shaunapuff

Listen-- It's not as bad as it sounds.

I didn't exactly go to Amsterdam to get a Pokémon Card. That just happened to be the tipping point.

Let me back up. When my mom and I first started to plan our trip to Belgium, there was always talk of us going to another country for a day. Europe is just like that. From the beginning, my mom was pushing hard for Amsterdam, because she really cherished her trip there from many years ago. I was against it for a few reasons, the first being that I had never been to Belgium, and I felt that it may be too much. Additionally, my beautiful friend had just been to Amsterdam earlier in the year. Since seeing her photos, I had always imagined my first time there more parallel to hers-- springtime and full of tulips.

And then it happened. UNO Reverse Card. The Van Gogh Museum posted a collab with the Pokémon Company. Not only was there an exclusive Pokémon Card, but there was an entire Pokémon exhibit of paintings in the style of Van Gogh with exclusive merch to go with it. Although, I am well versed in art history from my 20+(?!) years of going to museums-- I will forever be basic to say that Van Gogh is my favorite painter, and this museum has been on my bucket list for almost my entire life. Since he's a lot of people's favorite painter, word spread quick and everything pertaining to the exhibit went viral.

This news dropped a month or so before my trip, and out of curiosity I checked the museum's availability. Of the 4 days in my trip, only one of them was still available. My Mom at the time was in another country, and in panic I sent her a screenshot seeing if she'd still be interested in going to Amsterdam. Even though she was in another time zone, she answered relatively quickly letting me know that it would be a 3 hour train ride but we could do it. And so we did.

In a way, every day of our trip led up to this one. Each morning, we had to wake up earlier and earlier, and when we left in the morning it was the earliest so far on this last full day. It was maybe 7:30am and we had to Uber to Zuid Station from Saint Gilles—which wasn’t a big deal the previous day on the way to Brugge. Unfortunately we got stuck in rush hour traffic because it was a Monday, and we were getting increasingly closer to our departure time. We only had a few short minutes to figure out what track we were on and get on our train.

Of course nothing was easy. It was really hard to find the train we needed, and when we finally did, it turned out to be on the opposite side of the terminal. Surprisingly calmly, I told my Mom to trust me and just started running. I figured if I got up there first I could hold the door open for her, and we wouldn’t miss it. I made it up there, and motioned for her to come up as the train was in fact still there. She laughed at me because my long coat was floating by me like a cape and it reminded her of a scene from Anastasia.

The ride was super smooth, and took less than 2 hours which was wild— and we got into Amsterdam Centraal Station. The building itself is beautiful, but I remember we had a hard time getting out. We needed some guy with an access card to swipe us out since we weren’t regular commuters. Just a heads up I suppose.
Nonetheless I was so excited. We had a few key places on the list but the first was food. I had just two food goals for this trip:
**An authentic Stroopwafel**
**Herring from a street vendor**
While walking to our first destination we did walk through the Red Light District briefly. I’ve never been to the Netherlands before so it was definitely an interesting experience. It was obviously very sleepy being there at like 9 am, but there were 1-2 stores to open. I was with my Mom so there was no way I was going in, but maybe another time.

I had a few spots saved on my Google Maps, and settled on van Wonderen Stroopwafels, since their product was super cute and it was on the way we had to go. Although it was a Monday, the place was packed and right away I noticed the location we had visited was on the smaller side to begin with. It doesn’t help that about 75% of the space in the store is taken up by retail shelving, as the priority was to sell these additional products.
One of the most amazing parts of van Wonderen is that the stroopwafel is assembled right on the spot. You can customize the size of it as well as the toppings you include: sprinkles, toasted coconut, etc. Then the employee assembles it for you, complete with warm chocolate. While this is the best part of the whole experience, it was also a hinderance.

This particular store had only one employee taking the orders, charging employees and assembling each stroopwafel. There would be a long line of people, and she’d have to stop in the middle of taking care of the line to take care of the many tickets she had amassed. She seemed relatively unbothered by this, so something tells me that they weren’t short-staffed for the day, but rather this was just normal.

After finally making it to the front of the line, I got my stroopwafel. I settled on a medium sized wafel with Smarties because they were so cute and colorful but also exclusive to Europe, and I snapped my quick pic for the gram. Since the chocolate was warm and hadn’t hardened, I definitely rained Smarties all over my hand. Unfortunately, the shop had no seating— thankfully, the weather was warming up, so we found a spot to sit by the canal to eat. We also found a nearby coffee shop so I could get a nice black coffee to counteract the sweetness but also eat the stroopwafel the right way. After returning from Europe, I learned that van Wonderen just opened a kiosk in Grand Central called Wonderen, and they had a kiosk at the Bryant Park Winter Market which is so exciting! They don’t have Smarties in the NY locations though, so I am still glad I got my hands on one !

While I was enjoying the stroopwafel, I noticed a long line of kiosks across the canal. I had saved the Bloemenmarkt a while ago, and I knew on site that there was no way it wasn’t what I was looking at. Although we didn’t have too too much time— we had just enough time to stop over really fast.
Considering it was early fall, I was surprised that the shops were even open. Funny enough when we got there, there were a shocking amount of tulips for sale, so I loudly commented on, saying there was no way they were real. A random man, that we assumed worked there, overheard me, (it’s hard not to) and with a big smile said they were freshly cut.
I’m not sure if it was a mandela effect, but I swear I started to smell flowers. He walked away, and I picked one up— although it was a solid dupe, it was plastic.

The man returned with his wife and asked if his family could take a picture with “Barbie” which apparently was me, and then was on his way. He really just was a random person and not an employee— I didn’t have the heart to tell him the flowers were fake.

I was able to get all of my Amsterdam souvenirs at the Bloemenmarkt which was super nice. Including a little pink bicycle magnet (which I would regret) and some postcards for my collection. We thought about getting tulip bulbs to plant, but felt it would just be such a hassle bringing them back home.

After we finished shopping, we walked along the canals and took photos. The canals and narrow streets make Amsterdam super picturesque but it was around this point my frustrations began to set in. Although Belgium had many cobblestone streets, the sidewalks were at least walkable— here it was SO narrow. And then there were the bikers. Amsterdam is both eco-friendly as well as a difficult city to drive in with limited options for public transportation. This means that roughly 2/3 of daily transportation in the city is bikers.

I personally would be so happy if I never had to hear a bike bell again if I am being honest. There were so many bikes, and on some of the narrower streets, we were sharing them with bikers and moving over constantly. As per every city, cyclists tend to like to pick and choose what rules apply to them— ie: they will follow the automobile rules when convenient, and then pedestrian rules when in their favor. Of course I experience this in NYC but the volume of bikers on the road just made this piece a little more frustrating.

The next stop on our list was the Rijksmuseum, home to many famous works of art.

The **Rijksmuseum** is a huge museum that I could have easily spent all day in on it’s own. The building itself is remarkable, with incredible floor to ceiling stained glass windows that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. My mom was always a fan of the Dutch Master, Johannes Vermeer and that has definitely trickled down to me from a very young age. Vermeer has a very unique style and replicates Renaissance chiascuro lighting techniques which has always made his work stand out to me. I found that I could instantly spot each of the Vermeer paintings around the museum and it was so special.

The coolest thing about his work is that Vermeer didn’t have a painting studio like many other Dutch/Flemish masters. This means that each of his works was completed by Vermeer without any additional assistance. It also may be while many of his pieces are a bit smaller in scale as opposed to Rubens for example

This means that there are only 37 total paintings by Vermeer in existence— something that many, including my mom, have on their bucketlist. As a kid, the painting of the Milkmaid was a magnet on our refrigerator, from my Mom’s trip to the Rijksmuseum in the 80s. Before I knew any famous painters, or artworks, I knew this one. Seeing it in person was really special, especially with my Mom.

In addition to seeing the four Vermeer paintings that live in the Rijksmuseum, we also a lot of other famous works. Most notably, despite some on site construction, we were able to see The Night Watch by Rembrandt that was larger than life and incredible. I also learned of the talented painter, Rachel Ruysch who lived from 1664-1750 — she managed to breakthrough with her lifelike still-lifes during a particularly male-dominated time. We walked around a bit and saw everything from detailed tapestries, to instruments that are hundreds of years old, and even rolwagen vases.

We finished out our visit by having brunch in the onsite Het Café. Unlike the US, many museum cafes are structured more akin to an upscale full-service restaurant. The seating area is located in the atrium, decorated with beautiful floral decor, and completed by a beautiful bronze statue. I was able to enjoy my Tulip Spritz, with a roof over us I could only describe to feel like a greenhouse. The menu was inclusive to dietary restrictions, including multiple vegetarian items, which is always appreciated. In addition to the cafe, you can also check out the Rijks Restaurant for a more elevated dining experience!

Visiting the **Van Gogh Museum** has been a lifelong dream of mine since elementary school. Many of my family members and friends have made the journey to this iconic museum, and I've always hoped to do the same.
I was very excited to see so many pieces I have never seen before in addition to learning even more about one of my favorite tortured artists. I’ve been fortunate enough to go to a few special Van Gogh exhibits at the Met and at the D’Orsay in the past, even having seen a few of the pieces from the Van Gogh Museum that had been loaned for these special shows.
With that being said, I was completely blown away by the sheer volume of his work displayed in this museum. At the end of the day, this museum is home to the most Van Gogh paintings in the world

The museum has over 200 paintings of Van Gogh’s in the space as well as many drawings and letters he had written over the course of his life. Certain works like his Zonnebloemen and Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette are famous pieces I’ve always wanted to see and finally got to! There were a few others that I had seen similar variations of such as Irises and The Bedroom, but it was amazing to finally see the originals. One of the coolest parts was the room full of Self Portraits of Vincent over the course of his painting career. I loved the stylistic and expressive variations on each individual piece.

Some things that blew me away were how many paintings of cherry blossom groves, skulls and marble sculptures there were. It was cool to learn that Van Gogh had an affinity for Japanese Art and even collected prints from Japan, which you can see at the museum. It’s clear that some of his art was even inspired by traditional Japanese art, and I liked that they showed a few of those pieces in the museum as well. Sadly, one of his more famous pieces, Almond Blossoms was on loan in Tokyo which low key broke my heart. It definitely gives me a reason to come back though!

So many famous painters are known for their equally famous friends or rich subjects of their paintings. People often forget that Van Gogh was no where near as famous in his day, and many of his subjects were everyday people. I think it makes some of his less iconic paintings almost uncomfortable to look at. Van Gogh enjoyed painting unusual subjects and often depicted people living in middle class or poverty living everyday life as opposed to performers or aristocrats, and many of these paintings are featured in the museum.

Another really unique part of the museum was the focus on Vincent’s entire life, taking you through his life growing up until his death. They handle this in a very respectful way, while providing a wealth of information and knowledge. Iconically, Vincent wrote to his brother Theo for many years, something I learned in art class as far back as 3rd Grade. It was both beautiful but deeply emotional reading and hearing some of those letters— at one point I burst into tears in the museum. After viewing every painting, despite a long day and exhaustion, I couldn’t help but wish there was even more. I just couldn’t get enough.

**Pokemon x Van Gogh Museum** may have been the impetus for this particular visit..

To celebrate 50 years of the Van Gogh Museum, they collaborated with the Pokemon Company with a special exhibit. The exhibit consisted of 6 paintings of different Pokemon painted into different famous Van Gogh works. These were some of the few paintings in the museum that weren’t painted by Vincent himself, but the inspiration was very clear.
The exhibit also rolled out exclusive merch, only available to museum goers which was very hard to get hands on online.

Additionally, each guest was given the opportunity to complete a scavenger hunt to complete throughout the museum, and could trade in their completed paper for an exclusive full-art Pokémon card of Pikachu with the Grey Felt Hat. Obviously, I needed that card, as a multiple decade long Pokémon fan and amateur art historian it was imperative. However, during the pandemic the craze around Pokémon cards has surprisingly skyrocketed worldwide— notably with Target stores limiting purchases to 5 packs per person to avoid inventory sweeps. You can imagine my shock and low-key despair to receive an email from the museum just one day before my visit that stated: “Pokémon promo card not available” with very little explanation as to why.

Even if the card wasn’t available to anyone, the museum was as busy as ever. We actually waited in line for at least an hour waiting to see the paintings which was uncomfortable to say the least. Even if the card was no longer available, I still took the time to fill out the scavenger hunt to get an exclusive postcard of Pikachu. While I waited in line, we ended up chatting with the people in front of us as you do. They were locals who were also upset about the card no longer being available since they had two dissapointed children with them. They explained to us that allegedly someone targeted a couple as they were leaving the museum and used violence to threaten them to give them the Pokémon card as it was valued at at least $300 online due to it’s exclusivity. I was disgusted to hear this news, as it put the adult Pokémon community in such a bad light.

There is no proof that this person was a fan, but regardless what they did was horrific, and the decision to pull this card from release made much more sense. It was clear that the people in front of me were very jaded, and felt that grown fans should not be allowed to participate in the scavenger hunt, and that the card should only be available to children. This kind of hurt my feelings a bit, being a fan of the franchise since I was 6, and an avid collector from that age on. Although I am in my 30s, my love for art in many ways comes from the Pokémon franchise itself— through high school I was inspired by the artwork and characters of the games and TV show and used so many of them as references to improve my own artwork. Pokémon was a constant source of inspiration for me, and to combine it with something equally precious to me like impressionist artwork is so special. I tried to politely get this point across while I was in line, and I felt that it went pretty successfully.

The exhibit itself was pretty incredible despite the wait. I did my best not to let the pressure of the line put pressure on me to go through the exhibit quicker than I wanted to. I took special time to look at each piece. I think my favorite part is that my Mom who isn’t much of a Pokémon fan, fell absolutely in love with Eevee. I had to buy a post card of each piece displayed (but respected the one of each minimum ofc).

After leaving the museum, the only thing I needed to do before going back to Brussels, and that was to try herring. I was specifically looking to go to Herring Stall Jonk per the glowing recommendation from a coworker of mine. However, we stayed at the Van Gogh Museum until close, and this particular stand was closed. Although I was grateful to know that before walking all the way there, I felt like many other stands closed at the same time, and I felt that I lost some hope in finding herring before leaving.
We started to make our way back for a while before I stumbled upon a stand at the Koningssluis Bridge that had a red, white and blue umbrella labelled “American Hot Dogs.” I don’t know what it was, but something possessed me to approach this food cart to a stern Dutch man.

I nervously started out by saying “I know I’m American, and what it looks like I’m gonna order, but I wanted to see.. if you maybe perhaps had Herring.,,??” His stern expression turned to an overjoyed smile as before I knew it, the gentleman was pulling out all of the ingredients one by one. Most excitedly, he shared a special topping he had made for this herring. He insisted I tried it in front of him and I fell in love immediately. I went in with minimal expectations so I was not expecting to love it so much. If I ever go back to the Netherlands for longer, I will be eating it everyday.

We finished out the day walking along the canals the long way. Since the Rijksmuseum was the furthest away destination, we spent our time working our way back to Centraal Station for our evening train. We went into a couple of cute restaurants that seemed a bit too busy for our taste, and finally settled on a final drink at Rembrandt Corner so we could sit outside along the water. I had an obligatory Heineken while in town, which to me didn’t taste much different from what I could find in the states, and watched all the boats go by. We made our way through Chinatown and made it back to the train with much more time to spare. The ride back was much less eventful and more comfortable than the way there. The Amsterdam train station was much less complex than the Brussels Station for sure. We made sure to order the Uber back not long before we arrived and made it back to Brussels nice and easy.