Day 7 - Kids and Cats

Tuesday June 05 2012

I saw the sun today!  Which was good, because I checked off some of the last housing projects that I wanted to see.  I did a lot of tram-riding today, first heading to see H.P. Berlage's Plan Zuid (South), where he saved the keystone tower and surrounding wings for himself to design.  It was uncanny, very stoic, great brickwork but restricted.  There was even a funny statue of Berlage at the end of the road. 

Then I headed north through the Nieuwe Pijp neighborhood, where there were several schools with so many children running around.  My target site was De Dageraad, another work by M. de Klerk and fellow Amsterdam School architects.  I am not sure the year it was constructed, but I would venture to guess either right before or right after Het Schip, due to similar elements of design.  There are some great details here too.  However, I don't really like kids especially around the ages of 12-16 so I didn't stick around there too long.  Took the tram back to Centraal Station where I got a cheese sandwich on raisin croissant type bread, and also spontaneously decided to try a bag of Dutch liquorish.  Well that was a big surprise, because it actually tastes salty, in a strange way, imagine saltwater taffy but less sweet and more licorice.  Just plain weird, I don't know if I like it, but I can't stop eating them. 

After my bizarre lunch, I took the tram out to IJBurg, another artificially constructed island with entirely contemporary architecture - housing/residential mostly, but also schools, and offices primarily.  Remember what I said about being wary of children?  Well, it seemed like IJBurg was infested with them.  I suppose I was visiting right as school was being released, since I saw more kids on bikes than anything else.  And let me reiterate, as dangerous as adults are on bikes, that level approximately quadruples when the biker is a child.  I witnessed no less than three full-on bike accidents involving small children.  I'm talking 5 - 9 year olds.  And there were no other adults in sight!  Most of these accidents did not happen right in front of me, otherwise I'd feel the need to help, but even still, I'd probably scare the poor crying thing with my lack of language.  Ugh.  I guess that's just the Dutch way, though, no handholding, just learn by experience.  

The only thing IJBurglaand had more of than children was cats.  They were everywhere.  I'm assuming they had owners because they were pretty nice looking.  It reminded me of Borneo Sporenburg and KNSM.  However, IJBurglaand has a much more metropolis feel in the center than Borneo.  In terms of architecture, however, there is such a high density of good works within such a small area.  That's the Dutch mentality, though - maximize with sensibility.  It's almost unreal.  Anyway, I wandered the whole island and was beyond impressed.  Well, tomorrow is my last full day here, and I have plans to fill it up!