European Vacation... Part 1
Amsterdam is an amazing city with it's Canals, historic buildings, museums and boats, made more fascinating by it's people, unique cafe's and it's red light district.
September 20th
NETHERLANDS
We arrive at Schipol, and quickly transition to the train which will take us to the main station in Amsterdam. Our hotel is just a short walk from the train station, and after settling in to the historic hotel, we set out...
There is 1 Million bikes in Amsterdam, and over 3 million bikes are stolen every year. Stations allow you to rent a bike, from a vending machine, and return it to any other station in the city. It was more difficult to buy a pop than it was to get a bike... apparently theft is still easier, or cheaper.
Being a city that has been reclaimed from the sea, the canals are one of the most unique attributes, they run in almost every direction, and become a very common mode of transportation.
Combine those canals with historic old buildings, and you have a very unique style in Amsterdam. The buildings are all crammed close together, and where there was an alley/lane... stuff another one in. Due to settling over time, and the cram-it-in style, you get very unique matchbox style city blocks.
Wander past the unique floating boat-homes, the variations of boat-cars, the SMART cars, the unique areas, buildings, restaurants and "coffee shops", you think you've seen it all... Until a boat goes by with a full band playing music as they cruise around the canals.
On our way to the Van Gogh Museum we spot a group of Dutch police on horses, cool?... not quite, We find ourselves in the midst of a massive protest, apparently the citizens of Amsterdam aren't so happy, it seems our Canadian NDP and Liberal parties are just as popular as the political parties in Holland. As interesting as it was to try and translate their signs, we decided to get away from any possible trouble.
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering the Van Gogh museum, where we saw "Art", everything from his famous Sunflowers painting, and the self-portrait where his ear is gone, to some "modern-art" of a naked guy taking a dump... sometimes I don't get art.
We checked out the Heineken Brewery, and spent some reflective time at the Anne Frank Huis. Anne Frank Huis has been carefully preserved to show where she and her family hid for 2 years from the Nazi's. Aside from the sounds of some video displays showing the history of the war and the family, it is silent.
After a meal, we wander the Red Light district of Amsterdam, an interesting idea to control the profession.
Windows of "ladies" lit up by red bulbs, down a series of streets, complete with a large penis fountain,
the Cannabis/Hemp Museum, and a series of connecting streets full of seedy shops and seedy people.
We didn't spend too much time there, and certainly didn't spend any money.
September 21st
Outside of Amsterdam is even more fascinating dutch history... and jumping the train was our plan of attack, the local dutch trains were not the same quality level as we had experienced so far, they may have been the same trains used during the war... wooden seats similar to an old street car.
Our first stop was the quaint little town of Zaandijk... maybe the best smelling town we've ever been too, with the aroma of chocolate in the air, from their Cocoa factory... it seemed like a great choice. From Zaandijk, it is a 5 minute walk to the historic windmills on the water in Zaans Schance, a working museum that shows the many uses of windmills, including cheese, paint, and Mustard production.
After some quality time in Zaans Schanse we trained our way to the quaint town of Delft. Delft is most famous as the source for the White and Blue pottery seen in every little old ladies collection. We had a pannakoek on a floating restaurant in one of the canals, and bought some old lady souvenirs.
After a day of touring historic dutch locales, we made our way back to Amsterdam for our final night.
An amazing dinner of a variety of dutch appetizers, and a last stop in a coffee shop,
for a "cup of coffee", and to use the internet and send some e-mails to friends.
"High, it's me... you'll never guess where we are!"
Apparently Vancouver/BC is well known in these coffee shops for some reason.
BELGIUM
The next morning we took the train into Belgium, through Antwerp to the historic 13th century town of Brugge. The train to Belgium was the polar opposite of the trains we rode the day before.
Probably our favourite City in all of Europe, Brugge is an old walled city, with Canals, unique architecture, and a quaint mix of shops, restaurants and people, disturbed only by cars or trucks for business purposes.
Just when you think a town can't get any better, you meet a little old lady who makes amazing lace by hand, and then walk to the outer wall of the city and watch the drawbridge go up and down, the drawbridges provide the only way in to the town, which is surrounded by a moat.
The outer rim of the moat is speckled with historic windmills and scenic walkways, the combination of history, scenery and quaintness make this a very hard place to leave.
September 23rd
Having to move on, we spent the day in Brussels, before heading to Cologne (Köln). Everybody tells us how wonderful Brussels is... for reasons I'll explain, I hated Brussels.
We got off the train, and found ourselves in Brussels' amazing historic grand square, worthy of a picture...
From the perfect vantage point I took a picture, atop a set of marble stairs looking out into the square,
I took this shot, and turned to head down the stairs, it was the last picture taken on my new digital camera.
Rain and Marble do not mix,
I think this sign is a perfect example of the result...
I maintained perfect composure while bouncing down stair after stair, keeping my camera in the air, until I came to a stop at the bottom of the wet stairway and watched in slo-mo as my camera broke. Apparently I had all kinds of bangs and bruises, that I would start to feel later that day, but breaking a digital camera bought especially for this trip, was all that mattered at that time.
The next couple of hours was spent wandering the city trying to find somewhere that might be able to fix it, until the realization that my new camera was going to be a suitcase filler, and had to be replaced. Eventually we found a small Olympus 35mm "film-based" camera with a good zoom, and could start our vacation again... but not until we tried a local treat... Belgium Waffles.
We selected Chocolate and Bananas on our Belgium Waffles, who knew heaven would be so easy to find. For a little while I forgot about my camera, or my bruises and sore back.
We made our way back to the scene-of-the-crime, and finished getting the square onto film.
After hunting high and low for the famous Mannekin Pis, we found the famous little peeing boy. I'm really not sure how a tiny 12 inch statue became as famous as it did, including mini-clothing stores, donated items for the statue and an assortment of gift shops.
After a long day of nursing bruises, and buying a new camera, we got back on the train and left for Germany.