Amsterdam – 15-19 July, 2022
15 July
Arrived midday and took a taxi to 1 Westerdok. Seems to be the premier position on the dock as it’s first in line…. Very private with good views of the canal that leads into the maze of canals. We see all brands of canal boats coming and going; now we just have to pick one for us.
We settled in a bit, picked up a terrific takeaway sandwich from across the street. After the beer it became nap time. We walked abit to get our bearings and realized we probably could have easily made the walked from the train station. We’ll investigate what it might take to walk to the boat on Tuesday.
Did some wandering and menu reading before selecting a place for dinner. There was no menu as it’s called surprise menu, with dishes representing various countries. You don’t know what you’re going to get. We indicated no allergies and no meat and were thrilled with the 3 course offering. Beautifully prepared courses starting with shrimp with trout eggs, saffron, and gentle flavors which was indicative of Spain. Then was a perfectly cooked piece of Cod with salmon eggs on top of various vegetables with a light sauce; this was from Canada. Desert was a peach on top of a mix of juiced tangy berries, which offset the sweetness of the slightly cooked peach, which had some crunchy topping and a bit of almond puff; this to represent China. It all went perfectly with a French chardonnay that was very full bodied – Ligne Noire. We’ll look out for it to see if we can find it ourselves.
16 July
We had a slow start today and did some laundry. We walked along the waterfront again but went past the train station to see where the river cruise boats dock. Several were there and we talked to one of the captains to ask if he knew where Dock 6 was. He was berthed at Dock 1. We learned that the Rhine is so low that the river cruise boats aren’t able to navigate it now. The cruises let the passengers off, with all their luggage, and bus them around to the other side where the cruise can continue. It may mean a night in a hotel but definitely means we can’t unpack for 11 nights now. We were looking forward to that! Also it means we won’t see the Rhine River Gorge which I was really looking forward to seeing. That part is too bad for us.
We walked around to the science museum to climb up the ramp of a roof. We bought lunch at the top and enjoyed the sun and breeze outside. Just east of the museum is a swimming area and we were a bit surprised to see swimmers there in the canal water. Maybe it’s OK???
After a leisurely lunch we walked to the Rembrandt House Museum. This place is more about the house and the life Rembrandt lived and not so much about his actual works. There were paintings on the walls but most were not by him. There were some of his engravings along with a press in the room where he did his engravings. The commentary available in the free audio tour was helpful in getting a clearer picture of life during those times.
We paused for a drink on the way back to the boat and then decided to pick up something light for dinner. We stopped at the grocery store we found yesterday and selected a salmon spinach quiche and a ready-to-eat Greek salad.
Tomorrow we do a canal tour!!!
17 July
We’ve been very lucky these last few days as the weather has been perfect. It’s forecast to get very hot tomorrow and into the week, but these recent couple of days have been clear, dry and sunny during the day and very cool at night. Just perfect!
We opted to take a smaller canal cruise today. Rather than the big often glass covered “bateau mouche” type boats we took one from a company called pureboats.com. We were on a beautifully restored with lots of perfectly placed varnish, old UK life boat. There was a central bimini for shade and an after one that we didn’t put up. It was still fairly cool at 11:30 when we started. The engine had been replaced with an electric one so we moved along quietly, comfortable on our thick cushions and pillows.
Instead of 100+ people on board there are about 10-12. We don’t get the same running commentary for historical facts but we get a bit of the story and the driver was very nice. We also got a short glass of Cava at the start!!! We passed down the canal of Seven Bridges, and I was able to get a photo of six of the seven. We also passed a construction site. The streets that are between the houses and the canals are so narrow, that construction equipment is brought to the site on barges where it stays to do the work. There is no place else to put any equipment. Apparently the construction of the metro impacted many of the house foundations. If a house is tipping side to side it’s a foundation problem either due to the metro construction or just to age as the water is less salty than it once was and that impacts the wood foundations. When correction measures are made they drive thin metal piles down 40 meters or more to help level up and stabilize the houses.
We were curious to learn more about uniquely Dutch/Belgium liquor called Genever, traditional liquor once called Dutch gin, thinking it might have had something to do with an ancient gin. It’s actually a grain based (rye, corn, barley) and, when aged, can be very like rye and other whiskeys. We sampled some with Anne having the younger version so not like whiskey at all. I had the 15 year old version that was darker and tasted similar yet different from rye.
We walked back to the boat and ended up taking a short nap!!!
18 July
We didn’t have too much to do today so we did some laundry. We headed off midday to ride the free ferries. It’s going to be extremely hot today but we head off anyway. Walking, once again, to the Station Centraal, we caught the ferry that goes straight across. The Film Museum is there but we didn’t stop. We walked 20 some minutes to another ferry that brought us back to the east docklands area. We walked back toward the station where a new array of river cruise ships are berthed.
As in many places, most restaurants are closed on Mondays. We jump on the next ferry available at the station and end up going to the west on the far side where there are some buildings and residences made of shipping containers. There we find a restaurant that turns out to have good beer, nice choices, and we managed to order and pay for the whole meal with the QR code on the table. New achievement!!! We were able to select the next ferry. We headed across to near Westerdok to more or less complete a circle of the various ferry stops here in Amsterdam.
We had hoped the restaurant next to our boat would be open for dinner but it’s closed. We decide to sort out the remaining wine, cheese, and other things to put together a supper. As it’s so hot, 92 degrees at 5:30pm, we may not need too much food. We hope to put together the boat’s portable AC unit later. Our host said it’s OK, and once plugged in he will be able to remotely turn it on. I hope we can get the temperature down a bit before we try to go to sleep. Even with all the windows open, there’s little breeze and the afternoon sun is pouring in the sunny side of the boat. Also the sun doesn’t set until 10pm so there’s little hope of it cooling much overnight.
Tomorrow we walk back down past the Station Centraal with our luggage to board our ship, AmaCerto around 1230. Tomorrow will be even hotter. We’ll separately pack along our swim suits and head for the pool as soon as we can. We may not be able to get into our rooms but being in the pool will be a real treat. We embark on an 11-night journey on the Rhine and Moselle to Basel, Switzerland. It’s very possible we’ll have to avoid a portion of the river due to the drought and very low water conditions. We’ll find out soon how bad it might be.
Bubbles!!!
Bubbles
There’s a bubble wall near us. It runs up from the bottom of the canal and diagonally across the canal to divert floating things, mostly plastic, into a catchment cage. It keeps the stuff from the inside from getting out to the major waterway here. I think it’s a river but don’t know if it’s called a harbor.
The web site tells the story and the plaque adjacent to the bubbles is only in Dutch. The images are good for a better understanding of how it’s set up. https://thegreatbubblebarrier.com/
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/08/europe/bubble-barrier-sea-c2e-spc-intl/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/05/incredibly-promising-bubble-barrier-extracts-plastic-from-netherlands-river?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other