What else --TULIPS!!

Certainly Keukenhof is a world away from Amsterdam, though the bus only took about 45 min.  We took the highway through Haarlem to Lisse where an old kitchen garden has become the world’s most famous spring garden.

There are more than 4 million tulip bulbs planted here, and 3 million other bulbs as well.  In addition, there were lovely trees and many rhododendrons, most of which had not come into bloom.  We were fortunate that the spring is about 3 weeks delayed, making the gardens still at their prime.  Many of the late tulips are still coming, so anyone who is planning a trip here before the May 20 closing, will still have a marvellous show.

I have chosen today’s photo to show me behind one of my favourite tulips. If you are interested in seeing the other approximately 150 photos from the Keukenhof, you will need to come to my Netherlands photo evening.  I will send the time info in a few days.

Happy spring to all!

Golden Retrospect

The Dutch are very upfront in their admission that their Golden Age was in the 1700s when their navy ruled the waves; their merchant marine was the most active in bringing the exotic spices, dyes, to Europe; their artists on the forefront of painting, and ceramics; their politicians divided church and state and they began the monumental task of re-forming their land.  The Rijksmuseum is a fitting tribute.  The display halls have been modernized and can accommodate the huge crowds, even in front of the most famous piece, Rembrandt's Nightwatch.  And, thanks to a prosperous middle class, there are many articles from merchant homes -- dishes to doll houses.

Our hotel is on the southern edge of the central part of town, which makes for a little walk to get to the center for most of our activities, but also puts us on the edge of a lovely residential area and we get a taste for how the locals live.  There are shops for children’s toys, butchers, wine and grocery stores without a single souvenir!

Today the picture loaded (seems that 2.3 megs is fine but not 2.5).  This one is for Kieran -- one of the many models of boats!

And, speaking of boats, we topped off the evening with a candlelight cruise with wine and cheese through the canals after dark.  Very interesting to be able to look into the houseboats and the houses much more than in the daytime.  

How Dutch can you get?

In answer to the question in the title -- cheese, wooden shoes, dikes and windmills.  And today we saw all of the above.

In Volendam, we had a presentation explaining cheesemaking by one of the last small cheese manufacturers.  Most of the cheese in the Netherlands is now processed by big factories, but the stuff from this little place was tasty.

The ferry took us to Marken, and there we visited the clog maker in his little workshop.  This isn’t one guy whittling, he has machines working on the same principle as a key cutter so that he duplicates moulds.  He turns out a shoe in a few minutes and then it dries to the hard clog before getting its final polish.  

Onto the bus again and over the dikes back to the ‘mainland’ for the final stop of the day -- the windmill.  The one Joan and I visited was one which historically had been used to grind dyes for the textile industry.  What a beautiful motion and system of gears to translate wind energy to grinding.

As our tour was just 5 hours, there was time left in the day for a visit to the Van Gogh museum, newly opened in the renovated museum.  Vincent had a sad life and his story and development of technique were well chronicled.  Most of his famous paintings were on display.  The colours, though somewhat faded we are told, were magnificent.

We are looking forward to a day which does not include a 7 am wake-up call.  We have tickets to the Rijksmuseum, but it doesn’t open till 10!

I can’t seem to upload a photo today, sorry!

Southern Cities May 5

Well, Sunday morning is certainly the time to take photos in old Amsterdam, there is noone around.  We walked lonely and leisurely to the tour bus stop on a street where we had to elbow our way the other day.  

The countryside is flat, flat, flat, but what can you expect from a land where the airport is on the bottom of a former lake, 4.5 m below sea level.  But it is green, dotted with cows or sheep on fields separated by ditches. The curious part is the major waterways which are higher than the fields.  

Rotterdam is the major port in all of Europe being on the mouth of both the Maas and the Rhine rivers.  Unfortunately it was bombed three times during the war and the rebuilding was speedy which now makes it an ugly city, by their own admission.  But they do have a tower, only about ⅓ the height of the CN tower, but still tall enough to get a good view of the rivers, the bridges (yeah Erasmus!), the harbour and the islands.

Delft, just a few kilometers from Rotterdam is the city of thy royal china, handpainted and very expensive.  We toured one of the only 2 factories left.  Nowadays, there are just copies of everything.

There were many impressive buildings in The Hague, but nowhere to get out and tour, so we saw numerous embassy buildings (it actually is the seat of the government) and the famous Peace Palace.

Madurodam is a fun place for adults as well as kids.  Many of the Dutch landmarks are represented in 1/25 miniature and there are interactive stations for locks, dikes, loading container ships, using fireboats to extinguish a ship’s flames, etc.  It was a wonderful stop even though we recognized only a few of the landmarks.  What fun for Dutch children to come and experience.

The riot police are in front of our hotel this evening, as the local soccer club won the Dutch championship this afternoon.  I don’t know why this location is potentially so explosive, but we will see.

today’s photos -- the Erasmus bridge (also known as “The Swan”) in Rotterdam -- a modern beauty!

Treats - Saturday May 4

This weekend is the end of a school holiday, the end of the Queen’s celebration and a long weekend for Brits, so the place is super busy.  Lines to get on the shuttle, lines to get on the tour bus (mass confusion), lines at all the museums, lines at the markets-- all made for a tiring day in which we did not get done all we wanted.

The city bus tour went into some of the districts that we had not yet walked or boated: to the diamond processing house; beside the Anne Frank house which neither of us have any desire to visit; into the southern part of the city where there were actually single family homes; a brief jaunt into the countryside where we drove on the dike between the Amstel River and the polder 4 meters lower; and by the central Bank where the gold reserves are underground in vaults that flood if anyone tries to help themselves.  There was a short stop by the Rembrandt windmill in the middle of some farming land just by the outskirts of the city.

Well, I led Joan through the red light district with the ladies of the afternoon displaying their charms in the windows.  I suspect at night time it might be perceived as sexy, but on a sunny warm afternoon, it was fairly ridiculous.

The lines at the museums were more than an hour and we decided that we might have better luck on Monday or Tuesday, so we wandered off to the 2 km outdoor market where you could buy everything from cashews to shirts, fish to bicycles, ice cream to tablecloths and anything else you could imagine between.  Having poked through another market yesterday, this wasn’t such a novelty and I even resisted the garlic chopping gadget, and the french fries with mayo -- a Dutch treat!

It is going to be a quiet night in for us as tomorrow will be a long tour day.  Lots to see and only a short time.

Today’s picture is a typical lunch spot with savoury and sweet pastries.

Boats, Bikes and Beer

Air Transat didn’t have the latest information, so when we arrived the prescribed 15 min. early for our Amsterdam tour, the departure point had been changed and we couldn’t make it there on time.  So, the nice lady at the desk traded our Saturday tour for Friday and we go on the bus tomorrow.

So instead, we had a day of hop-on-hop-off on a canal boat.  There was a bit of information given in three languages, but for the most part, it was just look.  We travelled to the old harbour, saw a few of the 2,400 registered houseboats, saw locks and bridges and museums and of course, the full variety of houses along the canals.

There is an unusual flee market close to city hall and the opera house which yielded some nice items.  A tapas bagel lunch was a nice (and reproducable) experience.  The weather was even nicer today than yesterday, so the windproof layer was not necessary.

The other part of our canal boat day was a Heineken experience -- tour, information, “being brewed”, tasting.  An excellent marketing scheme and a tasty gentle beer -- even Joan said so.

Yesterday I mentioned that bicycles rule here.  Well, I have started a collection of bicycle pictures.  What would be really eye-opening would be pictures of the people who ride bicycles (green velvet shorts and jacket with 6 inch platform spiked green boots), but I can’t really do that, so let your imagination run wild -- it still will pale to some of the riders we have seen.

And, pancakes for supper-- not the fluffy ones we have for breakfast, or even the french crepes, but a heartier crispy flat one with savoury or sweet filling. Yum.

Orientation -- May 2

After a good flight and arrival, we navigated the bus system and, with the help of other riders, we got off at the correct stop and checked into the hotel by 10 am.  NH Amsterdam Centre is an classic building on the outside, but very modern inside.  We grabbed a bit of breakfast and then headed out for orientation -- that necessary walk with map to get an idea of the area.  We are just outside the inner set of canals, but though the wind was substantial, we were well attired and comfortable strolling along some of the streets along with crowds of people.  

In Dam square, the workers were dismantalling scaffolding and crowd control barriers after the coronation of the new king 2 days ago.  The New Church was open, but the line-up was snaked about a kilometer around the square, and we were not in a mood to wait.  And so we settled for walking through the flower market, a long block along one of the canals which sells seasonal plants.  Currently everyone had tulip bulbs of all description and some exotic bulbs we had never seen.  Cannabis seeds anyone?

There was a little shop dedicated to Delft pottery.  A tulip vase (the seven tiered one) sold for 24K euros -- yes, that is 24 thousand euros.  We chose not to take it as a souvenier.  

Many of the stores we have seen in other capital or major cities are, of course, to be found in Amsterdam also.  But the bicycles -- more than anywhere else I have been, -- parked, zooming through traffic both human and mechanical -- were very impressive.  A coffee on the bank of a canal was a wonderful way to watch the boats, admire the architecture and enjoy the sunshine.

I found out where the tours leave and a grocery store.  I think that’s a good start to finding my way around the city.