My Favourite Monday Morning: The Hunt For The Perfect Piece

Amsterdam / Shopping
en di Cicerone /  Frederique van Staalen, 19. set 2008

Admit it: most earthly pleasures are linked with envy. So when everybody else, exhausted from the weekend, has to go to work, some lucky ones can visit the Noordermarket.

 

Between the Korte Prinsengracht and the beginning of the Prinsengracht you’ll find a beautiful triangular square lined by the church (Noorderkerk) nice cafés and restaurants. The Noordermarkt was named after this church, which dates from the seventeenth century.

Here, every Monday morning, you can see people (mostly women) cycling or walking from the bridges, laughing, and flocking to this little spot. What is so much fun about this market that it has become a magnet for people over the years?

Aside from the envy factor, it may have something to do with the feeling that there is always somebody you know around, and indeed there is. Last time, I lost my little daughter Prune and started panicking. Soon after a woman found her, and as I looked her in the face I recognized my old roommate Roline.


King Louie/Petit Louie

It's amazing as well that some market sellers have stayed there over the years. One of my favourites is the King Louie/Petit Louie booth, selling women’s and kids’ clothing from different collections.


Exota

The labels are cut out, but if you find this a problem they have a shop Exota Hartenstraat 10 where they sell the current collection. My most recent Monday treasure: the curtains of my youth, original 'Nijntje' (miffy) from the seventies.


Cafe WINKEL

To complete the morning, join the queue of cafe WINKEL (Noordermarkt 43) for a warm piece of apple pie. The rumor goes that they bake the best apple pie in town. I deserve to be stoned at once for revealing this myth, but actually the pie is delicious and don’t we all like to believe in fairytales?

On Saturdays, a part of the Noordermarkt joins the organic food market, but it doesn't have the same dazzling atmosphere given that for most hardworking people are off from work and there isn’t a soul who will envy you.

Noordermarket: Mondays market 9 -13. Saturdays: Organic food market 9-16.00

Pubblicato da
Cicerone

Paradise Found At Huis Marseille

Amsterdam / Visitare
en di Cicerone /  Frederique van Staalen, 10. set 2008

We Dutch are in a way obsessed with space. The Netherlands are the most densely populated country in Europe, and it’s impossible to find a decent apartment in Amsterdam if you’re not kin of Croesus. Because of this, I have developed a certain kind of spacio-mania: and than I found this museum.

Of course one can argue about the definition of a museum but most people since the nineteenth century would agree that, besides its conservational and collecting tasks, a museum should be open to public.

While there is no problem visiting Huis Marseille, it is less trouble-free to try and write about it or even photograph this lovely foundation. For me that’s exactly the point, is it really “open to the public” when only an excusive circle of well- informed culture dilettantes know of the existence of this collection?

At Huis Marseille they think this site is too commercial to their philosophy and they would prefer to not be mentioned. But I can’t withhold this heavenly place from you, so I’ll describe it without any reserve.

Huis Marseille, the first photo museum in Amsterdam, is located on Keizersgracht 401 in a canal house with the same name. After passing the reception it’s unlikely you’ll meet a lot of visitors. Hues of green, grey marble and honey colored wooden floors impressed me so much that I kind of forgot the current exhibition. A staircase leads into the backhouse, the most interesting part of this marvelous house.


Nothing is more appropriate to the garden room than Jacob de Wit’s Heavenly concept, an original ceiling painting from the eighteenth century. Viewing the garden with its ancient trees, a feeling of calm and serenity came over me. The best part is that you can enter the garden because they have put tables and chairs outside. So with a coffee or tea from the museum's 'media kitchen' you can pretend, since nobody else will be there, that you are sitting in your own garden.

If you’re eager for the city again, visit the nearby Cafe Walem on Keizersgracht 449, one of the first Grand cafés in Amsterdam. If you still have some energy left for art, drop in to Foam a neighboring photo museum (Keizersgracht 609) in the conventional way. 

Pubblicato da
Cicerone

"thinking Of Holland....."

Amsterdam / Shopping
en di Cicerone /  Frederique van Staalen, 2. set 2008


Thinking of Holland 

The above quote from a well-known poem of Hendrik Marsman is the name of a brand-new shop in Amsterdam. Dorret Griffioen, the owner of the shop, had simply had it with all the junk that ordinary souvenir shops were selling. She believed that Holland, with all its internationally acclaimed designers and tourists alike, deserved so much better.


Thinking of Holland

The Passengers Terminal on Piet Heinkade 23, where all big cruise boats harbor, suited her strategy. In a posh interior, designed by Thomas Cruijsen, you’ll find several items that’ll remind you of Holland. Though not especially conceived as souvenirs, these high quality objects often have a twist and provoke memories of the Low Countries. Unfortunately 'Zealand sweetheart' doesn’t belong to the shop but you’ll definitely find related jewelry or motives from her attire.


Droog

Thinking of Dutch Design, I immediately think of Droog. A design label and platform for designers. Droog meaning dry, a reproach we Dutch are repeatedly blamed for, produces unpretentious, funny but functional objects.


Droog

In a historical building in the Staalstraat, Droog established its flag store and a gallery where young designers exhibit their creations. Here you can wander around, marveling a table, a kitchen or enter the lovely garden. For me, it feels more like visiting the new apartment of a friend than dwelling in a design shop. I always sneak in to see if they still have the big hare in their collection. It’s such a pity that my floor isn’t roomy enough to have such an opulent doormat.

Pubblicato da
Cicerone