Amsterdam's red light district

One might not expect to spend Sunday afternoon in Amsterdam's red light district, but that's me. First up was lunch in a Chinese restaurant (so not a typical Sunday roast). The red light district doubles up as Amsterdam's Chinatown (well, compare Soho, so not so unusual). Amsterdam's food, like London's, is highly eclectic and cosmopolitan.

I pottered back into the New Market (now not raining) to take some more photos.

Now I strongly expect I was about the only person in the red-light district desperately seeking an ice-cream as it became an increasingly warm day. Of course I could, at the right price, have had any amount of seedy sex or drugs. Just not an ice-cream. have I found a gap in the market for people after a raspberry sorbet rather than a reefer?

A nice Gaudi-esque bench

 But actually I was in the area primarily to visit the Oude Kerk, essentially the medieval cathedral (or church since this became a protestant a city). And I couldn't do this Sunday morning as by a delicious irony the church closes Sunday morning. This is because it has been deconsecrated. Which is a good thing as it beats the hypocrisy of our cathedrals claiming to be places of worship when in fact the worshippers form a trivial trickle compare to the thousands of tourist who come in to gawp, and are charged a royal admission fee to do so. The Oude Kerk is huge, and has unsurprisingly long ago run out of congregation. So it now seeks out other uses, such as an art exhibition space.

Rather curiously, inside they had laid out little vases of wilted flowers at random on the floors (actually not at random but "placed carefully" because this was part of the art exhibition - see below).. But it was a nice space to wander around, aided by a very good and informative pamphlet with floor plan, so you didn't miss a worthwhile gravestone or statue.

One of the nice things about the reformation was that these gaudy churches were whitewashed over thereby making northern cathedrals brighter than their southern catholic counterparts. But that also means that the details have been sanitised, so there is just a little less to look at close up even though the overall effect is more aesthetically pleasing.
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As I noted, the church is used for art exhibitions, so dotted around there were various odd modern artworks. The "theme" of the exhibition was "Once in Lifetime" "where artists reflect upon our . human condition" which of course means anything you like. Anyway, the best were these

This painting was called "Untitled(Lives were changed...)" Now the whole point of an untitled work is that its untitled - you ruin the effect with a sub-title! But that pretentiousness aside, I rather liked it

Yes, that's me reflected in the chandelier

 The pews are interesting - excellent off beat carvings

 

 Yes, more modern art...