When the sun shines in Amsterdam, it's like God is Dutch. It makes the city feel different, people look different, walk a little less hurriedly, enjoy the moment more.Sitting in a 'Hofje' I have never sat in before (a Hofje is a small coutryard). That's also Amsterdam for me. It's not a huge city, but still after 12 years I find places even close to the centre which are new and involving.
It's just off the alleyway with bookstalls, between two streets in the Nieuwmarkt area. I've walked through that alleyway 50 times. Why did I never see this small square of peace and stillness in the heart of things?
I sit and breathe in the clear air and the almost-silence, even though I am encircled by the city. I feel the warm breeze on my skin. Surrounded by green. Are the plants symmetrical? No, the Red Beech is only on one corner. But the rest of the plants and trees are in all four corners. My knowledge is too limited to name them, but I feel good to be among them.
Green. Sunny. Calming. Intriguing, with a statue of Minerva centring a ring of roses. Why Minerva? Of course, this is part of the university. Minerva is the Goddess of Wisdom in Greek Mythology.
The bench I sit on is wooden, solid. It's been here for years. So many people have sat here – preparing for tests, lectures, presentations. Or just tourists passing through. As I am leaving, a group of Spanish tourists come in with a guide – my timing has been lucky. It would have been a different moment had I arrived with them.
Years ago, I visited Hofje after Hofje with a German friend. She had come to Amsterdam on a mission – visit all the suggested locations in her guidebook. We raced through 10 courtyards in less than an hour. I don't remember even one of those little squares. We just ticked them off her list, never truly experienced them.
But I will remember this one, come here again, and again experience this moment of peace. Next time it might rain, another time it could be just cold, another windy. But this moment of warmth and peace will live again in my Amsterdam memory.
