Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
We had a very rough night at sea and neither of us had much sleep. The wind
was roaring, and the sea was so rough things kept bumping around all night.
Some people reported the drawers in their bureau kept sliding
open! This is the smallest ship we have ever sailed, but let's face it
- this ship is huge. I think even a larger ship would have had a rough
time of it last night.
We woke to a rainy Amsterdam. Here is a photo of the new cruise ship
terminal. Speaking of photos... I did not hear from anyone about the quality
of the photos or if the download speed was better since I had compressed the
photos yesterday. I am also compressing the few photos for today, so please
send me a quick note if you can.
Amsterdam Cruise Terminal
We had arranged a morning tour of the city and really enjoyed our guide,
even though she told a really dirty joke (which surprised us as she was
around sixty years old) over the microphone on the tour boat. Or maybe I am
just a prude - with thousands of prostitutes and sex shops in Amsterdam, I
suppose her joke was nothing.
Stormy Amsterdam
We had a tour of the city through the rainy bus windows. Not many photos
today. Believe me that Amsterdam is a gorgeous city with fabulous
architecture and history. People move around on bicycles and trams and
buses. The rain did not seem to stop the bicycles either - DT saw a girl
riding her bicycle, holding up an umbrella, and talking on a cell phone!
After our bus tour, we transferred to a glass-covered boat and rode around
the canals for about an hour. We saw so many fabulous homes along the
canals and learned about life in the city. The entire city is built-up on
pilings. Much like New Orleans, it is a constant job to keep the city from
sinking back into the earth. Citizens use the canals as streets via
small boats and water buses, and they live along the sides of the canals in
decrepit moldy houseboats.
Amsterdam
Again, we skipped the ride back to the ship and walked the few blocks to
the Anne Frank House. After reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" so many times
in my childhood, I was interested to see the actual house. It was exactly as
Anne described and is so well preserved. You actually enter the hidden annex
behind the movable bookcase and walk up steps so steep it is more like
climbing a ladder. The photos and postcards Anne glued and taped to her
bedroom wall are still in place. Also visible are the pencil marks that
indicated how much Anne and her sister, Margot, grew during the hiding
period - carefully charted by their Mother. It is chilling to see her actual
diaries - there were three - and to see the yellow star the Nazi's forced
Jews to wear at all times on their clothing. There were 60,000 Jews living
in Amsterdam before the war and only 9,000 survived.
Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank museum is not only about the past. There are disturbing
reminders of hate and prejudice in our world today throughout the building
and a vivid photo of a lovely little statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam
defaced with graffiti of a swastika. And just a few blocks from the
museum is the Holland Homomonument - three pink triangles offering tribute
to the past, present and future struggles of homosexuals. (During the
war, the Nazi's forced homosexuals to wear pink triangles on their person at
all times.)
After our disturbing visit, we took the street car out to the Vincent Van
Gogh Museum. It is housed in a fabulous facility, but today the museum was
so crowded it was nearly impossible to get close to any of the paintings or
drawings! So sad. We decided to spend less time exploring the exhibit of his
drawings, though fascinating, and concentrate on the masterpieces we had
come to see. Time well spent anyway.
Next, we walked up to the Flower Market (Bloemenmarkt) - this was a fun walk and the shops
were so pretty, but they had so many signs asking "please no photos". Sorry
dear readers! There was a little time for shopping along the market. Though we did not buy, many shops sold brightly-painted wooden shoes and
huge bags filled with tulip bulbs.I did purchase a blue and white tea
towel for our kitchen at home because I am down to my last 100 blue and
white tea towels. We took another streetcar back to the ship, had a
snack (we had not eaten a thing all day - but have reservations in the
on-board Italian restaurant at 7:30) and napped for quite a bit.
As I type this, it is now 6 pm and the Regatta is setting sail.
Amsterdam is a delightful city and her people are very friendly. I was
amused all day at people coming up to DT and speaking English - he must
really look American! Actually, nearly every Dutch person we met today spoke
beautiful English.
Amsterdam, from the ship as we left port
Gypsy camp in Amsterdam
Added later: The Regatta left Amsterdam under grey
skies. Before leaving the canal, we must pass through a lock to send us out
to the sea. We enjoyed this transfer while dining at the Italian
restaurant, Toscana, on board the Regatta. We were seated with a most
interesting couple from Florida, Vivian and Stuart. Vivian's favorite
wine is Santa Margherita, so you can only imagine the camaraderie at dinner.
Of course, I tested the restaurant by ordering Salad Caprese and, since it
was Shabbat, roasted chicken. It was wonderful. We also enjoyed
a fun Czech server, Dagmar. We could only understand about half of what she
said to us, but the half we understood was hilarious.
As the sun set, around 11 pm, we could see lights of distant oil rigs in the
North Sea. We went up to the night club on the ship and enjoyed a very
good pianist who entertained us with his musical and comedy skill...
sometimes combining both. Very fun. We had a walk - well, we had a
swerve. The sea is rough, I was wearing heels and - wine or not -
I just can't walk straight when the ship is rocking and rolling. Thankfully, neither of us feels sick on a tossing ship!