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 - Day Two

Our second day in Amsterdam started bright and early. I was up at 7:00AM to practice Taijiquan. I tried practicing in our tiny room the night before but it just didn't work, there was not enough room to move properly, I felt like I was in a street fight, not practicing Taijiquan, so I gave up after the second third of the Yang long form. Since the room was too small I had no choice but to go out into the street by our hotel. The Hotel Fita is adjacent to a school so the cross streets are blocked off to automobile traffic although bicycles had free access to both directions. At 7:00AM in the morning the streets were quite, only a few pedestrians and bicyclists passed by and they all ignored me with a studied deliberation that I found to be reassuring. Feeling refreshed and full of energy after half and hour of Taijiquan I headed back to the hotel.

We ate breakfast in the basement of the Hotel Fita. The basement was nicely done, it had a cozy intimate feel. There were fresh croissants and pain au chocolate as well as granola and muesli, as well as fresh fruit. They had a very nice coffee machine that made cappuccino or European black coffee with a nice crema on top. The hotel keeper made us Dutch pancakes which were absolutely delicious.

After breakfast we purchased tickets for the Rijks Museum which was only five minutes from the hotel. We were concerned about standing in a long line for tickets so we bought advanced tickets for a 2 Euro surcharge, it was worth it not to stand in a long line to get into the museum. We arrived at the museum just after it opened at 9:00AM. We walked right in because we had pre-purchased our tickets. The thing was, there was no waiting because there was no long line. We could have saved ourselves a few Euros by buying our tickets at the museum.


We spent the entire day at the Rijks museum. Taking advise from Rick Steve we started on the top floor of the museum and worked out way down that way we would at least have a chance to look at the upper galleries before the crowds caught up with us.

    The museum itself us a magnificent building. It is a testament to the period when Holland was an economically powerful nation. Most of Holland's wealth came from trade and overseas colonies. These two themes are played out over and over again throughout the architecture and art in the Rijks museum.

 This sculpture represents man and the conflict between technology and the natural world.

This aiplane was designed by Frits Koolhoven, a Dutch designer who had a great influence on airplane design in the early 20th century.

The center piece of the second floor of the Rjks museum is Rembrandt's Night watch. It is a truly magnificent painting. You cannot appreciate the scope of the painting until you stand in front of it. I took this picture behind the crowd because there was never a time that there was not a crowd in front of this picture. Just down the hall from the Night Watch there were other great paintings. I spent a lot of time standing in front of some of my favorite paintings by Vermeer.

On the first floor of the museum I visited the library which is a full service research library for the arts. I spent some time there relaxing and looking at a book of beautiful wood sculptures.

There were so many wonderful and beautiful things to see and experience at the Rjks. We could have spent days there but one day was all we could allot for the Rjks. I have to share this picture of a wonderful Guanyin from the Asian pavilion.

This Guanyin was carved in the 12th century in Asia. It is a beautiful example of the incredible craftsmanship of that period.

I cannot do justice to the Rjks museum in this post. The best thing that I can say is that if you find yourself in Amsterdam on business or in transit and you only have one spare day to see the city then you must go to the Rjks museum, you will not regret it.

We regretfully left the museum around 5PM exhausted and dazzled. On the way back to our hotel we stopped at the underground supermarket that was near the Van Gogh museum to pick up salads for our dinner. The store also carried natural juices that were made from organic fruits. The salads and the juice were delicious. In the evening we went out to look around the city. Back at our room we practiced qigong and I went outside by the school to practice Taijiquan. It was a long and exciting and exhausting day.