Photos: Another canal picture, the new music building and hotel, the Skinny Bridge
Photos: The Maritime Museum that taunted Neil, a cheese section in the grocery, Us in front of Hotel VanOnna
Friday, July 16, 2010
Today Pete and Jess took off to rent bicycles and with a map to explore specific areas of the city that are architecturally important and / or interesting. Neil and I on the other hand decided that old knees, bad ankle tendons, and a definite lack of practice riding bicycles would be better off with other modes of transportation. We started out walking around when we decided that a canal boat ride would be great. Off we went in search of tickets. We didn’t have to go too far….just by our favorite Westermarkt square.
We bought a 24 hour hop on, hop off canal boat ticket. This allowed us to ride all of the routes that were available. We started out on the green route by the Westerkerk—the West Church and the Anne Frank Huis (house). This routes which goes over the Prinsengracht (gracht means canal) took us past many of the old homes of the city…right around 1500 buildings of which 1,100 are on the protected historical list. We went past the New Casino and stopped at the Rijksmuseum where the Rembrandt paintings can be seen. From there we back tracked and changed canals because of construction blockages. Some of the locks are quite narrow and take some maneuvering to get the boats through. We saw the Blue Bridge, the Hermitage, the Joods History Museum, and the City Hall & Opera huis. We saw the Zuiderkerk, another of the really old churches in Amsterdam. From there we passed the Montelbaanstoren—a tower. We reached the end of the line at Central Station.
From there we made our way to the Orange Line, which on the brochure looks suspiciously gold. We had to cross a bridge, go around the TIC (tourist information center) and a few more construction site barriers, but we found the dock. We were 30 minutes early. We decided to wait. Tourists are interesting creatures…..they sometimes forget how to queue…forming a line seems totally foreign to them. The UK people seem to be the best at forming queues. Anyway, we were first, but as time progressed the crowd grew. There was one couple who seemed quite intent on being first….quite to the point of pushing people. I watched her get as close to the edge of the dock as she dared—about a foot. When the boat tied up, I just stepped in front of her. She wasn’t happy, wouldn’t let Neil join me, but she didn’t say anything. Of course, it was childish, but it was fun to irritate her.
Back to the orange/gold line….this route took us around the outer ring of the big canals. We started from Stationsplein and made our way under the railroad bridges of Central Station and out into the big harbor called Het Ij (pronounced eye) and saw the new music building, the cruise ship terminal ( of which they are very proud) and a big new 15 or so story hotel…without air conditioning. From there we went past the Maritime Museum (Scheepvaart) which, of course, to Neil’s dismay is closed for renovations until at least 2011. I think this makes 3 or 4 transportation museums which have been closed. Our route took us past one of 8 windmills left in the city proper. At the end of 1800’s there were over 1000 of them. Our boat continued past the Dapper Market, which is like a combination farmer’s, flea, and thieves market….a bit of everything with over 200 stalls. It is one of three such markets in the city. On we continued past the tropical museum, the Tropenmuseum. We went past the University of Amsterdam and across the Amstel River for the second time. The two sides of the Amstel are connected with the skinny bridge which was built in 1934. We went past the Heineken Experience / Museum, which is not really owned by Heineken anymore, nor is beer produced in that building anymore. Figure that one out… We continued our tour stopping at the Rijksmuseum where our boat pilot announced he was taking a twenty minute break and would be back. We could have changed colour lines because three of them stop there, but we just stayed. By the time our pilot came back there was a boat in front of him and one tied next to him. He just nudged his way out, scrapping the other boats as he went. Our tour continued through residential and commercial areas. The really old houses have developed some interesting lines. As was explained the soil is quite soft, so the houses were built using big wooden pilings. Unfortunately, when the water level drops that allows oxygen to reach the wood, which then promotes rotting and then the houses begin to settle. Pete and Jess saw a house that was about 8 to 10 inches from its neighbor at the foundation, but leaned about 18 to 24 inches away from the same neighbor at the top. The houses are built with a lean toward the street and a pulley sticking out from the top to help with moving. The lean was to prevent the huis from being damaged. We saw one house (huis) built on a corner that leaned two ways…strange.
Back to Central Station and the dock where our pilot tied up to another boat. To get out we had to climb from our boat into the next boat and then on to the dock. I didn’t even fall in the water. Lunch was a hot dog from a vendor whose hot dog stand was connected to his motorscooter.
The Blue line was our last canal journey. Again we boarded at Central Station and traveled over some of the same route as before. We did go past NEMO which the new science museum. It is shaped like the bow of a ship and is done in green, or it’s copper that has turned colors. Again we went by the closed Maritime Museum; not really trying to make Neil feel cheated, but there it was again in all its shrouds. We continued through more residential/commercial areas and went past the Artis Zoo. The story is that they used to have no admission during the month of September so that the poor could go to the zoo. However, they put down new rock on the paths at the beginning of the month, and when all the poor came in their wooden shoes; the rock would be ground down to smaller gravel, making it easier and safer for the rich when they paid to visit. We passed the Heritage Museum which is a cooperative museum of the Russian Hermitage, and continued on back to the station.
On our walk back to the hotel we decided to take a walk through the infamous Red Light district. All of the pamphlets we picked up had information about how it was safe for tourists and rules to follow, so being good tourists, we checked it out. Okay, it was quite strange. Women have their own little doorways with curtains. There is actually a door. If they are open for business, they have their curtain open. Standing in their doorways, dressed in provocative clothing, trying to solicit business makes you feel sorry for them. There are women of all ages. It’s hard not to see them. There are also all kinds of porn shops, sex museums and marijuana coffee houses and museums. Marijuana is not illegal in Amsterdam. However, most of the people in the area seem to be foreigners…young males. I couldn’t believe the number of families with young children strolling through the Red Light District. However, my favorite group was the group of Scouts being led through the district. This is also the area of the outdoor urinals. Interesting.
After the Red Light District we did more mundane things. We found two quilt stores..right next door to each other. I quite enjoyed them. Then we checked out a shopping mall in an old building that had been refurbished into the mall and a large grocery store across the street. Then it was back to the hotel to meet Pete and Jess and find out how their bike ride had gone, dinner at an Italian café, and bed.
Steps: 13,163
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