My Favorite Place - Amsterdam

Quiet, quant, and magnificent - such adjectives are only but a blimp of the brilliance that the Dutch capital of Amsterdam exuded. Having spent a good portion of the summer in Europe, I had the opportunity to see a variety of European cities: the cosmopolitan London, the artsy Paris, and the quaint Amsterdam. Of course, as my title indicates, the latter was my favorite; never have I met such nice, happy people who cared so deeply for people around them and for their environment. Almost everything in Amsterdam ran on bike - children, men and women alike traversed the city on their bicycles, making cars seem like an anomaly. Just take a look at this picture, which captures the heart of the city's vibe - what place on Earth can beat that!

A view of a street in Amsterdam along one of the city's numerous canals
National Geographic. Source: NatGeo

Comments

  1. Laura GibbsAugust 24, 2017 at 4:05 PM

    I am a huge fan of Amsterdam also, Vinay! I lived in England for a while, and when going to the continent, I would always prefer to go via Holland instead of France... any excuse to visit Amsterdam, even just for a day or two! And I love (LOVE) the National Museum there; the statue of Shiva there was a big part of how I became interested in studying Indian stories and art! Here it is: the Nataraja of the Rijksmuseum.

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    1. UnknownAugust 24, 2017 at 10:32 PM

      We actually visited the Rijksmuseum while there, too! It was a wonderful experience - although I have to say, we were unfortunately "museumed-out" by the time we got there, since we had visited numerous museums in the U.K. and France before we arrived. It was still very wonderful to learn about Dutch history and culture through it, though! I think I remember seeing that exact same Nataraja statue there, too...

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    2. Laura GibbsAugust 25, 2017 at 8:42 AM

      At the time (I had just graduated from college), I knew nothing about Shiva: NOTHING. I just knew that the statue was amazing, and that made me want to learn. Now I feel so lucky to be teaching this class at OU: I didn't take a class about India when I was an undergraduate, but now I am getting to teach a class. :-)

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