Sunflowers on Saturday

Sunflowers at the Van Gogh Museum

Saturday morning we woke to overcast and rainy skies, which we had expected from the weather app on our phones. That's why we planned to spend the day indoors, back in Amsterdam, at the Van Gogh museum. The rain actually lasted only a short time. We got on the train, then the tram, and were in the museum by 9:30 AM.

Unlike the Rjiksmuseum, the Van Gogh doesn't permit any photography, so I can't show you any pictures with Vincent. Well then, how did we get our picture in front of Sunflowers? Simple, in the lobby, there are several well-lit reproductions, designed for tourists to snap a picture.

Except for Starry Night, most of the famous Van Gogh pictures, (at least those I'm familiar with), were there. The museum has more Van Gogh's than any other museum; over 200 paintings. We saw the Potato Eaters and several variations of Head of a Woman, which led up to it.

The Potato Eaters

After the lukewarm reception that the Potato Eaters received, by both the public and his brother Theo, Vincent decided to go to art school. I really like one of the art school drawings, Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette.

Head of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette

After art school, he first moved to Paris, meeting all of the famous artists of the time. A year or two later, he moved to Arles in the south of France. His new paintings were certainly brighter than the gloomy Potato Eaters. This is when he did Sunflowers and The Yellow House.

The Yellow House

On the top floor of the museum was the legendary last painting (even though it actually wasn't his last), Wheat Field with Crows.

Wheat Field with Crows

Finally, the ground floor contained a whole room full of self-portraits, which you would recognize, as well as a portrait by Paul Gauguin, titled, appropriately, Vincent Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers.

Vincent Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers

Even though we got there at opening time, the museum was mobbed. We were glad when noon rolled around and we hopped on the ferry for North Amsterdam, to visit Celeste Yohai, a Calvary Chapel music missionary who moved to Amsterdam in the 80's with Karen Lafferty and Youth With a Mission.

The Ferry to North Amsterdam

We were concerned that our Amsterdam area travel ticket wouldn't work on the ferry. A young man who heard us discussing this, came over and said, "Don't worry; the ferries are free!"

We met Celeste in her neighborhood. She regularly leads worship for a Foursquare church in North Amsterdam as well as leading worship and speaking wherever the Lord sends her. North Amsterdam is the non-touristy, working class area that she calls home and where she ministers among the community. She and her cocker spaniel puppy Ripley met us as we came off the ferry and took us to a local restaurant. Along the way, we ran into several of her neighbors who stopped to talk. In fact, it seemed like everyone we ran into knew Celeste and Ripley.

Celeste Yohai, Missionary in Amsterdam

The four of us had a wonderful afternoon, just eating, sitting and fellowshipping.

The Prinsenhof  Weeping Beech

We got back to Haarlem around 5:00 PM, and took a different way home, following the route in the TI brochure, Hidden Green Oases. This oases is the former monastery herb garden behind what is now city hall. This huge weeping beech tree is really dramatic.

In den Groenen Tuyn Almshouses

The almshouses around the city are really retirement homes for women who could no longer work. Some of these were established by the city guilds (such as the brewer's guild) for women who worked in the breweries. Some were established by churches (there is a Lutheran almshouse here), and some were established by wealthy families who wanted the family name to live on in the almshouse.

From experience the Dutch felt that single elderly men were unable to cope with running a household on their own, so these men were accommodated in special men's homes which were more like boarding houses. The almshouses were restricted to widows, or unmarried destitute women over 60. Even today, the regents at each alsmhouse determine who can live there. In the Frans Loenen almshouses, for instance, you must have been born in Haarlem, or have been a resident for six years.

Pentecost in the Haarlemmermeer

Haarlem Train Station.

Sunday morning, we ate breakfast in a rush, and headed off to the train station, so we could get to Calvary Chapel Haarlemmermeer. This region is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and the name Haarlemmermeer means Haarlem's Lake, referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.

We had a three day train pass, so we used that. The Nieuw-Vennep station where Marnie Marinussen, the pastor's wife, was going to pick us up, was one stop past the end of our pass. We figured we'd just pay the difference for the last segment at the station when we got there. Unfortunately, when we arrived, there was no one at the station, and the turnstiles wouldn't let us out. After a moment of panic, Kathy found a button that opened the gates and we were able to get down to the parking lot.

Calvary Chapel Harlemmermeer

Marnie picked us up and drove us through their town to church. This is an entirely new (since 2000) development. The housing is fairly high-density, mostly row houses, with a lot of green space around. In some ways it reminds me of Irvine.

Stan Marinussen Preaching on Pentecost

This was Pentecost Sunday, so Stan's message was on the Holy Spirit. The service is in Dutch, and English speaking visitors are given headsets so they can listen to a simultaneous translation. In addition to us, there were also a dozen visitors from India and the Philippines who where attending a conference in the Netherlands, arranged by a missions couple from Calvary Chapel Albuquerque. Like the loaves and fishes, they didn't run out of headsets.

After the service, this multi-cultural church had their monthly potluck. Each month is a different theme. This time it was the food of Surniam, a former Dutch colony in South America, near Venezuela. It was really nice eating together, and especially meeting and talking with so many people that call this church their home and hearing their gratitude to God for bringing them a pastor that teaches through the whole Bible.

Pancakes with the Marineussen's

After the service, Stan and Marnie invited us over to their house (about a 10-minute walk, which was beautiful). We sat and talked the afternoon away. Around dinner time, we went into Amsterdam to a "pancake" restaurant. The pancakes are sort of like crepes. The real star, though, are the poffertjes, small, round pancakes, a little larger than a quarter, dusted in powdered sugar, that can be eaten with syrup, strawberries, ice cream and whipped cream. Although they are not deep-fried, they seem very much like New Orleans beignets.

We left after 6:00 PM. Stan and Marnie drove us back to Haarlem, where we walked to our hotel. Tomorrow morning we get to sleep in, pack and then head for our next stop, Delft.