Antarctic Cruise Day 3/40 - Amsterdam canal cruise (crash) and walking tour (rain)

Antarctic Cruise Day 3 / 40 - Canals, boat crashes, rainbows, and rain

Trip day: 3 / 40

Port days: 2
Sea days: 0
Countries: 1
Continents: 1
Ports: 1

It sure looked different outside this morning.

Lots of blue sky and sunshine cast a significantly different feeling over the city.  A few minutes later, we saw this from our room.

A lovely end-to-end rainbow

Two things are required for a rainbow to appear - sun (yea!) and rain (boo!).  We experienced both today.

After yesterday's soaking, the sunshine was a welcome site today. We saw folks on canal cruises yesterday in boats with fogged-up and raindrop-spotted windows.  That would not offer much of a view. We ate breakfast at the Movenpick's very good buffet and got ready to head to the tour Viking provided for us.

In the lobby, we met up with our Viking desk support person, tour guide, and the rest of the twelve guests taking the tour.  After that, we took a short walk to our waiting canal tour boat.

We headed out into the canal that cuts across the Netherlands peninsula.

That's the former Shell headquarters on the left - it now sports a revolving restaurant and a swing thrill ride on the roof

As we headed west, the next step was a left turn to the south to enter Amsterdam's canal system.  As we made our turn left, it meant we would be crossing opposing boat traffic.  As it turns out, there was some - a working vessel of some sort - Veronica - was zooming right along and we turned on a track heading directly in their way.  Our Captain knows what he is doing! That was the thought going through my mind. Holy crap - we're going to crash! That was the next thought that went through my mind. That second one was correct.  The Captain, finally realizing his mistake, threw our ship in reverse, but far too late to avoid the inevitable *bang* as our left front quarter slammed into their left side.  The fact that we had slowed meant that for us, it was just a bit of a jolt.  Nobody was hurt.  It did mean that our vessel had to head over to Veronica, circle it, and for the two captains to compare damage and such.

Circling Veronica after the impact

We got close and Veronica's captain came aboard to confer with our captain

After that fun, our tour continued through Amsterdam.  This city has an extensive canal system that averages about three meters deep.  14 old sea locks were used to manage water as this area is below sea level.  

Many locks date back to the 1940s

1,250 bridges cross the canals to handle all the vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic.

About 2,500 houseboats line the canal - no more are allowed to be docked in the canals

Westertoren tower

Westerkerk church

A swan was working the cheese museum advertising

It took the job seriously

Another view of Westerkerk

Draw bridge

The National Opera and Ballet house - known locally as Stopera

Another typical canal tour boat passing us (we didn't hit them)

Our guide talked about dancing houses. She said that the houses had been built with wooden pilings.  When the water level receded, the exposed wood rotted, causing the houses to dance.  They have since been reinforced with concrete, but take a close look.  They are nowhere near being level. We wondered if they had to cut furniture legs so the furniture would be level.

That ended our canal tour.  We headed out on the walking portion of our tour. Our first stop was in Rembrandt Park, named for the famed Dutch painter.

No shenanigans are allowed in the park

A statue honoring Rembrandt

We learned that “coffee shops” do not serve coffee.  They are marijuana sales locations.  They are also one of the few businesses that allow smoking – here, if you buy it here, you can smoke it here.  While marijuana is not legal in The Netherlands, it is allowed.

Tuschinski Theater

Tuschinski Theater

Our guide said that these massive cheese shops are for tourists - locals buy at a regular market

Mint Tower

One of the better-looking McDonald's we've seen

Hotel De L'Europe - a 5-star hotel

Another view of Mint Tower

With all the tall and narrow homes, getting larger things like furniture and mattresses to the upper levels can be a challenge.  All homes have hooks near the top where a pulley and rope can be installed to hoist items.  Many companies now employ modern lifts like this.

Potatoes are huge in Amsterdam – there are fries shops all over the place

Sweets are big too – lots of candy and cookie shops as well

Statues honoring local musicians

Interesting architectural choices

Back at Westerkerk.  An interesting note – the upper gray portion that looks like natural stone is actually painted wood.  The soft ground would not have supported a stone tower.

Our tour ended and we opted to stay in town and tour on our own.

There is a huge sex culture in Amsterdam as evidenced by the red light district.  We passed multiple erotic supply shops as well as this one offering a full variety of condoms.  Want a panda?  Got it.  Eiffel Tower? Check. Statue of Liberty?  Of course.

Arlona, checking our wooden shoes

She found a pair that fit perfectly

Yet another fry shop

Me, checking out one of the men-only relief stations on the street.  Yes, this is a pee station and offers modest privacy and a drain in the ground to target.

Do I look comfortable?

We walked around the red light district.  Yes, we know that evenings provide a better view, but the weather has sucked every night, so we’ll do with a Wednesday afternoon.  There were a few workers in the windows, but not many, and all were clothed, so not much to see here.

Yes, there is an erotic museum

And a shop called Red Light Secrets

Red lights outside the sex shops

A coot in a canal, munching on a leaf

A pair of coots

In front of the Old Church in the red light district

This bronze sculpture honoring sex workers was installed in the sidewalk by an anonymous artist

We were hungry so we decided to stop at Mama Pancake for some food

Classic Danish mini pancakes with butter and powdered sugar

Chicken shawarma pancake

While we were eating, the skies opened again and it didn’t let up.  At one point, it started hailing as Arlona caught a small hail stone in her hand.  We made our wet and soggy way back to the hotel to dry out. Our pants and shoes were soaked.

Here is the flag of Amsterdam.

A theory says that the three Xs represent the three dangers of Old Amsterdam: fire, floods, and the Black Death.  Another theory is that it relates to Amsterdam’s X-rated culture.  Yet another is that it stands for the three values of the city motto: Heldhaftig,  Vastberaden, Barmhartig, meaning "Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate".  History suggests they are three St. Andrew’s crosses.

After drying out a bit, we decided to head to the lobby bar for a drink or two and to grab something small to eat.  The place was packed!  We grabbed the last available table and settled in.  We perused the limited bar snack menu and settled on bitterballen.  What is that? Per Wikipedia: Bitterballen is a Dutch meat-based snack, made by making a very thick stew thickened with roux and beef stock and generously loaded with meat, refrigerating the stew until it firms, and then rolling the thick mixture into balls which then get breaded and fried.  The main ingredients are beef or veal (minced or chopped), beef broth, butter, flour for thickening, parsley, salt, and pepper. Ours had veal.

They were tasty and just the right amount.

One thing we’ve noticed about the Dutch people – they’re rude.  Not the in-your-face obnoxious kind of rude, but as service workers, they couldn’t care less whether you have a good experience.  Our transfer driver yesterday was the exception as he was excellent.  But everyone else we’ve dealt with in restaurants, bars, shops, the hotel, and so on was definitely not oriented toward providing customer service.  Workers in eateries we tried were not interested in providing customer service. We noticed that same attitude as we walked around Amsterdam.  People pay no attention to each other when they walk.  They are on their own path and walk right through anyone that gets in their way. Automobile drivers and bicycle riders don’t stop for anyone or anything.  Apparently, that’s true of boat captains as well, based on today's activities.  It just seems odd to us as most places we’ve visited have friendly folks that are polite and aware of others.  The Netherlands, at least Amsterdam, not so much.

Tomorrow morning at 10am, we will board the Viking Polaris.  Weather will dictate the remainder of our day.  More rain means more time on the ship, perhaps in the pool or hot tub.  Sunny weather might get us out to walk around again.

She is making her way to us and should be here around 2AM.  We are excited about this next phase of our trip.