Holland & Belgium Viking River Cruise
Day 12: Tuesday, November 05, 2024 - Amsterdam, Netherlands
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 60s
- Steps: 8,959 Linda; 12,577 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 11
Gooooooooood morning Amsterdam!
Before going to breakfast, I got a shot of the Amsterdam railstation.
Due to the quantity of passengers partaking in the morning excursion - Amsterdam Canal Cruise - the two
groups left at different times - 8:30 and 8:45 - so as to not crowd the canal boats en masse.
Our 8:45 group made its way to the boat dock, passing by the crowded bike lane - it was rush hour, afterall.
There was a bit of a traffic jam at the dock and our embarkment was delayed about ten
minutes while the captains maneivered their vessels.
Our guide, Mike, introduced himself and told us a little about the excursion. He looked familiar, for some reason...
We saw interesting sights before we even boarded that included the A'DAM Lookout - the front right building. It has a
revolving restaurant on top of the tower, and the four black lines - they're metal arms - on the right are part of a swing
that swings out over the side... yeah, no.
We also saw the Eye Film Museum.
We eventually boarded. And then took a quick selfie.
Beyond where the ship was docked was this two part hotel - that had a walkway connecting the two halves.
Our route began with us passing behind our ship.
While we were told about most of the sites, it was too difficult to try to track them all, so I will just
place the various shots here in the general order they were taken.
Once again we heard a similar story about Amsterdam having one million residents and one-and-a-quarter million bicycles.
A joke we hear is that the canal is nine meters (twenty-seven feet) deep, the first three meters (nine feet) are water, the
bottom three meters are mud, and the middle three meters are bicycles.
Supposedly, 25,000 bikes make their way into the canals annually.
In addition to the archecture - buildings, churches, etc. - there were a lot of house boats. I tried to capture the more
interesting ones be it with a rooftop garden, color scheme, or design.
This is a chinese restaurant on the water.
The story is that the platform started to sink and the restaurant was flooding. The patrons were told to
grab there food and drinks and flee. This was the first reported instance of chinese take-out...
This escalator ramp goes to an underground parking garage - the largest in Amsterdam - for 3,600 bicycles.
3,600. Bicycles.
The hour-and-a-half canal cruise came to an end, and the ship docked.
When we were first gathering, I thought Mike looked familiar and I told Linda he did.
While we were preparing to get underway, and shortly after we did, I was checking something. I had to bring up
this website and take a look at our last visit to Amsterdam. Sure enough, I found what I was looking for.
Back in 2021, on day three of our cruise during our food tour, Linda and I had a "private" tour with...
Mike! I mean, what are the odds?!!?
After we disembarked, we spoke to him about this, and he said that he thought he felt something.
We took a selfie with him.
We headed back to the ship, passing a sign that is likely a remnant of the COVID distancing thing.
We returned to our room briefly to freshen up, and then we headed to the lounge for a bit
more than an hour before our next excursion, having a cup of hot coffee too.
The original plan - from Viking - was that the diamond factory visit was going to be included with the canal
cruise. They wound up splitting the cruise and factory in two and those that wanted to visit the factory had to
sign-up separately. We were doing a different excursion in the afternoon so we had to pass on the factory.
At noon, our bus departed to take us to Haarlem - pronounced just like the neighborhood in NY called Harlem,
but the 'a', like the 'o' in Hoorn, is held a little longer.
Our guide was Anthony, and our driver was Dennis.
In Amsterdam, on the way out, we saw a couple more sights including a crane tower that was turned into a hotel.
In the US, typically (from what I've seen) there are dotted lines crossing through intersections indicating
which was drivers should proceed. In this city, they have large white triangles to aid with that.
It was a relatively short half-hour bus ride to Haarlem.
One of the roadways leading into Haarlem ran along a narrow canal. We were told that back in the day,
mules were used to ferry boats down this waterway to access the city from afar.
We arrived and the bus dropped us off a long block down the road from our initial destination.
In this initial area, we learned about the town, and saw some architectural highlights including the
oldest museum in the country, Teylers Museum.
After about 20 of talking and slow walking, we arrived at 66 Spaarne for lunch. We had a fixed menu with
appetizer, entrée, and dessert, along with two glassees of a beverage of our choice. Frites, aka
"french fries", are typically served with a vinegar-heavy mayo, and ketchup.
There were some interesting art work about too.
The food was really good. We had some great conversation and spent time talking to Anthony - he sat at the
head of the table where we were seated - about his job, and the country.
After a bit more than an hour, we headed back out on foot.
We headed further into town - I can't say city center because it is a large city - to St. Bavokerk church. On one side
was a statue and a sculpture, and next to those a large plaza surrounded with buildings.
After a few minutes in the plaza, we eventually crossed it and entered a small
courtyard in the far corner, to the left of city hall.
A fashion photo.
We walked down another street and headed away from the church and toward Ten Broom house.
We came back to the square, walked across it again, and down the street next to it - at one point crossing a main
thoroughfare and railway.
After weaving down a few quiet roads, we arrived at our next destination, the Frans Hals Museum.
We entered the lobby, dropped our coats into lockers, and awaited our entry tickets.
It seemed that there was an issue with the fact that we were supposed to get entry, but because there was
a temporary exhibit, the ticket price was supposed to be a little higher than what the guide was expecting
to pay. After a phone call and a few minutes, we made our way into the gallery, that mostly included artwork,
but also some other artifacts.
I labeled the pictures with the placard or text where I could.
In one hallway was a porcelain display.
In the lower left corner of the display of porcelain is a bowl - bottom row, second from the left - that had its underside
shown. It turns out that the bowl happens to be being displayed upside down. This is based on the display we saw when we
visited the Meissen factory in Germany in 2023.
Here is a zoom of the bottom of the bowl on display in the correct orientation.
In a separate room, with only a couple items on display, was a piece called Dutch Proverbs by Pieter Brueghel II.
There was a separate map of the painting showing what each of the 25 documented proverbs actually were. Some of them are
also used in English as described, and a couple are varients of English ones too.
This same area also had a doll house on display. It too had a painting map. And also an "I Spy" type of game with three items
to find in the doll house - which is rather difficult to do in a photo, espcially because one would have to switch between
the game list and looking at photo.
We came across an organ, and also, for some reason we decided to take a selfie in front of it too.
We continued on.
After a bit more than an hour, we finished up in the museum.
We were told that we were to meet at the statue next to the church at 5:00. So we had enough time for a leisurely
walk back from the museum. We walked back with a couple travelers, discussing the museum, the city, and our travel.
By the time we arrived at the church, it was a little too late - we only have, literally, five minutes - to actually
go inside the church for a quick visit.
Four members of our group were across the street having some hot cocoa. Well, they were trying to - they had placed
their order but we had to leave. So they got their drinks to go, and headed out with us.
We boarded the bus and headed back to Amsterdam and our awaiting ship. That wasn't going anywhere.
While we were on it, because this was this ship's last sailing of the season.
It started getting dark too.
When the bus dropped us off near the boat, I told Linda I was going to run to the central station (there was bus and
train service available) to take a look about at night. OK, so I didn't exactly run... It was rush hour again,
and the station was decorated for the holidays.
I walked through the main concourse, up to what-turned-out-to-be the bus platform - which was packed - and immediately
back down the esclator - that had a green light for the down escalator, and red for the up because, you know, you can't
go that way. And you can see the crowd on the other side of the glass too.
On my walk back to the bus, there were some fireworks across the waterway.
I got some other night shots too, including the locals going home after work with the pedestrians on the left,
cyclists in the middle, and vehicular traffic on the right.
After returning to the ship and shedding my excursion gear, it was already time to head to the lounge for the port talk.
But tonight's port talk was less of a typical port talk than it was a final farewell toast.
Then we headed downstairs to the dining room, passing the departments heads, and some of the other crew, on the way.
We once again sat with Cindy and Larry, and Rosalee and Fred.
Linda had the French onion soup, roast chicken supreme (gasp! from the left side of the menu), and New York cheesecake.
I had the bitterballen, grilled veal rump, and poffertjes. And crème brülée because
I really like it and this was the last oppoprtunity I'd be able to get it on this cruise.
After dinner, we had some live onboard entertainment in the lounge.
Tonight the group La Strada came aboard and played a number of songs for us. There were two violins and a guitar.
They performed for almost an hour, and most of the music was readily recognizable. They were very good.
We finished packing for the morning as our luggage had to be outside the door by 7:30 in the morning.