Amsterdam - For Real This Time

11-14 Jun 2017

On the morning of our 3rd full day in Amsterdam we rented 3 bicycles and hit the town.  It seemed daunting at first, but this city has really figured out how to safely integrate the use of 500,000 bicycles in a town of one million people.  Each day, when people are on the move in the city, over 60% of the means of travel is by bicycle (the rest walking, riding public transportation or scooters/motorbikes, very few by auto, and some numbers by boat in the extensive canals).  Most of the bicycle travel is done in dedicated lanes, even with their own traffic signals.  Hanna with her strong legs was our package hauler.

Our first major sight was the Anne Frank House.  Anne Frank with her sister, father and mother, and 4 other Jews hid from the Nazi's for 2 years, before they were unfortunately found and taken to concentration camps.  Friends and business partners supported them during their hiding, as they never left the building.  Anne  maintained a daily diary while hiding, with which after the war her father, the only survivor, published into the book.  This museum opened in 1960 and now sees over a million visitors each year.

At the left side in this drawing is the main facade facing the street/canal - this cutaway is exposing the inner structure sideways into the buildings. Anne Frank's family were hidden in the rear annex - the taller narrow building at the right, which was essentially hidden from streets as it was surrounded on all sides by other buildings.  The family occupied the top three floors of this annex (the gray/yellow and green floored spaces), plus the attic portion - the total usable space was about 500 sq. ft. for Anne Frank's family of four, plus four others also taking refuge.

As Anne's story and this house has done for decades, we really felt the reaching back through history to some  personal experiences of people who bore direct witness to the tragedies of those times.

We then continued our bicycle touring of the city and had great weather today for it.

Pretty canals, and great city greenscaping (Hanna approves).

Here's a good view of the city lanes with the draw bridge drawn - each way here, two lanes of auto, one lane (red) of bicycle, and one pedestrian lane.  The other photo - small commercial food markets are the norm all around Europe, much food continues to be bought in daily street markets.

For the inner town walking tour we parked here in the midst of thousands of bicycles.

Holland, Holland, and more Holland, we were surrounded by it all.

At the flower market, dominated by tulips - bulbs and buds.

Package delivery by boat in the canals - no traffic hassles, and ample parking, seemed to be a good idea.
To the right, looking up the canal, with the backside of the flower market stalls stretching into the distance.

Amsterdam is world famous for its availability of ma-ra-jua-na - the shops are all licensed under the moniker "coffeeshop".  It's as if the architects smoke it extensively and turn out business centers like this space-ship looking thing ("...commencing count-down Major Tom...").

Random mystery photo.

To the left a monument "Belle -- Respect Sex Workers All Over the World"  - a photo from Amsterdam's Red Light District.  Yeah, prostitutes here, but yet not a seedy area in any respect - cafes and canal locks.

You could almost mistake some views for Venice.  To the right, rowing lake built for the 1928 Summer Olympics - 2500 meters long (around 1.7 miles).

Thatched roof homes.                                                          Hangin out.

Hangin out at the lake.

A traditional canal boat, with not so traditional apartments.  A child's custom bicycle - don't know the story here, but certainly some youngster is proud of their bike.

A mosque built just a few years ago - for the most part the architecture tries to blend in with the neighborhood.
To the right, urban paradise.

Day trip outside Amsterdam:  Hoorn to Medemblik to Eckhuizen

The next day the mission was to drive just outside of Amsterdam and do "trains, ships, and automobiles".

Gerri drove us about 40 minutes north of Amsterdam to Hoorn.  We boarded a steam train departing Hoorn and rolled through the Dutch country side for about an hour to the harbor town of Medemblik. We had a pleasant 45 minutes here before boarding the steamer Freisland which sailed to Eckhuizen, where we had more time to check out another amazing coastal town. And then we boarded a modern train back to Hoorn to our car for the return to Amsterdam.

Silver dollar pancakes fried up fresh aboard the train.  To the right, ahhh!, it's a Squatch -- no just Gerri enjoying the breeze behind the steam engine and bicycle flatbed.

Scenes from a train - scroll down to see some excitement, unplanned, of course.

"Mom,  Dad,  I'm okay, but I borrowed Grandma's car, and I think she left some doobies smoldering in the ashtray, and now Grandma doesn't have a car anymore..."

I call this one "Air Commerce, and Cows".                           Cool reflection as we pull into the station.

Our steam engine at the end of the line with our ship awaiting to the other side of the dike (and of course, since it's Holland, there are bicycles in the scene).  Our boat up close, just kidding, I wish.

Actually, this boat is really neat also, our actual boat we board shortly.

More mysteries abound - is this a child's playhouse on the harbor?  Now I know that other object is a fishing boat - great color scheme.

Finally, the town of Eckhuizen and the end of our day trip, except for the car ride back to Amsterdam.

We made it back to our apartment in Amsterdam.  The next day we are on our way to Hamburg Germany.  That next morning we took in one last city in the Netherlands - Utrecht.

More neat old buildings, and canals of course - this time a little different with cafes and such right down at canal level.  Nice boat - dude.

And more churches - neat effect with lamps in front of the stained glass.  We're done with the Netherlands - so one last windmill is posted here.