Amsterdam - Day Four - Viking

Day four in Amsterdam, October 4, 2013, our last day in Amsterdam but the first day of our Viking riverboat cruise. We wanted to make the best of our last day in Amsterdam. After getting up early to practice Taijiquan by the school I got into the Hotel Fita just moments before it started to pour rain. The rain was coming down hard while we ate our breakfast. It seemed that we would be stuck in the hotel until it was time to check out. That was a depressing thought. However, after breakfast the rain suddenly stopped as soon as it started. This gave us an opportunity to go out and take a few more pictures and spend a bit more time walking around the museum area before we checked out of the hotel and headed down to the port to our boat,

I don't know what this building is but I like it so much i had to take this picture and include it in this post

We managed to get a picture of this sculpture before it was mobbed by tourists

See what I mean!

A picture of the music conservatory which is at the opposite end of the field from the Rijks Museum. It was also a lovely building.

One last canal picture before we headed back to the hotel to check out.

We checked out of the hotel by 11:00AM and made our way down to the dock to our Viking boat, the Atla. The Viking brochure told us that the boat would be moored at one of three piers. Fortunately, all three piers were within walking distance on one another. We disembarked from the tram at Central Station which is almost at the harbour. The problem was that we were not quite sure how to get around Central Station to the water. We stopped and asked a couple of men who worked at the station how to get to the piers. One said go all the way around, the other said walk through the station it was faster. We decided to walk through the station because it was the fastest and shortest route.  Once inside the station we realized that to get through the station one should have first purchased a ticket. We took the risk and walked through. No one stopped or questioned us and we were at the dock in just a few minutes. As soon as we crossed the road to the water's edge we say our boat less than 100 meters away. There was a large red pavilion on the dock in front of the gangway to the boat to welcome passengers. 

Once on board, we were relieved of our luggage, checked in and shown to our room, all in less than ten minutes of setting foot on board. We were informed that there would be a lunch was being served from 11:00AM to 3:00PM. Since we had not eaten since breakfast and had exerted not inconsiderable effort getting to ship we thought it would be a nice idea to have some lunch. We made out way up to the lounge where an extensive buffet lunch was being served. As soon as we entered the lounge we were offered champagne which, of course, we accepted. As vegetarians, we are always interested to see what there is for us to eat. We were delightfully surprised. There were at least half a dozen different salads for us to eat and we sampled all of them. 

After lunch, we were informed that there would we a welcome walk around Amsterdam. We were provided with a local English speaking guide who took us around the old area around Amsterdam. When we were first taken to our room we were informed that there were two receivers that were for our use. the receivers were used to tune into the transmitter that our guide was using. In this way, even if the guide was some distance away we could still hear what they were saying, it was a nice system. We used the receivers for the first time on our last day in Amsterdam. Our guide showed us some of the historic sites in the old city and talked about the history and development of Amsterdam. It was all very interesting, especially so after having spent three days in Amsterdam already. At the end of the tour we returned to the boat in time to take part in a lecture given by a local historian.

The speaker, Ilsa,  started her talk with the story about the cat in the cradle. Apparently, at least two different villages claim to be the village where the story came from. IN Holland, dikes were built up from mats of willow that were built up year after year. Workers would dig ditches to direct water away from the swamp. The rivers would flood the reclaimed land every year. The dikes would sink as the rivers rose. These were challenging problems to deal with, Eventually, water boards were established to manage water issues. A Polder is a district with certain water levels. Each Polder had its own chairman, To become a member of the water board you had to drink a liter of water then write a poem. If the poem was good then you would be admitted to the water board.

In the 17th century the water kept rising in Friesland in Holland, the land was wet. Many people left but those who stayed became experts in managing water. Many technical experts in managing water emerged. There are three villages,  one has experts  in dredging., another has specialists in building floating islands, a third has experts in engineering projects to manage water.

Finally, Ilsa turned the discussion to Kinderdyk, our first stop after leaving Amsterdam. The Kinderdyk windmills were designed to pump the water from the canals to a basin to keep the level of the water low in the canals during high tide. When the tide was low the windmills would pump the water back into the canals. In this way the windmills helped to manage the water level in the canals. Kinderdyk was the first area in Holland to have electricity. Eventually, steam pumps replaced the windmills.

Today in Holland, the policy is to have wider and deeper rivers to make the water flow faster. There is also a policy to hold more water in the land. If you take all of the water out of the land then the land starts to sink. Global warming will have a significant affect on Holland in the future as global water levels start to rise. The Dutch government, as are all governments, is dragging its feet in implementing a plan to deal with global warming.

Amsterdam

The first day of our vacation started September 30th. Our flight did not leave until 9:30PM so we thought it would be nice to stop off in Oakville for dinner. My wife had purchased a Wagjag for a Mexican restaurant near Trafalgar Road in Oakville. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed when we got there. Without a fall back plan we decided just to go to the airport and see what we could find there. We were at the airport just after 7:00PM. We checked in and got through security without much problem. I had decided that we should just go to the Maple Leaf lounge. With all the travel that I did to China and Mexico these last few years I earned access to Air Canada's Maple leaf lounge in terminal 1. Since my wife was traveling with me she was admitted as my guest. We had a nice meal from the buffet that is always available. Adding a glass of wine and desert and coffee we felt satisfied. After eating we relaxed in the comfortable chairs in the lounge. Since there was no reason to hurry we stayed in the Maple Leaf Lounge until it was time to board.

Having priority status we were one the first people to get on the plane so we could get ourselves settled before everyone else got on the plane. I know it seems elitist but it is one of the only perks that I got for spending all the time that I did away from home and living in hotels in China and Mexico.We took the 9:30PM flight from Toronto to Frankfurt and then on to Amsterdam. We arrived in Amsterdam at 3:00PM( which would have been 9:00AM) on October 1st. We lost six hours by crossing time zones. After getting off the plane, collecting our luggage from baggage claim We took the number 197 bus from the airport to the museum district where our hotel was located, it was four o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at the hotel. We checked in at the hotel, dropped our baggage off in our small but comfortable room then we went for dinner. Not knowing the area we did not want to wander too far from the hotel. The hotel keeper told us that there were places to eat around the museum area so we walked up the street to the major intersection and past the music conservatory we found a Indonesian restaurant named Djanoko.

We decided to have the special that was posted outside the restaurant. It was a good meal, tasty and satisfying.

The Dutch have a great passion for Indonesian food which can be traced back to the period when Holland was a major trading power on the four seas especially in Asia and in particular Indonesia. . After dinner we stopped  at Renso's Delicatessen and bought some Sfogliatelle (Italian Lobster Claws) a pastry that we ate when we were in Italy a few years ago. we took them back to our hotel room where we ate four of the pastries with Nesspresso, there was a machine in our room. Also, on the way back to the hotel we saw a sign for a supermarket that was underground at the Museum square. We made a point to visit the supermarket the next day. After having our coffee and pastry we decided that that was enough for our first in Amsterdam.

WHAT WE DID ON OUR VACATION : AMSTERDAM

I just returned from an European vacation. My wife and I took a Mediterranean cruise with a few extra days added at the beginning and end of the cruise to make it a twelve day vacation. It was great! We flew from Toronto to Amsterdam on KLM, KLM. It was the first time that we flew with this particular airline. We gave them top marks for service, food and comfort during the flight. We would recommend KLM to anyone for comfort and ease of travel. We left Toronto at 11:00PM and arrived in Amsterdam at 2:00PM the next day. It was a seven hour flight but it did not seem that long.

It was also the first time that we had been to Amsterdam. As we descended to the runway I had a good view of the canals that had been created over the centuries that provide transportation throughout the city. From the air, Amsterdam looked to be very neat and well organized. The woman who sat beside us during the flight told us that she was going to meet up with a group of people and take a ten day bicycle trip through Holland, Holland Bike Tours.

The airport in Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport,  gave me the same impression as Amsterdam from the air. the airport was clean and organized and so very interesting. We arrived in the middle of the tulip festival, Amsterdam Tulip Festival
so everything had to do with tulips. I had to take a few pictures of the colorful tulip displays in some of the shops.

 Since I am always looking for things made out of wood I was particularly interested in the wooden tulips in the picture above. They are just as beautiful as the real tulips. From a distance it is difficult to tell the real tulips apart from the wooden ones.

 There were many many shops that were selling tulip bulbs, cut tulips and potted tulips. There was every color and variety that you could think of. It was very colorful. I am glad that we arrived in Amsterdam when we did. Perhaps another time we can take in the tulips festival.

we would have liked to have left the airport for a while and explored the city. It would have been really interesting to visit Rembrandt House that has an extensive collection of works by Rembrandt, Rembrandt House. Unfortunately, we only had a few hours lay over in Amsterdam which did not allow us to leave the airport. We will have to plan for another trip that will include a few days stay in Amsterdam, Amsterdam Tourism.

Amsterdam was only our transfer point this time. Our destination was Barcelona. That will be the topic of my next post.