My Trip to Uncle Vincent's Town

 My Trip to Uncle Vincent's Town

  Prof. Ahmed bin Muhemmad Alhussein

1

I visited Amsterdam, the Netherlands, twice, the first time in a day trip that did not exceed ten hours in the month of eight in 2017, and it was quick and nice, and I got attached to it for its history and the antiquity of its buildings, and my friendship with its canals and its residents, led by Uncle Vincent۔

In May 2024, I was in Paris and it occurred to me to visit it again for a longer period, and so it was, traveling between the cities of Europe is easy and good and the means are many, I chose the express train, from Paris to Amsterdam and stopping in Brussels Belgium for a few minutes۔

Everything is beautiful and accurate in the journey, the time, the carriage, the comfortable chair, the carriage attendant, luckily there are no children, the corruption of calm, the road is long, three hours interrupted by sleeping, eating or reading۔۔

The route is varied, especially as it passes some green farms, and the stop in Brussels tempts to get off to go to Bruges, the beautiful city, Venice, Belgium۔۔

2

Upon arrival in the city of Amsterdam, and our destination is the city center or its most important center, the train station “Central Amsterdam”, where all passengers get off at a large station that serves the train, bus, and boat because it is on the sea and even the bicycle, which is the city of bicycles, and it has a small market The station is directly in front of the sea, where you see boats, small bots, and even cruises, a large spacious platform, and behind the station lies the city, with its winding streets, the sound of trams moving like a snake in the streets, and its bell warning pedestrians۔

The tram, bus, car and bicycle are no stranger to the streets, and you have to watch out for them because they are numerous and present on every road ۔

Amsterdam competes as the city of bicycles and canals or Uncle Vincent, as they are the most frequently seen in the city۔

3

After exiting the station, I headed to my hostel, which I chose near the station and Dam Square, where hotels and activities are very close to each other۔

As soon as I arrived, the rain came down, I remembered my friend Caesar talking about the city of the four seasons, I was calling my friend a delicious Caesar salad, and I surrealistically traveled to the Four Seasons Pizza, where I was overcome with hunger after arriving۔

I went out after the rain looking for a nice restaurant for lunch, and I anticipated its return with the hotel umbrella, which is a nice gesture, I wish our hotels put it as well to protect from the sun, my hotel was in the middle of a wide square and behind a group of small twisted streets, a small clean fish restaurant attracted me, I entered looking at the place and the menu, I found a nice man running the kitchen from Iraq, he quickly introduced me to a nice cook from Mansoura, I was promised a respectable lunch, and forbidden talk, and that was the beginning۔

4

My visit is mainly to the famous Uncle Vincent “Van Gogh”, and on this basis I planned the trip, I asked the concierge service to buy a ticket, and after searching, he told me all sold out, there are no tickets, I blamed myself a lot within seconds, why didn't I buy the ticket when I decided to go and visit۔

The concierge man was an expert, he said don't worry, take your day and tomorrow, we will search again and we will find a ticket for you, and indeed tomorrow, he found a time and it was ten o'clock, as it seems that the tickets are released successively, and some may adjust the date for their circumstances, so we find tickets between time and time۔

The next day I got ready early, after a delicious breakfast, I went to the train station, and at the back platform, I bought an open one-day ticket for 24 hours bus or tram, I went to stop 12, I like the idea, you can walk around dozens of times depending on your activity, and the entry and exit is simple and smooth, which helps to use it۔

5

The moment the tram stopped in front of the “Van Gogh Museum” sidewalk, the movement was already high, individuals, groups, photos, paintings, and the unrelenting camera, the area is spacious, planted, clean, and beautiful with Van's famous beauty۔۔

The first thing that occurred to me is how much Van Gogh brought to the economy of this city? Everything in it is there with him, thousands of shops, hundreds of products, the wonder of this man, he occupied the city with a series of paintings, topped by the sunflower painting, everything is yellow, that is Amsterdam۔۔

We stood in a long line in front of the ticket scanner, he scans it through the compact tape or what is called a barcode, and enters you immediately, the museum is very beautiful, organized and tidy, and has a limited number of visitors, you go to the reception to find a map of the building, the most important paintings, and in every corner a guide or guard۔

In fact, my focus was on a number of paintings, I saw them first and then wandered around until I felt the need to rest۔

6

I went to the sunflower roundabout, my guide was the large number of visitors, indeed a large number of them are lingering in front of the roundabout, breathlessly, everyone is examining and photographing, the mobile phone minimizes standing, photographing and walking to others, you know the connoisseur, lover and examiner from the passing visitor or tourist۔

Van painted five paintings of a large yellow bouquet of sunflowers, placed in a flower pot, the first was in 1888 and is the most famous in the museum, then he painted the four after that in different shades of yellow, and the funny thing is that Paul Gauguin's girlfriend In an early reading of the fame of this painting and its artistic and financial value, and what it generated through its seeds of products and ideas, Gauguin was painting from memory, as it is said, so he painted the flowers in bloom, and they do not bloom in December, as the references state۔۔

7

I stood for a long time in front of famous paintings by the pioneer of Impressionist art, including potato eaters, Chinese vase, almond flowers, harvest, water flask, iris flower, tree roots, which is the last painting he painted in 1890, and a group of portraits characterized by the hat, dotty style, red chin, and a small notebook with comments and line drawings۔.

After the long tour, it was time to rest for a while, a nice café serving fresh coffee and some sandwiches, the café and chairs are yellow, and on each table are sunflowers۔

I wandered a little in the spacious lobby, which is full of visitors from all over the world, I chose to enter the library first, it was rich with modern books, in-depth studies and paintings, and it is really nice that the museum appreciates the Arabic language, where I found a copy of a modern book in translation, I was very happy and bought a copy without hesitation, it was for me a prize, the library had a drawing and coloring corner with blank forms that can be colored, it was an opportunity to color one in the presence of the uncle۔۔

8

 I went out of the library to the museum shop, museums are interested in shops where they offer many antiques, photos, libraries, cards and models, and it goes beyond that for some clothes and hats, the shops represent a good source of income, museum visitors are keen to buy some souvenirs, I bought three beautiful cards in the size of the middle۔.

On my way out, I met some groups of school students, the groups were accompanied by art education teachers, I could see the enthusiasm in the eyes of the students, how they will see the paintings after the teachers' explanation, the nearby tram bell urged me to hurry, with a promise to return at the next meeting۔۔