Sunday 12 May -- Weesp and Amsterdam

Orientation day. I started early and walked into Weesp Zentrum via the canal path. I may have done it an injustice when I compared it to Stevenage, unless Stevenage has windmills and grand 18th-century buildings. Everything here is connected by bridges, so old Weesp is on its own separate island, with rows of old buildings running along narrow streets. Everthing was quiet except the two big churches, which were warming up for Sunday service with a carillion battle. 

Crossing a major river brought me on to another smaller island, home to Fort Ossenmarkt (East defence) which is a one of a ring of circular forts around Amsterdam built after the Napolenic Wars. These also controlled the flow of water through the canals, so in the event of an invasion the whole area could be flooded and made impassable to foot soldiers.

Back across the river again I went to Weesp Station and tried to get my travel voucher working. No luck, and even the workmen on the station couldn't help me. I later discovered that it doesn't work on trains at all, which means I'm saddled with the cost of getting a train in and out every day, though I can save a dollar by going to an outer station and then getting a tram. Such is life.

Once in town I wandered through the Centraal Station looking for a place to redeem my travel voucher for a ticket. I found it eventually within the station building, but it didn't open till ten and the time then was about 8. So I went for a walk around Amsterdam.

The main part is not very big; you can walk around it in an hour. There are no skyscrapers; apparently all the big financial business goes on out to the east, near the airport. There are several concentric ovals of canals, and many of them have opening bridges to let larger boats through, though I never saw any of them do so. There are apparently canal boating holidays available, though--I saw several boats with the signs of hire companies on them.

Coffee prices near the station are horrendous, but they settle down further out, so I had a nice latte in what seemed to be a cafe aimed at budget American tourists, with a menu in English, and kept going to the Dam. where they first -- well, dammed -- the river Amstel, and later built a big central square. Lots of nice older buildings, with the odd new intrusion where something had collapsed beyond repair. Alongside the canals especially, many of the buildings slant forwards, sometimes out of line with their neighbours, so that scene in Ocean's 12 (13?) where they jack them up s quite authentic.

I saw two big seagulls fighting over a roll, so I told the greedy one that had it off, and a minute later he retailiated by dropping a poo directly on my shoulder. Luckily it hit the shoulder strap of my backpack, but with no public water about apart from in the canals, I had to ask a nice man who was watering his flowers with a hose to wash it off for me.

Of course there are no free public toilets here. Fees vary between .50 and 1# when you can find them, which you usually can't.Most of the people here are quite thin, and I think this is the reason why; they simply can't afford to risk that extra spoonful of cereal when it could mean they get caught short in the middle of a crowded street with no WC in reach.

Back at the station I located the card redeeming place and finally got my travel card and maps. The station was beside the river, so I caught a free shuttle ferry across to the Noord area. This is quiet and mainly residential, but they have one tall building with a rotating restaurant and an observation deck. On the very top they have an attraction which must be a thrill for the flatlander Dutch; swings that swing out over the parapet. I decided to give that a miss and walked instead to the Eye museum, which has nothing to do with opthalmology, but covers the history of cinematography,

Entry was free on the voucher, but they gave me a ticket anyway, and I was able to leave my bag and coat in a locker while I looked around. The temporary exhibition on the top floor was the usual flatulent modernist rubbish, but downstairs they had a fairly solid display on the history of film-making, with everything in Dutch and English including a video quiz that asked me rather more about Dutch cinematography than I was able to tell them.

Walked up to the north to try the Metro. This is fairly new and there are only three lines; one through the middle of town and two that loop around to the outskirts. I rode back through Centraal and one stop more to the Dam area, where I found a nice place for lunch--fried eggs on toast with salmon and avocado, a beer and a latte for 13.5# -- probably the equivalent of lunching in Sydney, if you could get the beer.

On to the Museum of Amsterdam -- another card entry -- which is in a long low building which used to be the City Orphanage. Some of the original rooms are intact, along with paintings of the donors and their wives. The rest is a mixture of artefacts, videos, sound recordings--again, all with English versions--some superb old maps and a temporary exhibition of costume from the 18th Century, contrasted with some horrifying products from modern designers, which fortunately nobody is obliged to actually wear.

I then caught the Metro one stop further south, trying to find a small brewery which is listed on Google Maps but apparently has no existence in reality. I did find a taproom with many craft beers, but I decided to skip that for today and do the self-guided tour of the old Heineken Brewery, just opposite. No actual beer is brewed here any more--it's been moved to a huge building out in the boondocks--but they've kept much of the old equipment and some of the dray horses, and turned it into a multimedia marketing experience. There was some interesting stuff, but a lot of it was just over the top, though the mainly younger crowd seemed to enjoy it, and Heineken have obviously got their prettiest boys and girls to do the presentations and serve the beer. And beer there was -- one small glass at the end of the show and then two normal-size (ie middies) in the noisy bar downstairs. The most interesting thing--apart from the depth of the head, which they try and pass off as a protective layer--is that as far as I can tell there are no variations in the brand; it's all just one type, and everyone's supposed to like it because it's supposedly just the best beer possible. But their marketing has been very successful to date, with the business being run by family members and a huge following in the US--so much so that all the signage and presentations here are entirely in English.

It was approaching 5 pm by now so I decided to make my way home via a tram to the third station out, followed by a train. This, I discovered, saved me a whole .7# per trip. The trams are Melbourne-style and rattle along in their own lanes, so crossing the street in Amsterdam involves:

1. Crossing the left-hand bike lane

2. Crossing the left-hand car lane

3. Crossing the left-hand tram lane

and then repeating the process for the right-hand lanes, often with an island or two in between. It puts Canberra to shame.

Back home along the canal for a dinner of rolls with cheese and meat, plus red cabbage for vitamin C. A bit of time getting electronics organised, and I was in bed by 9.30. Plans for today are the Zoo, Botanic Gardens and Rijksmuseum.

Blog email now seems to be working, so this should also go straight to the blog. I'll try and send some photos there too, but you can also find them on our GDrive.

Love,

Jon.