Amsterdam, NL

Amsterdam, NL

OK, when you say Amsterdam to me the following things pop into my head: Red Light District, Anne Frank House, Rijks Museum, Grachten (Canals), Marijuana, very open minded society, Old Dutch Masters (artists), bicycles, no parking and house boats.

The Rijks Museum In The Back Ground 

What is on your mind when you think Amsterdam?

Amsterdam is a huge city, spread out, flat, with water everywhere and near impossible to see and explore in just a few days. We gave ourselves 2 days in Amsterdam, so you can imagine we know nothing of the real Amsterdam, but that was OK, too. We just wanted a quick look, wanted to see if we wanted to come back and explore it in depth. But who am I kidding, to just visit the Rijks Museum would take ages, it is jam packed with history, jam packed with art and facts.

Typical Dutch Housing 

House Boats Blend Right In 

Some House Boats Are Very Fancy

We took the public bus from the hotel into Amsterdam’s city center and then walked or took the trolley everywhere. There is not enough parking in downtown Amsterdam and if there is, it just is not worth it to get lost in the one way roads. Take the public transport. The first thing on our agenda was to take the canal sight-seeing trip via boat. Sure, it is a tourist thing to do, but it is similar to the hop-on/ hop-off bus trips one can take in other cities, it gives you an overview, a quick assessment of what you want to see and about where it is. Since Amsterdam is full of Grachten, the artificially constructed canals, taking a boat is a logical thing to do. 

It was interesting to see the different architectural styles. The brides spanning the water are low, just high enough to let loaded barges pass. On the sides of those canals are barges or boats tied up (moored) that are used as housing. Yes, people really live in those boats. Some even had a parking spot arranged on them so the owners could park their car. Some boathouses had privacy screens, trees planted for a green effect or other quirky ways to make life comfortable for the inhabitants. It seems anything goes in Amsterdam; there is very little criticism when it comes to living your own lifestyle. Yet there are strict rules. Only so many boats are allowed throughout the city and if you like to live like a seafarer you can buy one of those boats. They are part of the local real estate market and not cheap. There is fun in Amsterdam, but living is not a free-for-all and rules do apply.

They Even Have A Museum Of Prostitution In The Red Light District

One of the rules is the regulation of the Sex Trade, very liberal, yet very strict, too. Each of the ‘workers’ undergoes a health check once a week. It is mandatory. While I saw ladies advertise themselves in a shopping window, in very revealing clothing, the actual act is performed in a private space behind closed doors. I was told there are 290 working girls in the district. 

Did Carol and I visit the red light district?  Of course we did! It is part of exploring what is offered. Did we buy anything? No! We only window shopped!

 Phobias seem to not be part of the Dutch life. Religion is up to each individual and you can have your own opinion about anything.

Carol wanted to see the Anne Frank house, I had seen it a few times but I went along and waited with Carol in line. We waited 90 minutes in line to buy an entrance ticket, standing in the rain. I did not go inside for the tour; I waited in the Cafeteria for Carol to finish her visit.  It is a depressing experience, really, and I did not want to be reminded (again) of how terrible the Jewish experiences were during Hitler’s time. Carol’s comments are:

A Very Long Line For The Anne Frank House Visit 

It was a very moving experience to walk first through the downstairs factory, then through a door hidden behind a bookcase and up a flight of narrow, steep stairs to the upstairs loft which held eight people for two years. There was only one toilet which could only be flushed at night. During the day when the factory workers were working directly beneath them, the hidden Jewish people had to be very quiet and could only speak in whispers. Food was brought to them at night by a friend who worked downstairs. 

After two years in hiding, all eight were discovered and sent to a concentration camp. Only the father survived the camp. Anne died a month before liberation after being told erroneously that her sister had died. After the war, Anne’s diary was found and made public by her father so that her story should not be lost.

Although the house was very crowded with tourists, no one spoke. We were not allowed to take pictures because that could detract from the stirring experience of imaging what it must have been like for Anne and her family. I also could not speak for some time after this visit. My life has been untouched by the horrors before, during and after WWII, but walking through this house, seeing the pictures and reading the history, reminded me again how cruel people can be towards one another. When will it end I wonder?

We mostly walked through Amsterdam. Never mind the rain, we managed OK. Daily life consumes most people and they don’t even pay attention to tourists in Amsterdam. Tourism for the Dutch is part of their daily life. Almost everybody speaks English, young and old alike. I could read and understand most of their signs but speaking Dutch takes some practice. I would need a few months to get a hang of it.

Cannabis Shop, Buy As Much As You Like. 

While walking through some streets, the sweet smell of marijuana wafted past us. Cannabis is legal in Amsterdam. The Dutch have shops throughout the city that sell different varieties of ‘weed’ and also all the paraphernalia one associates with smoking this stuff. I went into one of those stores but had no clue what was what. It seems to be for the connoisseur. I don’t fit that image.

We took the wrong bus back to our hotel on the first day and had to walk quite a bit at the end of the bus ride. That happens to the best of us. Even though I asked if this was the right bus, we were on the wrong bus. Luckily we were close enough to be able to walk back to our hotel.

View Along a Grachten 

On the 2^nd day visiting the city, we concentrated mostly on the Rijks Museum. As mentioned, it is a huge place. It houses most of the paintings by the Old Dutch Masters. Any art lover can name quite a few of the pictures by just looking at them. There are some ‘modern’ painters, too, but mostly I found the Old Masters to be my focus. Van Gogh also has his own museum but we could not see everything there is to see in Amsterdam. The Rijks Museum is just too large for a quick visit. The themes for each room or section covered the Netherlands overseas, the Amsterdam period, the Haarlem Period, the Enlightenment, various Dutch Kings and other sections such as Goya, History, Prints, Japanese Officials, Meissen, Flemish Painters, etc. etc. All of it was a bit overwhelming and there were lots of people visiting the Museum. Our feet were sore that day and our minds filled to the brim. We took in so much that I can only mention a few paintings here: The famous Night Watch painting by Rembrandt, the Jewish Bride also be Rembrandt, Vermeer’s Milkmaid and The Little Street; the Museum is loaded with famous art pieces. Amazingly, we were allowed to take pictures in the Museum. Here are a few of them.

Entrance to the Rijks Museum 

Rembrandt Self Portrait 

The Jewish Bride (Rembrandt)
 

Wardens of the Amsterdam Drapers (Rembrandt)

Night Watch (Rembrandt)

Dutch Merchant Ship Model 

Battle of Waterloo (Jan Willem Pieneman)

Still Life (van Gogh)

Vincent van Gogh Self Portrait 

We had an overview, now Carol can for sure, say she has been to Holland, she has seen a lot. Yet I thought of showing her one more thing but for that we had to drive even further north. Read the next post.

Edam, NL

Edam, NL

Say Cheese! 

It is important, come on, say “Cheese”!  

So Many Cheeses, Which To Choose?

Well, it may not be important to you, but visit the town of Edam and you are in the epicenter of one of the most famous cheeses in the world. They even named a cheese after this town. I had to find a cheese factory in Edam to buy the local cheese. And I bought lots of it. We have a car, so I can pack stuff now. I love this cheese. My best meal would be a loaf of fresh French bread, some cheese (any kind) and a bottle of wine. Those are happy thoughts. Ever since I was a kid, growing up right next to the Dutch border, fresh Dutch Cheese was a treat for me. My mom used to buy it on occasion and ‘fresh cheese’ on a small roll (kind of like a French bread) even then was the best treat. 

Naturally we wanted to visit Amsterdam while being in the Netherlands but I thought staying in or near Edam would be better. The town is only about an hour North of Amsterdam, so it suited us fine to stay near to it. We chose the vacation resort in Volendam, a planned holiday resort that offered great prices in the low season. And like I said, we could take the local bus, right in front of the hotel, Hotel Marinapark, into the center of Amsterdam. Carol and I did some local exploring via car and got perfectly lost. We covered local streets in and around Volendam, drove through subdivisions, saw how people lived, moved with the traffic and enjoyed not knowing where we really were. After a while I had to set the GPS and this gizmo brought us back to our hotel without trouble. We did not have to know the roads; it was much more fun making a left, right or whatever to just follow our noses. Yes, we had to make U-turns a couple of times but it was all part of exploring the ‘real’ Holland, too. After securing my cheese and having settled in to our hotel we were set to now go and visit Amsterdam.

Delft, Holland, NL

Delft, NL

Best Personal Transport, All Over Holland 

We found an OK hotel for Delft. Right on a canal, like most places here in the old city. If not for modern vehicles, you could make believe you lived in the 17^th Century. The houses look so Dutch, so typical of the old era. The houses are all tall and narrow, with a beam sticking out way on top so that heavy items could be lifted through the upper windows. The inside stairs are too narrow and way too steep to move a heavy piece of furniture. The Dutch are very practical people. All installations make real sense and Holland surely has their own style of living. Even today, Holland is a very liberal, livable country. The country is clean, organized and all the people I met are well fed and seem very happy. They are proud to be Dutch, or Netherlanders, or Hollanders. I am not sure what they prefer to be called, but it does not matter, you know what I mean.

Blue Delft Patterns Galore 

While we walked the old town a bit yesterday and visited the churches, looked at the unique houses and got a feeling for the old Holland, today we wanted to see the ‘famous’ Delft Porcelain factory. There used to be many like it in Delft but today, there are just a few, maybe even just one that still makes the famous blue colored tiles. The clay certainly is unique, it turns pure white after it is fired in a kiln and the blue tone of the paint, again, is something Delft is known for.

We also wanted to see the original spot where Vermeer painted, but I forgot about the great fire in 1654 (Delft Thunderclap) that almost totally burned Delft down. Vermeer’s studio was one of the many casualties. Most of his paintings were lost in this fire and he never recovered from the loss. His pictures today are so rare because of this fire but he did have a wonderful way of painting, especially domestic scenes. I learned that if there was a hand painted in a portrait, it would cost more; two hands even more again. At a time when there was no camera, no way to take a picture of a person, no way to leave a visual memory, portrait painting was a lucrative business. One had to be good artist to get referrals, clients and work. 

Bridges Just Tall Enough for Barges to Pass

Vermeer had a knack for bringing out the good features of the person he painted. He gave even a bit of mystery to the faces of his customers. His paintings were popular but he was a peculiar man too. He did not paint too much. His wife, after his death was left with debt. Read a book about him, he was one of the great artists the Dutch had; the book we read gave us a good insight into his personality. Oh I know it was fiction but then, every biography, even self-written is kind of a lie. To know about what I mean read Goethe’s ‘Die Leiden des Jungen Werther’. Yes, they did translate that into English. It is a good read and so true!

Canals (Grachten) Everywhere 

The Delft tile and porcelain factory has been in operation since 1653. Today, the product is called Royal Delft and the amount of art, decoration and items this smallish factory produces is amazing. The original archives go back centuries and this factory has not stood still. While the product today is equal if not better than the old items, the methods have constantly improved and production of the Royal Delft uses the latest technology where it can help. Still, the paint is applied by hand, by artists. In the final steps, the details are painstakingly checked and improved by hand. It is an artistic shop, full of good ideas, of merchandise that is shipped worldwide and as spelled out in the name, it has the blessing of the Royal Dutch Family, the House of Orange. Tourists today play a large part of the business plan, the factory set aside a section for tourists to explore and see how things are made. The visiting tour given has everything one can ask for including a café that serves great snacks and coffee with a fantastic view of the central courtyard.

Blue Delft Tiles Wherever You Look 

An Artist Adding The Patterns By Hand

Cafe (In The Background) Overlooks This Lovely Courtyard

Romantic Canals at Night 

The Dutch are smart business people. The Royal Delft is a good example of how to make money from history, from old ways, from the Dutch heritage. But then not only the factory, but all of Holland is set up and geared to serve their guests, serve their tourists. Delft is just one city of many that love visitors, loves to show off how it used to be. Delft is a great place to visit. Carol and I had a good time and we liked the way Delft preserved its old ways without losing the advantage of today’s latest technology. In front of the old Royal Delft factory is a charging station for electric cars. Talk about being with it!  Go Delft!!

Super Modern Factories

Charging Station for Electric Cars

Driving to Delft, Holland, (NL)

Driving To Delft

We have 2 weeks left before our flight home so decided to see some of Holland. At the airport in Frankfurt, I rented a car and in order to drive it for 2 weeks, without worry of any kind, I took the all-inclusive insurance the Company offered. Yes, I know, I could have saved money but I had a strange feeling that this would be the best way. As a ‘thank you’ the guy behind the counter gave me an upgrade and I drove a brand new Ford Diesel (S-Max?) with all the latest frills. I drive a 2012 Prius at home, but this Ford car was amazing. It shut off the idle while at a red light, had lights that went from high-beam to low beam and reverse automatically, separate heat controls for driver and passenger (Carol loved that), back up radar, radar for vehicles in the blind spots, wipers that went on and adjusted speed automatically, 2 USB ports, was key-less, etc. etc. The fuel consumption was very low, it drove wonderfully and it is just a shame it is not shipped to the U.S. or Canadian market. I really liked driving this car. It was powerful despite having a diesel engine. Smallish, agile but roomy enough inside, great heated seats too, with 3 levels of heat. 

After we picked up the car, did all the paper work, packed our luggage into the back of the car I just drove a little bit that day to get used to driving it. Our first stop was the town of Limburg an der Lahn, an old German town.The town has nothing to do with the Limburger Cheese, that is a totally separate town in Belgium, same name though.   

And wouldn’t you know it? I was photographed on the way to Limburg. A picture was taken by one of those automatic ticket issuing flashlight machines. The ticket will arrive in the mail any place in the world and the letter will tell you how fast you were going. Your picture, the driver’s picture will be attached, along with the time of day, the route you were on, etc. etc. The set-up is very efficient. I was going 59 KM in a 50 KM Zone and the fine was 15 Euros, to be sent to a Bank account. All is much automated. If I don’t pay, it will go to a higher authority and the fines will increase. Now, remember I received this ‘ticket’ after I was already in Canada. Did I pay it?  Smiles! What do you think?

We stayed overnight in Limburg, walked around the old town, window watched mostly and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. The hotel was so-so, nothing to write home about.

Carol and I decided while in Limburg to visit Delft, in Holland. We both read a book awhile ago called ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring' and the book focuses on JanVermeer, the artist who painted the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. 

Since looking for painters seemed to be a lead-in for our trip to the Netherlands, we now scouted out the Old Masters, artists of old in Holland. This was our goal for the next few days while we got to know some of the Dutch ways. Seeing work by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh and many others was our goal. I love traveling when I have a focus. It makes it much more interesting and exciting to follow clues and discover what is available. We could have picked windmills, but we now had an interesting theme. I did this with music in Germany, food in France, wine in Spain, etc. Pick a subject and then have a great time exploring, for example “Who makes or where can I find the best Margarita?”  It will take you a long time to find that one. You will also need a ‘baseline’, so go to Key West, FL and drink a Margarita at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, and then compare everything else to that. Good luck……..hic……!

On the way to Delft I drove past the town of my birth and visited the public school I attended for 8 years. The school is now closed; it is just too old for the modern age. Built in 1848, it is a relic and the town put the building under ‘historic protection’. Yes, I am that old! 

Overberg Schule (#36), Inrath, My Old Public School

As luck would have it, the new owner of the property (it was auctioned off for the best price) was checking on something and we started to talk. The school building has to be maintained from the outside as a historic landmark but the inside can and will be converted into apartments. Each classroom will become a self-sufficient and independent living -space. I was invited inside to see where, I as a kid, learned my ABCs. Probably the last time anybody will see the old school. From now on, this will be an apartment building. It brought about some nostalgic feelings. When I showed Carol the classroom where I spent my time when younger, she could not believe the simplicity of it. We had the 5^th and 6^th Grade squeezed into one room, a total of 97 kids in one class. So when you were in the 5^th Grade and then moved up to the 6^th grade you were still in the same class room, you only received a bunch of new kids that moved up from grade 4. No, we did not move about the school, our one teacher was all we had. He was the art teacher, science teacher, math teacher, etc. He was the ‘everything’ teacher. And he ruled with an iron fist. How could he not, with 97 boys in one room. It sure brought back memories.

Grachten in Delft 

The drive toward Delft was uneventful, but if one does not know the area, like Carol did not know, then Holland becomes a strange place to visit. It is flat like a table top. Fields and ditches along the roads. A lot of Holland still needs to be drained daily. The major area of Holland is below sea-level and in years back that is what the windmills did, they pumped the water out of the ground and guided the water into canals. Those canals then were the highways throughout Holland. It was a very efficient way to move freight, to visit other towns, to make all of the land accessible. Today mechanical pumping stations take care of most of the water, but yes, the water still needs to be pumped out of Holland. The old canals still work but are mostly of historic value, just like the old windmills.

Oude Kirk in Delft 

Delft is packed full of canals. The old houses were built along those canals, warehouses, too. Factories and government buildings, churches, everything was concentrated on or around those canals. The ground, the dry ground was very fertile land and things grow very well with the climate being perfect for northern crops. A lot of grass grows on the flat grounds, so the cows are in heaven. There is no need for fencing, the ditches for water run-off will keep the cattle in place, they naturally shun the deep ditches and stay on their plots. All of Holland is still crisscrossed with drainage ditches, canals and run offs.

Typical of Holland?

Delft is and was a very good town for business. But also for artsy people, since the people who live in Delft could afford to hire artists to enhance their lives.

We booked a hotel downtown, in the old part of town, within walking distance of everything. Delft is not a cheap place to visit. Parking alone costs 30 Euros a day, if you can find a parking spot.

We checked in, had supper someplace but our trip in delft will really start only tomorrow. 

The Good Old Times