The Savage Traveler: 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!