the ice without first clearing the ice of people. The driver was able to work through the crowd without mishap.
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Lijnbaansgracht
Position: 52°21.71’N, 4°53.20’E
Lighted trees reflecting into the Lijnbaansgracht canal near the Rijksmuseum.
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Korte Leidsedwarsstraat
Position: 52°21.72’N, 4°53.17’E
Holiday lights looking northwest along Korte Leidsedwarsstraat.
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Nieuwe Spieglestraat
Position: 52°21.79’N, 4°53.31’E
Nieuwe Spieglestraat lit for the holiday season. It seems that every street in Amsterdam has a unique decoration.
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Bloemenmarkt
Position: 52°22.04’N, 4°53.40’E
Amsterdam’s famous flower market, Bloemenmarkt, reflecting onto the Singel canal on the right. The Singel name derives from Dutch word “to surround”. It is the innermost of Amsterdam’s canal rings and was a moat surrounding the medieval city until 1585.
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Nespresso
Position: 52°22.07’N, 4°53.46’E
Nespresso coffee stores often have eye-catching displays. One in Westfield Stratford City mall outside London caught our attention as well.
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Beetle Sphere
Position: 52°22.05’N, 4°53.49’E
Beetle Sphere sculpture by Japanese artist Ichwan Noor at Kalvertoren mall. The sculpture is of cast aluminum augmented with original parts.
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Two Lamps
Position: 52°21.97’N, 4°53.34’E
We walked back home along Herengracht canal to view parts of the Amsterdam Light Festival. On our tender tour through the canal yesterday we saw the Two Lamps Amsterdam Light Festival display, and this evening got a chance to see them lit.
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Starry Night
Position: 52°22.06’N, 4°53.22’E
The Amsterdam Light Festival display Starry Night was inspired by Van Gogh’s painting of the same name.
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Canal Alley
Position: 52°22.09’N, 4°53.21’E
Looking down narrow Beulingsloot canal that connects the Herengracht (Lord’s Canal) and Singel canals.
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Midnight Summer Dream
Position: 52°22.14’N, 4°53.22’E
Inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream play, the Amsterdam Light Festival Midnight Summer Dream is an example of ‘upcycling’ where disused object are turned into something new of higher quality or value. In this case the lanterns of the display are made from discarded washing machine tubs.
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Proeflokaal A. van Wees
Position: 52°22.21’N, 4°53.22’E
Chilly weather doesn’t discourage people from sitting outside in Amsterdam. The heated patio at distillery-turned-pub Proeflokaal A. van Wees was packed.
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Waiting…
Position: 52°22.24’N, 4°53.21’E
The Amsterdam Light Festival display Waiting… depicts a life-sized version of the symbol we shown while a computer operation is completing, with the lines in the wheel lighting up one after the other.
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Phone
Position: 52°22.24’N, 4°53.21’E
When the wheel in Waiting… stops turning, different images show inside. This one is of a person on the phone. Others are of people looking out the window or painting. We didn’t see any repeats over several minutes.
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A.N.N.
Position: 52°22.33’N, 4°53.22’E
A.N.N. (Artificial Neural Network) at the Amsterdam Light Festival is designed to visualize the process of brain activity.
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Strangers in the Light
Position: 52°22.45’N, 4°53.24’E
Inspired by Frank Sinatra’s song Strangers in the Night, the 6m-tall figures in the Amsterdam Light Festival display Strangers in the Light have “escaped” the pedestrian light signal and have an opportunity to meet for the first time.
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Bartolotti House
Position: 52°22.45’N, 4°53.23’E
Bartolotti House, curving along the street bend, was one of the largest merchant houses in the city when built in 1620.
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Light a Wish
Position: 52°22.61’N, 4°53.40’E
The twenty pieces in Light a Wish visualize the wish made while blowing dandelion seeds blown into the air.
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Smart Roadster
Position: 52°22.62’N, 4°53.41’E
We noticed this Smart car parked alongside the canal. We’d not seen a roadster before. Smart GmbH produced them starting in 2003, but ceased production in 2005 due to high warranty claims.
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ARCHEStextures: PORTAM CIVITATIS
Position: 52°22.77’N, 4°53.49’E
ARCHEStextures: PORTAM CIVITATIS in the Amsterdam Light Festival evokes the European Gothic churches built in the 12th-15th centuries.
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O.T. 976
Position: 52°22.87’N, 4°53.36’E
Another view of Stefan Reiss’s string-theory inspired Amsterdam Light Festival display O.T. 976
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Transmission
Position: 52°22.98’N, 4°53.48’E
Nearly back to Dirona with another view to the Amsterdam Light Festival display Tranmission.
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A’DAM Tower
Position: 52°23.03’N, 4°53.71’E
The A’DAM Tower, a converted former Royal Dutch Shell oil company office building, across the IJ River from our marina.
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Desire
Position: 52°23.03’N, 4°53.71’E
The last Amsterdam Light Festival display of the evening, Desire, viewed from a distance at the marina bridge.
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Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.
On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps. |
Loved the Bartolototti House architecture — handsome and interesting. The Light Festival certainly brightens up the city. In daytime photos Amsterdam appears a little somber and grey but I suspect it has a lively street scene feel that offsets winter drabness.
We’re really loving Amsterdam but it is a ways north so it’s dark until past 8:30 in the morning and again just before 5pm at night. And, it’s a bit overcast but it’s a very cool place to call home. The lights at night are beautiful and, overall, the city has amazing energy.