Penultimate day in Amsterdam and onto Berlin

The popularity of Van Gogh is quite astounding. Nothing to do with his ability or the significance of the work but how over time how he has captured the imagination of so many people. It is hard to imagine how little he was regarded while alive. And that answers many questions about contemporary art-the most influential are often the most overlooked in their own time. Our last walk along the canals before we are finished with Amsterdam for now. One last coffee at Café Thijssen and a stroll through this absolutely delightful part of a very civilized country. We will miss staying in the beautiful apartment looking over the canal.

The Van Gogh museum is vast and swallows the hordes that queued so restlessly. Some like us actually looked at the paintings. For many it was a cursory glance and on to other things to tick off their list. By vast there are 4 levels of different stages of his life and of the many painters such as Gauguin and Seurat who influenced him most strongly. Pissarro’s Harvest of Hay was here and is an absolute gem of a pointillist painting, alongside Van Gogh’s attempts at replication. And of course onto the big ones-the sunflowers, irises, the bedroom. The output of work from the last year of his life was extraordinary. Seeing them in one room puts it all into perspective. He was a supernova. And even with all the work produced he still thought he was a failure-ahh the insecurity of life as an artist.

For our evening meal we adventured to the east of the city to partake in the food from the restaurant De Kas. De Kas is in a park and is in a refurbished glasshouse. We even caught our first tram-no 9 from central. The building and gardens of De Kas are quite beautiful, and a story in their own right. Bought from a community organization for one guilder they have been lovingly restored, remodeled and now are one of the glittering stars of Dutch cuisine. The location and building are wonderful. The restaurant has built its reputation on growing its own food or sourcing it locally. Although one would think this is the role of the chef to organize the best fresh produce. The menu is set. Everyone gets the same meals. You can imagine the kitchen is quite relaxed doing the same thing over and over. I actually feel the idea of the restaurant is far superior to the actual experience. While the food was indeed fresh you did not get the sense of the virtuosity of the chef. And perhaps waiting 30 minutes to get a bill is a little remiss.

Another early morning of travel. Who organized these starting times? Our train was leaving from Amsterdam Zuid-Amsterdam South station. We arrived a tad early and found our platform was more like a metro than an international train station. But our intercity to Berlin duly arrived and we comfortably sat out our 6-hour trip. Now you are in no doubt about Berlin central. This is a train station. We caught a cab to our next home away from home. Past the TIergarten and the immense park and onto our destination. On first impressions of our street is a rather tired and shabby stretch. Our apartment is in the internal courtyard. After such a magnificent location, apartment and hosts in Amsterdam the Berlin digs will take some time to love. First night we went to Papaya, a local Thai restaurant. At night the area looked even more forbidding. But the restaurant was excellent, great food and friendly staff.

In the morning the sun was shining and even the shabby exterior of the buildings took on a more pleasant countenance. And no one said Berlin is a pretty city. Handsome at best perhaps. And then 5 minutes away we found Schoenberg and the Double Eye café. This area is awash with hipsters, yummy mummies with state of the art strollers, academics and students. Not to mention boutique stores by the truckload, fresh food markets and tree lined streets. The previous nights doubt blown away by the general ambience. It is perhaps a Balmain demographic in a Newtown environment. Sorry to those not used to the Sydneyisms.

In the afternoon we decided to walk to Charlottenburg to get a sense of our neighbourhood and surrounds. We probably took a bit of a circuitous route but made it all the same. After walking for over an hour we decided it was beer o’clock. We found a sun drenched terrace and ordered some beers. The waitress asked us where we were from. She said there was a bet. On saying we were Australian she was surprised. Her co-worker said we were Australian and she was not sure. She then told us she spent 5 weeks touring Australia with her boyfriend. She thought Australians had a sunny temperament because it was sunny. Charlottenburg is affluent, leafy and quiet. We had found a restaurant called Julep and thought we would give it a try. A diner really. We ate hamburgers and drank excellent vodka martinis. On the walk back to our apartment we found the main up market shopping area. Bulgari, Chanel, Rolex, Omega, etc. A tree lined centre of opulence thronging with people. The walk back was a brisk 40 minutes-we came back tired and footsore but more aware of our immediate surrounds.

A new day in Berlin, and Double Eye, the excellent café in Schoeneberg was our first port of call. One of the benefits of being in a less visited area is you drink and eat with locals. It was the usual suspects today as yesterday. The coffee was excellent. We attended to some grocery shopping at the wonderful local market.

In the afternoon we wandered the other way and headed towards Kreuzberg. Kreuzberg is the opposite of Charlottenberg, rundown and vast. Streets of 5 storey apartment blocks forever and little or no greenery. This is a centre of the counterculture. Lots of ponytails and tattoos and incense. And buildings in various stages of disrepair. Schoeneberg is a sea of construction and refurbishment; Kreuzberg will probably be the next in the gentrification. Before we left we saw a documentary on Berlin and the beginning of the city and the waves of immigrants that have made it as it is. From the French Huguenots to the Dutch, the recent arrival of the Turks, the reconstruction of the city after the war and the Berlin proletariat that was so strong for so long. Berlin was always a city of the working class, and of Rosa Luxemburg, who wrote so passionately for them. There is a book in the apartment on The Fall of Berlin by Anthony Beevor that I will read before we leave. The personal accounts of Berlin women make for grim reading. I read his excellent book on the Spanish Civil War. One of the things we have noticed is the amount of artisans in Berlin. There are numerous one person workshops-normally opening onto the street so you see them working. One we were particularly taken with was Anke Roshchka who produces jewellery and ceramics. There appears to be an availability of space for artists that is manageable financially and creates a diverse and textured community. There are also over 400 private galleries in Berlin.            

Tonight we are heading to the city to attend an opening of the Australian Photographer Peter Jarver at the Automobile Museum. The Australian Ambassador is opening it. And then out for the evening with some friends newly moved to Berlin. Our reservations for the Reichstag came through-as for many things in Europe you need prior reservations even if entry is free. To enter the Reichstag you must book almost 1 month in advance. The crush of people. It appears Europe is being loved to death.

The exhibition at the Automobil was a quite astounding collection of Australian landscape images by Peter Jarver. He made Australia look extraordinary. The German’s were fascinated by the sheer intensity of light and colour in the images. And his work in the north of Australia with photographing lightning was intriguing, beautifully composed and printed. Mostly shot on a 4 x 5 Horseman, a 6 x 18 Linhof or a Rollei 6 x 6 using Velvia film. The S Bahn is a 3 minute walk from our apartment and it is 2 stops only to the city. About 4 minutes. We are in a very convenient location. We went out with friends last night after the exhibition to a German style restaurant and ate an Alsace style of flat bread pizza and a plate of delicacies. It was a fun night of discussion and laughter and an insider’s view of Berlin. We have forgotten how big and imposing everything is in Central Berlin yet we are told it is easy to navigate by bicycle-as so many people do here.