Sail 2010 Amsterdam: Day 2

My last post was Day 1 of Sail 2010 here in The Netherlands, starting first in IJmuiden on the west coast and ending up in Amsterdam on the east coast. Here's the map again (click to enlarge):

You may recall that we decided to spend our entire first day in IJmuiden and NOT take the time and energy to also go into Amsterdam, 24 km away. We saved that for the next day, Friday, 20 August. And that's what this post is about.

Part of our package deal from the Holiday Inn was a round-trip fast-flying ferry from IJmuiden to Amsterdam on the North Sea Canal:

At speeds up to 65 kph, it took only half an hour each way. What a way to go! There was no way we would drive into Amsterdam and try to find a reasonable parking spot, as though it would even be possible!

The fast-flying ferry dropped us off at the dock behind Amsterdam's central train station, right in the middle of all the action. Since we wanted to see all the tall ships in one "swell foop," we were in the right place at the right time. The only disappointment was that once again, as in IJmuiden, the sails were not unfurled. However, by seeing only the skeletons, we probably saw more of what was really there. And by coming in off the water, instead of through town, we avoided some of the crowd.
They say at least 1.3 million people visited over the weekend.

Some of the crowd. HA! The crowd on the water was almost as bad. I wonder how many near-accidents were avoided that weekend!


Can you tell how totally mesmerized I am by the masts and sails and ropes and flags of boats! And see what a beautiful day it was!

As Astrid would say, we were "short of eyes" to see everything in front of us that day.
And, sad but true, I am now also short of my Tilley hat that blew off in a gust of wind and landed on the top of a sight-seeing tourist boat while we were standing on a bridge over it. If I had been thinking, I would have taken a picture of it. Thank God it was at the end of the day when I no longer needed its protection from the sun. I had to laugh about it...a memory I'll not soon forget. Someone got a good hat, unless it's still floating somewhere on the IJ river there in Amsterdam.

One of the goals for Day 2, after walking up and down the riverside to see all the sights, was to mosey on over to the Prinsengracht (the outer canal of Amsterdam's 4 in city center) where at 1 p.m. would start the Pieremachocheltocht (even the organisation isn't sure what the word means--a parade of carnavalesque floating creations open to anyone.)

As we left Centraal Station on foot, we started passing everything that had been familiar to me for the two years when Donica and I had lived half of every month in Amsterdam. Happy memories in image....

The Centraal Station alone is an architectural masterpiece. At Dom Square Madame Tussaud overlooks all the tourists who gawk at the mimes. The pedestrian streets are lined with myriad shops selling their wares. The restaurants and cafés...would you eat in a café where you saw a cat napping on one of the tables?

By the time we got to the Prinsengracht canal, just 2-3 blocks from our old apartment, we found a cozy spot in an abandoned boat where we had a perfect vantage point for this crazy carnival of "anything that floats." It was the one thing Astrid was so eager to share with me. One by one they came:

First came the Inspection boat of the BBA (BinnenwaterBeheerAmsterdam), followed by the Police and the Fire Brigade. Yes, especially in fun, on the water, you need control.

Then came the fun:

Yes, that would be the Flintstones.

The lower left boat was run by a car engine...and revved up to make the sound of a sports car as it came by.
The bottom right image was run by a tractor's engine, turning paddle wheels!


Does college frat-house humor ever change from age to age or differ from country to country?
I guess not!

It didn't take long...maybe an hour and not as many "floats" as I expected, but it was totally worth the fun. Here's a YouTube that puts it in motion:

At the end of this "carnival on the canal," it was time to take the fast-flying ferry back to IJmuiden to pick up our car and drive the 94 km (59 miles) home. But one last thing:

As almost an after-thought, Astrid mentioned that her father was cremated at the cemetery in Driehuis just 2 km from our parked car. I didn't have to say much to convince her I wanted to see the place, even though his ashes had been spread over the North Sea via airplane. His father before him had been a captain of a Merchant Navy ship...before, during and after WW II...so the sea was in his blood.
He died in 1981 when Astrid was 27.

And so, as we started our trip at the North Sea, we also ended it there in memory of Dré Wijdekop.
May he rest in peace.

**********

That, my friends, was Sail 2010 Amsterdam. Enough excitement to last a couple of weeks...which it did, since we rested at home the entire next weekend. You can see why I made 2 posts of it!

Oh...and lest I forget, today is my turn again at Vision and Verb...on Always Looking Up and Mercury Retrograde. :)

The Other Amsterdam

Later this afternoon, Donica and I fly back to Amsterdam on the same Delta flight! How unusual! But that always makes it so much nicer, even if we are sitting in different parts of the plane (her company policy is that employees sit in Business Class since they usually walk off the plane and go right to work!).

Anyway, someone from my other blog asked if I could show some photos of Amsterdam's "seamy" side. So, since I'm doing that there this week, I'll show you the photos all in one swell foop!

This really IS the proverbial and literal "other side of the tracks" behind Centraal Station in Amsterdam. A couple months ago I wanted to go find some more gable stones but had to walk through this section to get there, along the warehouse wharfs.


And of course, I wondered if any people really live there!

And do any kids really play with these toys???

Clearly someone lives here! And they air their laundry just like the best of them.

Some spots really had me walking at a clip. Does this look as creepy to you as it does to me?!
The seed of Chucky?

But as I neared the end of the warehouses, I actually felt I was in New England. And I DID RELAX a bit more!

I even felt some Good Karma and suspected the entire neighborhood had just appreciated in value!

I'm guessing every city in the world, great or small, has it's "other side of the tracks." And we all know what that means. The Great Divide of those proverbial tracks is a challenge to most of us. The Rich and the Poor. The Haves and the Have-Nots. Never the twain shall meet?

Wouldn't we be surprised if someday the divide disappeared altogether!

Out of This World

Of course, I HAVE to tell you about Saturday's boat ride(s) here in Amsterdam, since that was what we all looked forward to the most. And of all the days, it was the sunniest and warmest! The Universe was smiling!

We started with the most famous cheese shop in Amsterdam, De Kaaskamer, which happens to be just a 10-minute walk from our apartment. So many choices! HOW do you choose? Thankfully, all I did was take the photos and left everything else up to them. Donica, of course, was the one who knew.

At 2 p.m., the boys came in the rental boat to pick us up at the dock a couple blocks away from our apartment on the Lijnbaansgracht.

That's Matt at the helm, who was our chief navigator for the 3-1/2 hours we were on the canals. Oh yes, James, to my left (out of the photo) was often the pilot, of course.

This is an electric boat, BTW, that gets charged up at night and lasts for 12 hours. The engine is underneath the table and is so quiet you can't hear it. What a way to go!

The lucky part of the day, besides the sun, was a rowing competition that we bumped into several times throughout the day. What a fun event to see up close and personal!

You can see how it was a sight to see for those NOT in boats as well. How they squeezed through those tight spots is beyond me.

You really see a different perspective of the canals when you're at ground level, so to speak!

Potty break time! Yup. So you just find a place to stop, climb out, and find your nearest cafe. Which we did. :)

What a lovely time to just BE. Family and friends together.

Amy and Jack (aka Jackie) strike up a pose.

And then it was time to say Good Bye.
A humongous THANK YOU to James and Matt for joining us and facilitating this incredible adventure. What a memory!

As if that wasn't enough, later in the evening, after it got dark and we had eaten dinner, we went down to the Centraal Station area for a night cruise on a tourist boat. Here we're waiting in line with Centraal Station in the background.

With all those windows, it's a great way to see over 100 Amsterdam sights in the course of an hour...many of the same sights we had already seen during the day. That's the Sint Nicolaaskerk (St. Nicholas Church) in the background.

Speaking of Nicholas! While we were on the little boat, Donica's phone rang and Nick (Nicholas' dad) was on the line. He started off by saying what a soccer game (in Atlanta) we had just missed! Nicholas not only kicked his first goal ever ("and it was a hard kick, not just a wimpy dribble!"), which tied up the game 1-1, but at the very end he saved a kick from being scored by the other team! When Amy asked Nicholas how that felt, he said, "It felt like I kicked it out of the world!"

The girls are now safely back in Atlanta after a safe trip home yesterday. But that's exactly what we felt at the end of the day on Saturday after a long weekend. It was a day out of this world, which we will never forget.