The Savage Traveler: May 2014

Tulip Time Canal Cruise Final Entry

Mon. Apr. 15: This would be our last day in Amsterdam and we had a lot to pack in! Unfortunately, it was also the worst weather we had seen--very windy, cloudy with occasional showers, and temperatures that struggled to reach 50 degrees. After meeting and chatting with our hostess, Moniek, and Otto for a few minutes we headed out into a brisk north wind to go to the Van Gogh museum. Unfortunately, it had a 35-40 minute wait in line so we decided to try later and instead went on to the Anne Frank House. The line was even longer there and we had the first of our brief but heavy downpours with small pieces of hail mixed in. We biked on to the Amsterdam Museum that we had seen but passed on the day before and got out of the rain and cold there. It turned out to be a really wonderful explanation of the history of the city that started where the Amstel River emptied into the Ziederzee in the year 1000. The Amstel Dam was soon put across the river, which evolved to Amsterdam, and the city was slowly built with buildings standing on piles driven down 20 meters through the muck until they stood on the sand layer below. Concentric canals were built to accommodate the growing city and, though many have been paved over, there are still over 100 canals and 1000 bridges remaining. At this museum they had small kiosks on which we could lay our brochures and that would trigger a short video in English (or whatever language ones brochure bar code indicated) to explain the history. It was a really great way to learn the history of the city.

Heineken Delivery the old-fashioned way!

Marv as a Dutch nobleman

We had coffee, a muffin (wrapped in plastic--the first disappointing food we've had), and the bread and cheese we had brought from the B&B at the museum cafe before braving the elements again. Our final Rick Steves tour was of the Joordan District. It took us back to the Anne Frank House, where the line was as long as or longer than it had been in the morning. Since our experience at the Resistance Museum had been so fulfilling we reluctantly gave up on the idea of seeing the house on this trip. The Joordan neighborhood is so quiet and so trendy that there are no Canal Houseboats allowed. Near the end we stopped at Cafe Sonneveld to have (more) coffee and Dutch Apple Pie and try to warm up before more biking.

Rick Steve's takes one to such interesting, little known places--
like this discreet entrance to a public courtyard enclosed by canal houses

Coffee and Dutch Apple Pie at Cafe Sonneveld

Street scene from Marv's bike

The line at the Van Gogh Museum was as long or longer but we had been told by many people that it was a must see and so we joined the long queue to get in. Again we were told that the wait was long because so many people were inside, so the line would surge forward in small groups and then we would stand and wait some more. We both listened to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on our iPods to pass the time and it took a full hour, sometimes in quick pouring rain/hail, to get inside. Since we had spent no money on museums yet (we figured the passes had saved us 49 Euros each) we sprang for the audiotour of the museum. We had just exactly enough time to do the two floors of exhibits on Van Gogh before the museum closed at 6:00, which was a huge relief after our long wait, but we were sorry not to have seen any of the upper two floors with a special exhibition. Outside the temperature was even colder but we had no more rain on our way back to the B&B. It had been another tiring day so we ate our leftovers from Bird for dinner and finished the bottle of wine they had furnished before we began to pack-up for the trip home.

Dramatic skies even as the sun shone briefly as we waited to get into the Museum

Rear view of the Van Gogh Museum

The Potato Eaters, an early painting by Van Gogh

The Sower, one of several sowers by Vincent Van Gogh

Bedroom at Arles, by Vincent Van Gogh

Boats at Saintes Maries, by Vincent Van Gogh

The next morning we had coffee with Moniek and Otto before settling up our bill. They gave us a package of the wonderful caramel-filled Dutch cookies we had been enjoying all week and sent a package for Howard and Kathy. They called a car service that took us to the airport where we boarded our plane without incidence and took the long flight back. We were welcomed back to Michigan by a couple of inches of snow and flurries in the air. The Michigan Flyer brought us to the Mariott in downtown East Lansing, where Jan Bernsten was waiting to drive us home, where we arrived about 7:00pm (1:00am to our bodies!). It had been a fabulous trip and it made me really look forward to our next River Cruise, in June 2015, a “Journey to the Black Sea” with Ross and Pat Mack. The Savage Traveler’s next trip will be to Nicaragua in June 2014 to build water purification systems with a group from Edgewood United Church, UCC. Come back then to read all about it!

Peggy & Marv at the table upstairs at Moniek and Otto's

Otto and Moniek

Leaving Amsterdam

Tulip Time River Cruise Day 9

Sun. Apr. 13: We got on our way bright and early in order to pack in as much as possible. Getting ourselves down to Dam Square was our first order of business in order to do the first of our Rick Steves walking tours. This was an introduction to Amsterdam, starting at the Central station at the harbor. We walked the bikes with us because we knew we were ending far from the square. Much of the tour was on pedestrian walkways so we couldn't have ridden anyway. It covered part of what we had seen with Johann a week ago Saturday and on the cruise tour last Sunday but took us event farther south.

Dam Square with the Royal Palais and Old Church on two sides

Opposite corner of Dam Square

Walking street right off of Dam Square

Amsterdam Museum, which we didn't visit until the next day

One of the oldest buildings still remaining in Amsterdam, this still has a wooden facade.

At the end we took a circuitous route back to the Dam and took a second walking tour, this time of the Red Light District. On his route we saw the notorious prostitutes in display windows. They were much like we saw in Antwerp except that, because it was morning, the "high rent" girls’ windows were still empty and only the older, heavier, cheaper women were on display. Near the end of this tour we came across The Bird, a Thai "snack" restaurant that Otto had recommended highly to us. So we stopped for spring rolls, chicken with cashews (Peggy), and sweet and sour pork (Marv). We each took half in containers to finish another time.

Children preparing for a Palm Sunday processional outside the Protestant
Church in the same Beggery we visited the Sunday before

Tram running through the Red Light District

Canal scenes in the Red Light District.
No photographs allowed of the Prostitutes!

Back on the bikes we made our way east to the World War II Resistance Museum. It is very well done and tells all about the Dutch experience from May, 1940 when the Germans occupied The Netherlands, until 1945 when the Allies liberated, first the south and then the rest of the country. We had individual iPods to swipe at about 30 displays giving us the story in English while we watched videos, looked at display boxes, and perused photos and diaries telling ordinary people's experiences. It was extremely moving. From the museum we made our way south to the B&B along canals and pathways. Amsterdam is made for bikes and we were grateful to have the use of them from the B&B. The three days would have cost us about 84Euros as far as I can tell, cutting some more off of our apartment cost. All of Amsterdam is in bloom, with the magnolias just finishing, cherries in full bloom, and rhododendrons and green leaves just beginning. Fat wisteria vines are heavy with purple blossoms, daffodils are finished, and the tulips are, of course, everywhere. Although the air temperatures were cool and there was a slight breeze, the sun made it very pleasant to ride along and feel like a native--with one exception: I only passed one or two people the entire time we biked and was continually passed by the fit and healthy natives. We learned that the Dutch are the tallest people in the world and they are predominantly tall, fit and handsome. They are also for the most part gracious and speak perfect English. Even the dogs, of which there were many, are well-behaved and we heard hardly any barking. The traffic is heavy but there is no honking like one hears in Paris and Rome and the numbers of bikes far outweigh cars, partly because both parking and petrol are prohibitively expensive. By the time we got back to the B&B we were pretty worn out so we enjoyed cheese, bread, sausage and fruit for dinner before relaxing and reading.

Outside the Resistance Museum

Tulip Time River Cruise Day 7 & 8

Fri. Apr. 11: What can one say about the magnificent Keukenhof Gardens?!?! What began as a small "Kitchen Plot" to entertain a randy princess who had married 5 times before her brother told her to knock it off and find something else to do, is now an 80 acre area covered with hyacinths, daffodils, blooming trees, fritillaries and, mostly, tulips of every color and type. About 100 growers in the area donate over a million bulbs ever year to plant here. The garden is open for just 8 weeks every spring and then all the bulbs are torn up and destroyed. Even the grass is replanted every year. Our guide told us that last year by this week there were no flowers and the grass was brown because of their harsh late winter. Just last week she visited in rain and hail. But this day was absolutely magnificent. The clouds burned off to reveal a perfectly blue sky and temperatures in the low 60s. We had a short orientation tour and then we had the rest of our time to wander and enjoy the orchid pavilion, the windmill, other pavilions, a maze, and acres and acres of beds. Surrounding the whole area are fields of tulips and hyacinths so we got to see the brilliant stripes of color as we approached and again as we left. Our bus returned around noon but we had the option to stay until 2:15 and take the late bus back, which we did. All four of us had brought cheese rolls with sliced cheese and some fruit so we did fine with missing lunch. The way we have eaten all week we could probably stand to miss many meals! We walked our feet off and returned to the bus entrance in time to enjoy a cold beer before climbing back on the bus to return to the ship in Amsterdam. Then it was time to begin packing and preparing for disembarkation on Saturday.

All of the above are fields around the formal garden

Daffodils, frittilaries, and varieties of tulips along the stream

Peggy beside a vibrant tulip bed in the Garden

The beds within the Garden proper go on and on and on

This bed is supposed to be Canal houses beside the canal in Amsterdam

Sadly, this shows them mowing down the flowers so that the bulbs will receive all the solar energy

Sat. Apr. 12: We could afford to take our time in the morning because we didn't have to have our bags in the hallway until 9:00. Poor Kris and Heidi had to be up and off the ship by 7:30 so it was an early morning for them. We had said our good-byes the night before so, after closing the bags, we got down to have breakfast around 8:15 and then hung out in the lounge, saying good-bye to some of our new friends, until 10:00. It was a short walk to the Central station to catch the #9 Tram. Following Otto's directions it dropped us about a minute's walk from the B&B Bloom, which Kathy Bossen had recommended to us. Otto was there to greet us and, after dropping our bags in the converted garage-apartment, he gave us coffee and maps and an orientation of what we might want to do. The apartment has a small living space with a kitchen and seating area and bathroom with shower downstairs. We climb a ladder up to the loft bed with shelving and a TV. It will be a very comfortable place to stay and they furnished us with bread, cheese, fruit, wine, beer, sausage, cookies, and chocolates, along with coffee for the espresso machine. We have use of two bicycles and two Museum passes which helps considerably with the cost of our stay.

Peggy outside B&B Bloom

After freshening up we headed across town to the Museum District about 30 minutes ride away. On our way we stopped by a nearby park to enjoy our lunch of cheese rolls and apples from the boat. We decided to just visit the Rijks Museum and see nearly a thousand years of paintings, sculpture, and other art pieces. The museum has reopened recently after a ten year renovation so we were lucky to be able to visit it and enjoy some of Rembrandt’s, Vermeer’s, and Van Gogh's most famous works. At the end of the afternoon we wandered our way back to the B&B, at one point walking the bikes several blocks through a market area. It was a partly sunny day, breezy and somewhat cool, but we enjoyed it all immensely. After a beer at the B&B we wandered a few blocks around the area to get our bearings and see the shops. Then we walked back to the same nearby park to have dinner at the old manor house restaurant that is the last remaining Estate House in Amsterdam. Otto had said it wasn't too expensive but we spent 65 Euros on two entrees and one dessert with nothing but tap water to drink! Getting used to Amsterdam's idea of "reasonably priced" will be hard and I think we'll start enjoying our big meal at lunch and then snack on cheese, bread and sausage in our room for dinners. Tired from our long day of exercise we relaxed for the evening, reading and writing.