Lili and Hugo decided last night that they would get up early this morning to see a few things independently and then meet up with us later. We would then all check out together and take our bags to the luggage store at Central Station, catch a canal cruise together, and then do a bit of city sight seeing as time allowed. With those plans in place Vernon and I enjoyed a lazy sleep in, a relaxed breakfast and a last indulgent bath before packing and cleaning up.
It wasn’t long before Lili and Hugo were back from their excursions and we set off, each in our own thoughts as we departed our smart canal side apartment that had given us a snap shot of Amsterdam inner city life. For me it was with a little bit of melancholy realising our trip to Europe was over all too quickly, and not knowing whether we will get another opportunity to do more travel. I also reflected on how everything changes with time and even if we do come back – what will it be like? What will we be like – and able to do? Will all these wars, displaced people and terrorism subside or increase?
A quick shake of the head and back to living in the moment. I reset myself into a slowed down yet heightened stated of awareness to the sights, smells and sounds around me. Soaking in everything to record and imprint it on my memory and senses to ensure that in a few days time once back to routine it wouldn’t become a far off distant memory – like waking from a dream and not being able to remember details. I guess that is why I blog and photograph things – to save and savor the experience, to imprint it for easy recall. Not only to remember an event, but to remember the experience on all levels taking me back to the moment in time.
What are those impressions? A sense of Dutchness – Amsterdam style. A busy, compact orderly city. Tidy and clean despite its liberal view on drugs and prostitution. Greeny brown canals creating and holding a flow of memories for 100’s of years. Topsy turvy architecture leaning like drunken sailors on each other for support. Abundant bricks in shades of various browns from light tan and camel to rich burgundy. White and green trims and gabled roof tops adorned with curls like a white powdered wig from the 18th century. Creamy, tangy cheeses that stand proud along side a French Comte. Efficient but expensive transport and bikes by the thousands. Full of young, trendy, casual people in the 20-30 age bracket who love to socialise late into the night on cobbled street fronts, next to canals. Somewhat regular pungent and earthy marijuana wafts mingled with passersby whose pores and clothing emit the rank odor of frequent heavy usage and not enough shower and flushing time. Changeable weather, leafy spring growth on trees, and a lost feeling or absence of human warmth, engagement or connection. Maybe its become like a prostitute – you pay to go there and sample the goods but no kissing; or she has become so crowded and tired she retreats like a drug user who seeks to disconnect from things?
Our canal tour was on a small ‘open’ boat (only 20 people) canal tour verses the larger closed in canal boats. We went on the larger ones last time and found them stuffy with poor visibility. It was really warm today – around 30 degrees so we wanted to have some air and good views. The captain gave a personalised commentary in English and encouraged questions. We visited some smaller canals and different sights to the main cruises. Whilst it was warm to start with, half way through some impressive thunder clouds come over and even some good lightening forks. This was all quite a treat as rain and clouds add some special drama – especially when you are on the water.
After the tour we split up for lunch with Lili and Hugo going to a vegan place and Vernon and I visited the flower markets and tried to find a good cheese shop that stocked the special Reypenaer brand we tried in Marken. We weren’t successful in either cheese shopping or stopping for a place to eat ourselves before our agreed time to meet up again with Lili and Hugo. No worries, we all then headed off past Dam square through to the Jordaan to find some nice fritts for the kids to try from a food stand that Rick Steves recommends, and we had tried in 2013. The stand was open and the owner instead of being nice had an attitude to the point that we chose not to buy a second lot from him (Lili decision). Really, I am over this Dutch rudeness. If they do not like tourists or people then do not work in a service related industry!
On the way through the Jordaan we found a nice boutique hand made jewellery shop where I got some lovely amethyst earrings and some fashion ones directly from the designer. It was directly across from a ‘coffee shop’ (marijuana) and it was somewhat sad but also amusing to see the totally spaced out people in the window front and chairs on the street. They were totally on another planet. We made some comment on how it must be entertaining watching the customers next door, the jeweller surprised me by expressing her displeasure at the smell and clientele from next door. There you go – not all arty people in Amsterdam are into the ‘herb’.
We generally wandered along and around the Jordaan a bit – past the incredibly long queue of several hundred people outside the Anne Frank house before doubling back to Dam Square, walking down the main street and taking a right through the red light district to the very oldest part of Amsterdam. Lili and Hugo who had initially been enamoured with Amsterdam were no longer following their evening excursion last night and seeing the seedier side of town. It especially disturbed Lili seeing and sensing the level of human trafficking amongst the prostitute community. They also are not really into the drug scene and these two aspects of Amsterdam took the shine off for them – somewhat like the anti tourist and foreigner attitude had done for me. That being said we still were able to appreciate the architecture and canal charm that this eclectic city offers.
Our afternoon soon passed and it was time to head out to the airport. We got our bags and didn’t have long to wait for our train which was crammed full to the point we had to stand for a good half of the trip. At the airport we checked in separately as we had already done it on line and Lili and Hugo wanted to have something to eat before boarding and had to check in the old fashioned way. Given the size of the airport we didn’t meet up again until at the boarding gate 2 hours later! Vern and I managed to fit in a last snack of frittes and mayo and a healthy salad wrap (as you do). We were also delighted to find a shop selling the super aged (2yr) Reypenaer cheese and they were confident we could get it through our NZ customs.
A tip here is that the money exchange shop at the airport will exchange coins for you – which we appreciated and got some Dubai money out of that. Our money cards would not load AED -Dirham so we needed to get cash – or use Visa. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9pm so it was going to be a long night.
Travels with Valrock 