Den Haag and Amsterdam, Nederland
Saturday, June 13, 2009

Today my ward (church congregation) planned a trip up to the LDS temple in The Hague, Netherlands. I love attending any temple that I can, and this was no exception. To Latter-day Saints, temples are a place of peace, refuge, and spiritual strengthening. The work and ordinances (ceremonies) that are done in temples can't be done anywhere else on earth. I was very glad I went.

Since we were already in The Hague, a couple of friends invited me to go up to Amsterdam afterwards. I didn't really think much about it; I have to admit I've never really had an overwhelming interest in or planned to go out of my way to visit any cities north of a certain point (i.e. Dutch areas, Scandinavia, etc.), but I certainly wasn't opposed to seeing somewhere new, and I had heard the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh museum were pretty cool.

Well, it turns out that Amsterdam is DEFINITELY not my bag. I suppose if I had put some thought into it, I would have connected some dots in my mind as far as other things I've heard about Amsterdam in the past. Whatever the case, it didn't take long after arriving for it to come to symbolize two major things: marijuana (legalized) and pornography (courtesy of pervasive advertising for the Red Light District and prostitution, also legalized).

At first I thought it was such a shame that I was ripped down from my spiritual high after visiting the temple. Later I decided that it was just a really good thing I had been rejuvenated at the temple--I would surely have hated Amsterdam even more if I didn't have such a powerfully positive experience earlier in the day to draw strength from.

About halfway through our time there things started to get better when we arrived in the museum district, which was actually a fun and peaceful area to hang out for a while. All of the museums were unfortunately only an hour from closing when we got there, so we decided not to spend the money for such a limited time. On the other hand, I'm not sure I really wanted to spend the money on Van Gogh anyway; I would much rather go through the Rijks Museum (much more my style) next time.

And yes, that is the beauty of my half-horrible experience: although I hated half of my day there, I will probably go back to Amsterdam in two weeks. An old buddy from my freshman dorm at BYU is in Brussels with his wife for the summer, and since she's never been to Amsterdam, they are planning to come back up in two weeks to go to the temple and then see the city. I would love to go to the temple again, so I will have to endure Amsterdam. (Kind of ironic, considering that I am only in Europe for two months altogether; who would've thought Amsterdam would be my repeat sightseeing destination?) I would still actually love to see the Anne Frank house, which we didn't get to. I think Amsterdam will be better altogether this time now that I know where the historical area is!

International Court of Justice, den Haag

Amsterdam

Nextdoor Royal Palace and Nieuwe Kurk, or New Church, on Dam Square

Also on Dam Square

Centraal Station

I've never seen so many bikes in one city!

Concert hall next ("concert-building") next to the museumplein (museum square)

Rijksmuseum on museumplein, apparently home to some excellent Rembrandts and Vermeers