A bit of Amsterdam for a day (by kerouac2)

[Deleted]

My very first trip to Amsterdam was in 1971 as a university student, and I have returned there over the years for what is generally accepted to be "countless" times, but I have to admit that my excursions there have diminished in number over the years for a variety of reasons. I went there this week for a day as I was attracted by the Thalys special -- "20th anniversary, 20 euros." The rail trip is just over 3 hours compared to the 40 minute flight that I took so many times, but it became so annoying to go to the airport and go through security that it took more than 3 hours. Plus, in the old days, you could make excellent duty free purchases if you flew, but all of that disappeared in the EU in the early 90's.

With this special rail fare, I did look to see how much a night or two at a hotel would cost, but it is high season now and my age has placed limits on whether or not I will accept the lowest end hotels (no), so I decided that a day trip was better than nothing.

So after leaving Paris at the crack of dawn, I found myself in Amsterdam at 9:30. It pretty much looked the same as ever from the station, and that dismayed me a bit. I have taken photos of just about everything in the city over the years. Some day I will unearth my old slides, scan them and prove it. But I looked at the cityscape and wondered what on earth I could take pictures of.

My first idea was the statues on buildings. They are so totally different from most of the statues in France.















If the couple from Rosemary's Baby had taken a trip to Amsterdam, they would certainly have stayed in this hotel.

[htmb]

I see they have house elves, too.

[Deleted]

Okay, I had no interest in more pictures of the pointy buildings and the narrow façades, but the canals are irresistable.





The seeming anarchy of the bicycles annoyed me a bit.



Central Amsterdam lacks tree lined streets or green squares, but there is admirable vegetation on private buildings.









This photo exists because the unlocked blue portapotty on the left saved my life or at least my trousers.

[bixaorellana]

Jun 16, 2016 19:36:05 GMT kerouac2 said:

My first idea was the statues on buildings. They are so totally different from most of the statues in France.

and from most of those on the rest of the planet as well! Some of them are quite interesting, and all have a disconcertingly modern look about them, although surely they're from a bunch of different centuries.

Do the humans look the same? I always imagine Amsterdam as a bustling place, but it's eerily deserted in your pictures. I was very happy to see the haarstudio in the last picture. Last night when I showered I found a product for haar in the bathroom that looked intriguing. Since it was in a language I do not speak, I took a chance & put it on what I took to be my haar, which turned out soft and manageable.

[lagatta]

All in all, the Thalys is much faster (not to mention more ecologically-friendly) from city centre than city centre than the plane and the travel to anf from airports.

I am disappointed that you couldn't find a basic but clean hotel or other accommodation. I love going to sleep or waking up very early in a city.

[Deleted]

Amsterdam is so compact that I am at a loss to understand why so many people consider bicycles to be a necessity. I think that everybody owns one, but I'm not sure if they use it.

[bjd]

I see what you mean about the statues -- they look rather lacking in detail. I haven't been to Amsterdam for a few years, but those pictures of bicycles and canals don't seem to change from one decade to the next.

It's a city I quite like, but indeed the hotels are really expensive, so it's never on my books for a place to go for a few days.

[mossie]

Must be at least 10 years since I went to Amsterdam, it still looks much the same.

Haar round here means fog rolling in from the sea.

[tod2]

I've only been once and really liked Amsterdam. We did do a lot in the three days even catching a bus ( or was it a tram?) to another town on the coast.
Kerouac I'm sure you are right about the bike situation....some of those bikes are practically rusted to the rails.

Bixa - are you in a Dutch hotel then? Ha Ha! Seems very unusual to get foreign products in a UK hotel. Maybe you might even bump into a really nice old gentleman - goes by the name of Mossie

[lagatta]

As per the bicycles, most people don't live in the historic centre of Amsterdam; some people commute quite a distance. But there are a lot of abandoned biycles outside railway stations in particular, and nowadays they are tagged and removed if their owners don't fetch them within a given time period. There are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands - many people have an old wreck that is less likely to get stolen, a sportier touring bike, a folder that can travel by train without a fee.

Mossie, just as much fog on the Dutch side of the North Sea.

Fortunately I don't have to stay in a hotel when I'm there. Another thing that is very expensive in Amsterdam is museums - and they never have a free day.

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I sat on a bench at noon waiting for this place to open, and it finally did at about 12:15. I was not the only person to rush there.













The bicycle parking at Amsterdam-Centraal is reputedly the largest in the world with more than 5000 spaces.

[bjd]

So you had some raw herring?

We once spent a week renting a place in Katwijk. There were several food trucks with seafood in front of the beach. The food was good, although I confess I didn't have the raw herring just there, although we tried some maatjes (soused herring according to Wiki) in Antwerp and it was good.

[Deleted]

Having walked around for many hours and with still two hours to go before my train back to Paris, I decided to do the most touristy thing possible -- take a boat ride through the canals. I have done it at least twice in the past and have always enjoyed it. There seemed to be 4 companies operating the rides in the canal in front of Centraal. All of the boats are quite similar since it has to have a pretty specific configuration to go through the various canals, but I found it at bit strange that 3 of the companies were charging 16 euros and one was charging 9 euros. Guess which fare I selected. At least one of the other companies advertised a WC on board, so that might be the reason for the difference, but frankly, these rides last only one hour.

The boats rides start by going out into Amsterdam harbour. Under cloudy skies, the first thing we saw was the Muziekgebouw, the concert hall for contemporary works.



The captain said that these ugly river cruise ships come from cities as far away as Budapest.



The backside addition to Amsterdam-Centraal right on the river is the coach station.





The ship shaped science museum is called NEMO and was designed by Renzo Piano.





It apparently has the misfortune of being the highest polluting building on the waterfront as copper dissolves and sluices off the roof sides.





This impressive ship was built recently as a project for reconditioning troubled people for the job market. It makes a good calling card.

[Deleted]

Jun 17, 2016 15:42:48 GMT bjd said:

So you had some raw herring?

Yes, I always crave raw herring in Amsterdam, but if course it is even better when it is the new herring. What increased the craving this time is the fact that the herring stands are disappearing.

[bjd]

Too bad about the herring stands. Yes, maatjes are the new herring but we had them in a restaurant.

[lagatta]

Yes, they sure like their herring. stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/

Where I stay when I'm in Amsterdam is close to the Dappermarkt, a big street market in the East End, not as touristy as the better-known Albertcuypmarkt. It used to be not touristy at all, and very "ethnic", but now there is a big StayOkay hostel near by. fish

[htmb]

Too bad about the polution from the museum. It looks like a monstrosity. Wonder what it's like inside.

[Deleted]

After cruising in the port, we of course entered the inner canals.















If I had been a first time canal tourist, I would have taken a zillion photos, but that's all I took on this cruise. Back at Centraal, I checked out the coach station.



I also looked at the "far" side of Amsterdam across the port. There are free ferries to go there, but I was running out of time.





As the old train station has been expanded, it is interesting to see how the original steel beams are placed now.



I saw too many hot dog stands in Amsterdam, but this one in front of the station also sells herring. Maybe they all do?



I don't remember exactly, but I think this weathervane is on top of the tourist office, no longer the V.V.V. but now called I AMSTERDAM.





And then I was on platform 15a to Paris.

[lagatta]

My, that was a quick trip. I also took a canal cruise, at the behest of a friend who lives there and says it is a good way to get a feeling for the city. You'll also see hoists in front of many high, narrow houses, and not just on canals. They are also used for furniture moving, as it is practically impossible to get, say, a piano, up those very steep narrow staircases. But the buildings were also warehouses. Even in the more recent times, think of the famous "Anne Frank house", which was Otto Frank's place of business, not where the Frank family lived before they went into hiding. They lived in a strikingly modern area in southern Amsterdam, with architecture similar to the Bauhaus and the first residential "tower block" in the city.

Amsterdam North is definitely worth a trip, but you'd need a longer time there.

By the way, not all chip and hot-dog stands also sell herring. One I remember in Amsterdam East seemed to mostly sell cornets of chips with a wide variety of mayo flavours...

One Dutch thing you have in France now is the HEMA general goods shops...

[Deleted]

I forgot to add this photo, which shows one of the canal garbage boats. More than 15,000 bicycles are removed from the canals every year.

[htmb]

That's an amazing number!

[bixaorellana]

Crushed to hear about the dwindling herring stands, as eating at one (or several) has always been one of my fantasies of what to do in Amsterdam.

Looks as though you enjoyed yourself. Do you wish the trip had been longer?

[lagatta]

Bixa, don't worry about herring stands, I think the ones in public markets will always survive, along with a lot of other fishy things. Both the (marijuana) coffeeshops and the prostitution windows are also in decline. There was simply too much abuse in terms of hard drugs and criminal gangs.

This is the public market I'd go to daily: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dappermarkt though I also went to the more famous Albert Cuyp Markt and the organic stands at Noordermarkt.

[Deleted]

Oh, I'm afraid that the coffee shops and other marijuana stores are on a huge uprise again, at least in Amsterdam. I was really amazed at the increase over my last trip, including all of the places selling cannabis ice cream and sweets. Perhaps it is due to the number of countries where cannabis is now legal, but I really don't know. As for the ladies in the windows, I did not wander through the red light district this time, so I don't know how they are faring.

[Deleted]

I really enjoyed this report.
So many misconceptions of mine were dispelled in both good and negative ways.

I agree about the bikes, and, I never thought I'd ever say this but TOO MANY BIKES!!!

I'm glad you imbibed in some raw herring.One of my favorite seafoods.

I must say that that shot of the Station A to Paris )the first one, is a really classic photo)

Thanks for sharing your day with us Kerouac.
It;s good to see you out of Paris if even for a day.

[lagatta]

That is surprising, given that the "coffeeshops" were really in decline.

It is impossible to have too many bicycles, but they do have a problem with how they are stored and quite a few abandoned bikes.