Amsterdam from street level

Amsterdam - Day Two

This is catch-up from two days ago. I really got behind!

After a morning breakfast on the ship I had until 3:00 to kill until I could check into my hotel, so I asked them to call me a pedicab to tour the city.

Sander arrived and off we went. 🎶 Follow the (red) brick road. Follow the (red) brick road 🎶 Every street in Amsterdam, it seems, is paved with bricks. Makes for an “interesting” drive in an unsprung pedicab driven by a pedalling driver and an electric motor. Sander had me fasten the seat belt. I should have taken a picture of it. It was just clipped, but so loose it was useless...but rules are rules...so we buckled up.

Sander was an excellent guide. We went all over the city, but especially by the Rijks Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. The lines were long so I chose not to go in. Maybe some day.

Then he took me one of his favorite places where he had been coming since he was a little boy...The City Park. It was enormous, and at every turn there was another fountain, or flower garden, or trees we don’t have in Texas. There was even a stork sanctuary. At one point we paralleled the canal, and across from it were beautiful houses with wonderful gardens.

Exiting the garden we went back to the city center where he showed me, among other things, the Huguenot Church and the Huguenot Quarter where the Huguenot’s, Reformed Protestants, had fled the French persecution to Holland. When I told him Andrea’s family were Huguenots he shared that he and his family were too. It was a special moment.

And of course no visit to Amsterdam is complete without a tour of the Red Light district. He suggested I put the iPhone away. Pictures were really not welcome! (Wonder why???) It was complete with girls in the windows. I had pictured scantily clad girls hanging out of open second floor windows or balconies. I got the scantily clad right. But the girls were at street level behind glass showroom windows. Yes, it’s still functioning as a district for the world’s oldest profession. After going by the district he took me by the old syphilis hospital on the outskirts. According to Sander, if “you were under the clock “ everyone knew why you were there. See the picture in the gallery.

Also imbedded in the Red Light district are the “Olde Church” and the Salvation Army. Lots of work cut out for them!!

By that time I was able to check into the Double Tree, so I went back to the ship, ate some lunch (something about ‘a last meal?’) picked up my luggage and checked in. After resting awhile, I went to their famous Skyline Lounge. A rockin’ Saturday night for everyone from families with kids to singles. Music was heavy beats at just under the threshold of pain. But the view was unbelievable!

Yes, you guessed it. The view was - extraordinary! A panoramic view of the skyline of the city of Amsterdam. So I could sit and enjoy the view, I tolerated the bedlam and ordered a drink.

I’ve had more alcohol on this trip than I’ve consumed in the last thirty years. On the ship they had special wines each evening to complement the meals, with a white and red selection that was free and a premium selection that usually went for anywhere from €25 to €45 a glass. I stuck with the cheap stuff (actually wasn’t - was a highy quality wine from premium vineyards.) I really don’t like wine, but the experience was too good to pass up so I had about ⅓ of a glass of their white wine each evening, generally a Reisling or Chardonay, to go with the starter. Throw in an occasional Bellini (and even the worst Moscow Mule you can imagine) plus the obligatory champage for the Captain’s swarees (sp?) and, well….. Anyway, at the hotel, In Jim’s honor (late birthday present) I had a Monkey 19 - gin and tonic with some kind of little berries in it...in a tall wine glass. I was really ready for dinner after that.

Fell into bed, tired, no...exhausted, but ready for another adventure with the new day.

To see today’s pictures, click here.

There will be a link to the spiritual reflection in Day Four's blog.