Amsterdam 8/20/2011 19:54
We’ve come full circle after a fashion. We’re currently moored in the southern environs of Amsterdam where the Amstel meets the Weespertrekvaart. We first saw our boat only a kilometer or so down the Amstel in the heart of Amsterdam not quite a year ago. The area is very modern and upscale – with the exception of our marina.
It is very industsrial and run-down looking and there’s a sad story about that. This business has been in the family for 80 years, but recently the municipality of Amsterdam has essentially confiscated the land to use as a park for all the high rise office buildings in the area. All appeals have failed and the owners have to be gone by November 1. It is the only marina we could find on the southern approaches to the city. Anywhere else you want to stay, and there are some nice places, must be approached from much further north. The folks here are really very nice as well, and it’s sad to see them working so hard to find a place to relocate so they can continue.
We stayed quite a while in Weesp. We prefer the smaller, quieter towns even if there is much less “to do” in them. Weesp is a wonderful restful place, and again we had a lovely mooring. We were in a grassy area, no vehicular traffic at all (well, except boats. . . .), just far enough from town to be a haven, and just near enough to be a nice walk if we wanted anything. There were lovely terraces for a beer and a bite overlooking the water. We loved that.
We also learned to appreciate that, compared to some boats, we have no trouble getting through bridges and locks.
There was one “party boat”, Moby Queen, that went by twice a day, and we rather thought they’d have to grease her up good to get her through.
Compared to that, something our size looks easy!!
All the same, we’ve enjoyed our day-and-a-half so far in Amsterdam. Today we went into the city for the market by the Nieuwekerk and the Lindengracht. It was great. This was the first really extensive market that in any way reminded us of the markets in France. Just about everything you could want, and it went on for blocks. Didn’t get any photos, we were too busy looking for dinner and a few other things. It took hours and afterwards we really needed to sit and eat (yeah, FEED BILL again). The views from the canal terrace were almost too stereotypically Dutch to be real.
While we were dining, along comes a “Pedalsaloon.” A cart of some sort, rigged out so there was one guy (new meaning for the term designated driver) in front steering the contraption, and room for a dozen or so others in back on either side of a bar and pedaling furiously to propel this THING down the street.
It was great. Only the Dutch . . . . Jeannet had told us that there is a big concert tonight on the canals here, one that’s televised and everyone watches. We could see the boats already arriving, and the streets in that area were already being closed off at noon.
We knew we would be too exhausted long before concert time to stay, so we walked over to the Beginhof to sit for a while. Then back home. Even Bill is getting into the habit of calling the boat home, I guess because it is.
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