I'll start with when we left -- April 30th, Queen's Day. If I had known how important it is, we would've left a couple of days later. Our week in Amsterdam was definitely affected by the preparations for it. You probably noticed that in the earlier posting that included the apartment we stayed in.
This year was particularly special because the Netherlands got a King, the first in over 100 years. However, he will also be the last for awhile. His kids are all girls. So his mom, Queen Beatrix, stepped down and he became King on April 30th. It was no doubt a huge party that we could have heard from our apartment two blocks from the Museumplein.
We spent a week in Amsterdam. In our usual style, it was a slow week with breakfast in the apartment, lunch usually out, and dinner sometimes out and sometimes back in the apartment. We aren't big party people.
Early in our week we got out and walked a lot. This is a place where some work was being done to a bridge. They had blocked off and diverted the canal water so as to get to the structure.
The bridge we walked across was a temporary structure.
We were duly impressed by the buildings and their ages.
As well as the canals with all the different kinds of boats. Some for transportation.
Some with tourists.
Some as museums.
And some where people live.
We got passes and took public transportation everywhere in addition to the walking. On our way to the Resistance Museum, we passed this part of the zoo. I love flamingos.
On the other hand, you can miss the Heineken Brewery. It's not really a brewery anymore. We didn't go, but we went by it more than once.
Another museum we visited near the Resistance Museum was the Tropical Museum. This is the best presentation of cultural information I've ever seen. It concentrates on cultures near the equator around the globe, but especially in Africa. Information on art, architecture, music and customs is all presented in a thorough but easily understood way. You can walk through and touch almost everything.
After doing a couple of museums, we'd go home and rest and enjoy these birds near the deck on the back of the apartment.
We'd also enjoy a nice sparkling iced tea.
The Rijksmuseum was a short walk from our apartment. It had recently reopened after years of renovation and it was a zoo. Naturally, Trout and I missed signals and lost each other, but we both got to see the biggies (the Nightwatch, Girl with a Pearl Earring, etc.) as well as the medieval art I like so much before we had to leave because of the crowds. Please note that my link to the Rijksmuseum kept coming up with a runtime error. I will try to fix it later.
Our last day there we probably did what we should have done the first day. We paid for an all-day ticket on boats that go on all the canals. We hit every canal except one. They aren't really guided tour boats, but there is a recorded message that plays in Dutch and English and French, and that describes what you are passing. It is like a hop on, hop off series of boats. Most of the rest of the pictures are from being on a boat. We got on the first one right behind the Rijksmuseum, which you already know was a couple of blocks from where we stayed.
Being on the boat(s) provided a different vantage point from walking on the streets and sidewalks only a few feet higher. It seemed like we could see the buildings better.
We saw these special bikes in lots of places, but especially in Amsterdam. Sometimes the trailer was on the front and sometimes on the back. Mostly women were peddling them with their kids and groceries in the trailers.
Cars park right along the canals.
Which didn't used to have the rails. Finally, the city decided it was cheaper to put up the rails than to be constantly fishing cars out of the canals.
I'm not sure if this is a new building or a remodeled one. Buildings are tall and narrow because at least in the early days, they were taxed by their footprint, not by the number of floors or square meters of living space.
Yes, there are a lot of bicycles. This is a bicycle parking structure.
And those pictures don't even show all of it. Bikes often have milk crates on the front for baskets.
Right after the bike parking, we boarded another boat that took us out into the Noordzee Canal and harbor area. With a few notable exceptions, what we saw here was very modern.
These are some of the river cruise boats.
This is one of the not modern parts.
I think this was going to be a restaurant.
The next three pictures are of a shipyard that has been there for over 100 years.
A modern houseboat.
A windmill that isn't open to the public, but you can go into the bar in front of it.
Typical modern housing.
And old churches and bridges.
This is the Amstel Hotel. It's one of those where celebrities stay.
A nice bridge.
And a nice houseboat.
And a woman hanging up her laundry.
Some of the lock mechanisms.
More boats with preparations for Queen's Day in the background.
Typical bridges.
A branch of the Russian Heritage Museum.
A frequently photographed bridge, for good reason.
Ah, yes, people are already partying.
Another one of those bicycles.
More party boats and decorations for the big day.
We left early on the morning of the transfer of power from Queen Beatrix to King Willem Alexander. The streets appear to be deserted, but they would soon be totally blocked and filled with people and food and stuff for sale.
But before we go, there was one other place we went that really impressed us. It is the hidden Church of Our Lord in the Attic in the red light district of Amsterdam.
Go to the link for some great pictures and the details of the story. In 1578, under the new Protestant regime, worshiping as a Catholic was forbidden, but it was tolerated so long as it was hidden from the public. In 1661 a wealthy Catholic merchant converted a canal house, plus two others behind it into a Catholic church. It remained as the parish church for Catholics living in the city center for for 200 years.
One thing we did not see was the Anne Frank House. We thought we were getting there late enough to avoid the crowds, but there was still a huge line, so we bagged it. I had seen it back in the late 70's when it was just a house. There weren't any big lines, I think you made a donation and explored with a piece of paper in English. I think I was the only one there when I went. Now it's a huge museum with the house inside. I think it's wonderful how it has been preserved and the history it is telling, but we just could not take the crowds.
I was disappointed that our timing was off to see the Van Gogh Museum. After renovation, they were moving from their temporary facilities back into the museum and both were closed.
From the serious to my Amsterdam potty pics.
While we were on one of the boats, I noticed this sign.
Fortunately, I got a closer picture. I think they want you go to the toilets to the left and not pee off the bridge.
This is a typical pay toilet. They were in lots of places. We never used one.
You may recognize some of these port-a-potties. They are just like ours, except for the gray ones. They are for the men.
All these were set up for the big events on April 30th.
And I caught a guy using one, just a little early.
They even tell you to curb your dog. That's so that when the streets are cleaned, the waste is easily washed away. As far as we could tell, the streets were cleaned daily.
And so ends my postings for our 2013 25th anniversary trip. I hope you enjoyed our modest adventures and the pictures. Happy New Year!
