Netherlands: Museums and restaurants reopen in Amsterdam after more than 2 months

M/S Visitors wait outside of Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
C/U Visitor uses spout to wash hands
M/S Visitors wait outside museum
C/U Sunflowers outside of museum
W/S Exterior of Van Gogh Museum
SOT, Emilie Gordenker, General Director of the Van Gogh Museum: "People are looking for a way out of away from their computer screen, towards something that gives them a bit of comfort and transports you a bit from the current crisis, so it's wonderful that we can offer that again."
M/S Gordenker being interview
SOT, Emilie Gordenker, General Director of the Van Gogh Museum: "We were really following the government's guidelines as best as we can. You have to book a ticket online and at the moment we are only letting in 25 people per quarter hour, so 100 people per hour in total. Obviously you have to wash your hands before you come in, you can show your ticket as a scan, so we are doing everything we can to limit the direct interaction. But what we are doing is letting people walk freely through our building. There's no fixed routes, we think that is important, it's a better experience, and we are going to see how this goes, we hopefully can increase the numbers a little bit, but we are starting conservatively."
M/S Museum floor with distance reminder
M/S Visitors look at paintings
M/S Visitors look at paintings
M/S Visitor looks at sunflower painting
M/S Painting with social distancing cues
C/U Social distancing cue on floor
M/S Social distancing cue with people chatting
C/U Social distancing reminder
M/S Visitor sits on bench
M/S Visitor looks at Van Gogh self portrait
W/S Museum lobby
SOT, Arjen Stada, Van Gogh Museum visitor: "It's more regulated and I think we won't have any trouble with stomping on other people because it's going to be a lot quieter than we are used to experience here in Van Gogh Museum."
M/S Street performer
M/S Street performer being decorated
W/S Exterior of Rijksmuseum
M/S Rijksmuseum guidelines at entrance
M/S Line of visitors waiting for entry
M/S Visitors enter glass door
W/S Interior of Rijksmuseum
W/S Boats driving in canal
M/S People sit at cafe near canal
M/U People drinking beer at cafe
M/S Entrance of bar with arrows
M/S People talk across tables
SOT, Kimberly Stada, bartender: "You have to make sure every table is at least one and a half metre apart from each other, so you just have to make sure there is enough room for two people, or even four, and make sure you can do tables of two because everybody can sit with two [people]."
M/S People sitting at outdoor cafe
M/S Man adjusts umbrella
M/S Hand sanitizer dispenser
SOT, Durk van der Veen, tourist: "We made pictures everywhere and so we are here and I am enjoying really the life here with a nice beer, so that's my experience. The first day in normal life."
M/S Group of people chatting over beer
M/S People drinking beer
W/S People sitting at cafe
SCRIPT
Life returned to Amsterdam this Monday, as restaurants, bars, and museums were allowed to open for the first time since mid-March when coronavirus brought most activities to a halt.
All across the city, people were queuing up to claim their place at the slightly reduced capacity of Amsterdam's public spaces.
"People are looking for a way out of away from their computer screen, towards something that gives them a bit of comfort and transports you a bit from the current crisis, so it's wonderful that we can offer that again," said Emilie Gordenker, director of the Van Gogh Museum that was part of the openings.
Tables at restaurants and terraces of bars were set at least one-and-a-half metres apart, and hand sanitizer was a mainstay of all establishments.
"We made pictures everywhere and so we are here and I am enjoying really the life here with a nice beer, so that's my experience. The first day in normal life," said one cheery patron.
Netherlands joins many other countries in Europe emerging from the lockdown, and has under 50,000 total cases of coronavirus.