N8

N8= N+acht, nacht = Dutch for night

We headed out at ten to seven pm to go to Amsterdam’s most prestigeous museum, the Rijksmuseum which is the Home of Rembrandt’s Nightwatch. bf had never been (I have visited a few times already), and we spent a wonderful 50 minutes or so there, mostly immersed in Dutch 17th century paintings and furniture. There was also a band playing and champagne and snacks to be had.
Our second stop was the Apple foundation with art from the exact opposite end of the spectrum, with films, installations and collages. There was also a poetry slam in the attic (but in Dutch).
Our next stop, after another short cycle, was the FOAM, the Amsterdam museum of photography. By the time we got there, N8 had completely kicked off and there were hundreds of people in the building, enjoying the photo shots (I loved some of the shots in there, others made me think, the next made me laugh, so much to see!...), but the building was too crowded, and it was almost impossible to get to the cocktail bar, which was swamped with pretentious photo student types, wanting to be seen rather than see.
Our next stop was the Hermitage where we enjoyed a short but sweet temporary expo of Nouveau Art and Art Deco objects (from the Moscow Hermitage collection), mostly from the desks and boudoirs of the last 2 czars and czarinas. Fascinating. In the garden, I had intended to eat a bite, but the seats in the big tent were taken by people with white wine glasses in front of them, so we couldn’t sit down to eat. So we vetured on. It was about a quarter past ten when we got to the planetarium at the Artis Zoo, which (as most places) had a long queue in front. My stomach was craving attention, so we took a break and cycled to China Town to eat at an Asian Fusion restaurant. At 11:30 we were back in line for the planetarium and took a 45 minute trip into space and back. Didn’t learn much new stuff (except the name of the sun closest to our own, Proxima), but it was amazing to see a true 3D representation of our (known) universe while laying back for a while in a comfy chair and being shown how insignificant our little rock, no. 3 from the sun Sol, really is.
At half past midnight we were released back onto our own planet and into the last chapter of museum night. We went to the one place close enough to just hop into (2 bike minutes!) and very inviting it was, too: our beloved Hortus (the botanic garden) offered a “Sultan’s Garden” night, with Arabic music, tea and dressed up story tellers who read to groups sitting around small fires throughout the garden, which was lit only by orange candles, left and right of the paths. It was magical. We had two beers each and spent the last half hour on a bench, looking at the shadows of passers-by and the candles on the waterfeatures, slowly floating in the soft and surprisingly warm November night breeze.
There was so much to do and see! Each place we visited that night had offered some sort of interactivity, but we were focussed on visiting more places and getting to know the venues, rather then lingering too long at one.
Exhausted but happy, we arrived back home at two in the morning and can only warmly recommend attenting the Amsterdam N8, or any other city organising such an event to get young people out and appreciate their local temples of art and knowledge.