A Perfect Day

Wednesday 27^th June 2007

Last Wednesday was a perfect day. One of those days with lots of really nice surprises and that gave me a little piece of all of the things I really enjoy. And the best thing was that I was aware of how perfect it was while it was happening. I was reading a Paulo Coelho book at the time (which I hated, but still had it’s impact on me – check out www.booksontour.blogspot.com) and he talks so much about living in the moment, and I must admit it was nice to realize that I was doing just that. Taking advantage of opportunities and being open to surprises.

I started out by making myself actually get out of bed at a reasonable hour (which is quite unusual when I am working over here – I justify it as needing lots of sleep to rest my voice…) and set out to do some things on my “To Do Before Leaving Amsterdam” list (how geeky does that sound?!?). It was mostly boring stuff like buying a new suitcase to replace the one that broke on the train journey here and phoning the next venue to confirm arrival details. Very dull. But it is so satisfying to cross things off that list. I had achieved things already by lunchtime.

I then headed to the Concertgebouw (which has been one of my favourite places to visit while I’ve been here) for the free lunchtime concert. The programme stated that it would be Mariss Jansons conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra but did not state what they would be playing. As they were doing a concert that night (and these lunchtime concerts are a little like an open rehearsal) I assumed they would be playing the orchestral repertoire from that concert. Also on the programme that night was a Mozart Piano Concerto with Mitsuko Uchida, a quite famous Japanese concert pianist. I figured it was unlikely that she would be performing in the free lunchtime concert. But I was wrong. They played the Mozart with her. And it was amazing.

I was sitting next to some young tourists (American, I think) who had obviously been told that a free lunchtime concert in the Concertgebouw was a good thing to do in Amsterdam. It really amazes me how closed minded some people are. We were witnessing internationally acclaimed performers playing sublime music at a level that I am quite sure most people never get to hear in their lives, and the girls next to me were using their mobile phones to write messages to each other about how boring the concert was. I know that not everyone in the world appreciates classical music, and there are only some of us that are as passionate about it as I am, but it amazes me how people can sit in a concert hall and not at least be impressed by the technical ability of the musicians or by the incredible sounds that were being made. Of course there are personal tastes and preferences, but I wish people were open enough to find out enough about music to critique it intelligently and find the amazing things in a performance rather than just write it off as boring…

(enough ranting…)

After the concert, I visited some of the Museums that I had not yet seen in Amsterdam (I have to take full advantage of my Museum Card, after all!).

The Hermitage is an Amsterdam outbranch of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. They have regularly changing exhibitions with pieces from the enormous Russian collection. The exhibition I saw was art from Persia (Iran). While it is not the kind of art that I would normally go out to see (ceramics, calligraphy and metal works) it was really beautiful and excellently presented. It was one of those exhibitions that broadened my mind a little (probably as a counter to the girls in the concert…)

From Art to something historical, I visited 3 sites related to Dutch life in World War 2. Firstly, an Auschwitz monument to commemorate the Jews exterminated in the death camps by the Nazis. It is built over the place where an urn of ashes was brought to Amsterdam from Auschwitz and buried. The monument is a series of cracked mirrors on the ground to reflect “the sky that will never be the same after witnessing such terrible events”.

My second stop was the Hollandsche Schouwberg, a theatre that becoming a collection point for Jews waiting to be deported to the work camps and death camps during the war. All but the façade has been demolished, and an obelisk has been erected where the theatre stage once stood. There is also a wall containing the surnames of all of the Jewish families that were killed by the Nazis. Approximately 80% of Amsterdam’s Jewish population was killed in World War II. It was the most efficient extermination in all of Europe. It is a moving memorial.

The third stop in my little historical tour was the Resistance Museum which has excellent displays showing what life in Amsterdam was like before and during World War II and the various ways in which the Dutch people resisted Nazi authority. The museum is very well laid out and explained with a range of interactive and multimedia displays. It really challenged me to wonder how I would have reacted if I were living in such a situation. Would I be brave enough to stand up for something going on in my country that was so wrong even if that could mean risking my job or my life.

That evening, I went to the opera. Doctor Atomic is a new opera by composer John Adams and Peter Sellers about the creator of the Atomic Bomb and the lead up to the first tests in New Mexico. I was lucky enough to get half price tickets and had a good seat, but I hated most of this opera. I felt it was over-directed with lots of really irrelevant movement and sets that distracted from the plot and performances. The singing was excellent, but I found the music and plot uninteresting and irritating. There were times when I wanted to stand up and shout at the characters to just “shut up and get on with it!”. I really hope that I wasn’t writing this off in the same way that the girls next to me had written off the concert that afterenoon, but I am fairly sure that I am able to justify my opinions rather than just make a blanket statement. While it may seem odd that I disliked something so much on a day that I am calling “perfect”, I actually really enjoyed how passionately I disliked it. I felt really alive and intelligent.

I finished up the evening in a bar close to my apartment that I have been to quite a few times during my stay in Amsterdam. Finally, I found myself having conversations with the bar staff and other people in the bar and felt that I was making some social connections here in Amsterdam.

So, all in all, it was a perfect day. I achieved things, experienced great music and art, expanded my knowledge, reflected on historical events and was moved by them, appreciated the passionate feelings of not enjoying something, and was sociable with some good people.

I hope there are many more days like this!