Yesterday was my final morning in Amsterdam before flying home. The friendly desk clerk at my hotel (the @NesHotel) helped me come up with a plan. He suggested that I walk over to the Oude Kerk. But, he cautioned, “go now. You have to walk through the Red-Light district to get there. It will be peaceful now, but in a few hours the bachelor parties will begin and it will get crazy.” He went on to say that the church is beautiful, peaceful and a lovely place to spend some time. After that, he told me to walk over to Hortus Botanicus, a small botanical garden within walking distance.
As I walked to the church, cleanup crews were working hard to erase the detritus in the Red-Light district left by rowdy crowds the previous evening. As soon as I crossed over a canal it was like entering another world. The Oude Kerk is Amsterdam’s oldest standing structure still in use, it dates from 1213. I expected a small church, standing outside it didn’t look particularly large. It is, however, a soaring cavernous space. The original structure had been added onto over many decades.
The Oude Kerk is now a museum, no services are held there. I spent a lot of time looking at architectural details. Each pew seat had a detailed carving or some aspect of life in Amsterdam, I was fascinated by the sometimes realistic, often fanciful designs. The ceiling is the largest medieval wooden vault in Europe, decorated with faded but beautiful paintings. The floor is covered entirely with gravestones because the church was built on a cemetery. Local citizens were buried in the church until 1865. The earliest one I saw was from 1573. Again, the designs on the stones were reflective of what was important to the citizens of the day. It felt a bit odd to be walking on them, but I was mesmerized by what they portrayed about life over the centuries.
Though I could have spent many hours there, I decided to walk to the botanical garden. I needed some greenery. Retracing my steps through the Red-Light district, the windows were now getting filled with women in scanty outfits advertising for customers.
My walk took me through a surprisingly modern section of the city. I was surprised to see contemporary buildings in the center of the city.