Amsterdamsters Again: More Out-Takes

After two nights we moved from Amsterdamse Bos to Gaasterplas campground, which affords much better access to the city. It was from there that we did the cruise. After the cruise, we walked a good bit of the old city, principally, the Jordaan. And had a great lunch at one of the city's many Argentinian restaurants. Walking, aimlessly, or, more likely, lost, is a great use of one's time, especially in a place like Amsterdam. Below are miscellaneous pix, out-takes, from two days' walks, not including the more organized activities covered in later posts. (Posted from In De Vrede, St. Sixtus Abbey, the Axis Mundi, the Heart of Beer-dom on Earth...).

Somewhere in the Jordaan....some say this is where Jesus was baptized; others
that it is a corruption of Jardin, since all the streets are named after plants

Amsterdamsters are into shoe trees/lines too

I love black pansies

Line to get into the Ann Frank house

Of  note

Of ultimate note: this is the rubber duckie store

Avant-gard shoe store

Ditto

Ditto again; do not try this at home

Great business name, I thought

Favorite house-boat, with hydroponic garden

As off-the-grid as they appear, all the house-boats are connected thus: electric,
fresh water, not-so-fresh water

We spent nearly half a day at the Hermitage, the Spanish
Masters exhibit, which had one or two Velasquez paintings;
and some others

Another day, lunch at Kantjil and the Tiger: design your own Indonesian: a great 
ten buck lunch

Vicki's

We sat under the tiger

Thus

Design your own menu

Flemish fries are very important here

Not the last time we'll see the Potato Eaters

Meanwhile, back at the campground, King's Day celebrants are
arriving...

Cruising Amsterdam's Canals

We figure that every 25-35 years one ought to cruise Amsterdam's canals. (Also Venice's. We'll get to that.) I have always figured, additionally, that there is nothing one can't see from the shore (sidewalk, street) that one can see from a canal cruise boat. I remain steadfast in this belief. The big advantage of cruising in Amsterdam is that there is far less danger of being hit or run over by other tourists, bicycles, tricylces, scooters, motorcycles, cars, buses, and trucks. And trams. Don't forget trams. (Venice is different). In any case, despite the fact we are relatively old hands in Amsterdam, we decided to go on one of Lovers city cruises, 11 euros each. And in English, too. In addition to briefly seeing the (outside of the) sights and getting something of an orientation to the old city, one also gets to know what it is like to be a sardine in a tin. I would guess most of these canal cruise boats will carry something like 200 persons. The cruise is something you do on your first day in town, and thus most of the passengers are sleeping off their jet lag by the time you turn out of the harbor and into the canals.

From the quays around the central station, the boat heads out into the harbor for a look at the Ij, then heads in to do the Herrengracht, the Prinzengracht, the Koeniggracht, the Amstel, and then back to the quay. Maybe some other -gracht, too. All in an hour. We think we did the cruise in 1979. It is a comfort to know we won't be doing it again until 2046. At least not as independent travelers. In any case, it was fun to see so many of the sights from the canal perspective and to remember good times inside so many of them.

On a boat such as this...

Out in the harbor, looking at the city's film and cinema institute
on the Ij

One of Amsterdam's several major musical houses

Not all the architecture is stepped 17th century brick

Canal scene

Ditto; some day we'll go to the museum of houseboats

Canal view of a street market we shopped last year, near the
opera

Thus

The Amsterdam Hermitage

Looking through five bridges; OK, this you can't do from the shore

A bit of Art Nouveau

In days of old, when there were no house numbers, houses were
identified by some visual representation or other, in this case the
"house of the guy with the poofy collar"

Or the "house of the jackalope"

Canal traffic signage; interestingly, you can't go into the brewery
canal; too congested; or maybe too many wrecks

Ocean going houseboat

Ditto

Maybe not

We have heard the city is trying to get rid of the houseboats,
especially in the nicer canals

On the Amstel

More interesting architecture

One of the shuttles from the central station to the Ij

Back side of Amsterdam's Centraal Station

Back on terra firma, my Mal de Debarquement only a little worse,
watching another Lovers cruise wend its way...

SFO To AMS

After teary farewells, Jeremy got us to SFO, Alaskan got us to SEAttle, and Delta got us to AMSterdam. The flight on Delta was one of the best trans-Atlantics ever, Vicki getting a row to herself, me getting unlimited single malts and movies of choice. After immigration and customs and collecting luggage, Rene met us in Le Duc, everything ship-shape and Bristol-fashion, and, after the usual payment and paperwork, we settled in at Amsterdamse Bos campground in Amstelveen, where the usually gruff owner remembered us as if we were old friends. We stayed up as late as we could, unpacking, re-acquainting ourselves with Le Duc, and then crashed.

Vicki has gotten very good and very consistent at the 50 lb 
limit; each one of our checked bags weighed 50.4 lbs

So, yeah, Alaskan (right) got us to Seattle (middle left) and Delta
(left) got us to Amsterdam

Mt. Rainier detail

The route took us over coastal ranges 

Thus, closer

And a confluence of great rivers...and then the Rockies, and
then over cloudy central Canada, Hudson Bay, Greenland,
and then the North Sea...Vicki sleeping, me watching TBL
for the 111th time (always some new gem) then The Big Short,
then bits of Concussion

And then, on final, the tulip fields and warehouses south of
Haarlem

Thus

Low country

As an old windmill greets us just before touchdown