OK. I am already days behind in maintaining this blog. But quality takes time, eh?
I found after my first review of the photos we’d taken, I was a bit disappointed in them both for myself and for you, my dear readers. (MDR!) They failed to inspire me. Therefore, I shied away from starting.
Well, after the beauty of Cologne, I am ready to write!
One last thing: I consider myself to be a bit of a perfectionist particularly when I write. If I haven’t enjoyed writing and reading it, I probably won’t publish it. And I may go back and tweak previous entries that I didn’t feel were quite as I’d like them to have been written. That being said, don’t sigh or bemoan that you will need to re-read past postings. Changes to old posts will be kept to a minimum–more for me than anyone else–and any monumental changes will be flagged and “advertised.” Okay?
Now, getting to Amsterdam…
After dinner, we disembarked the ship in search of an Amsterdam experience…which came in the form of a waterside drinking establishment that had the look and feel of a pop-up, impromptu tavern. Crowded, there was no seating to be had in the ramshackle building, so we made like a Mokumer (“When in Amsterdam…”) and found a spot on the ground outside. Dangling our legs over the water, we sipped on our first native brew of this vacation under strings of multi-hued holiday lights and surrounded by the youth of Amsterdam who lounged on any available spot of land or bobbed dockside in questionable watercraft as the sun set and the moon rose.
(My apologies for the poor quality of the photos.)
On the day after our arrival, our group (the Red Group with our fearless leader Mihai) took a boat ride through the canals of Amsterdam as our introduction to the city. The excursion began near our ship and continued through the city, finally ending at the Anne Frank House.
The red circle indicates a small sign that identifies this well-known residence. (The long line of people waiting to enter was another indicator.) Unfortunately, we were unable to pre-purchase tickets. Back on the bucket list.
Down the street from the Anne Frank house is another memorial to victims of Nazi persecution: gays and lesbians. Based on the pink triangle, the design is a composition of triangles within triangles. There are three separate spaces–a raised pink marble triangle, a ground-level embossed triangle and a step-down triangle that protrudes into the adjacent canal (above). Each of these form the three points of one overall triangle that dominates the plaza.
Ground level photography cannot capture the overall effect. Here’s an online bird’s-eye view that captures the triangles-within-a-triangle:
In Amsterdam, the bicycle is king of the red road! There are untold dedicated bike lanes throughout the city–all paved or painted red*– on which a bicyclist has the right-of-way. (Pedestrians be damned!) It’s kinda like in the USA where the car is king and many drivers only give lip service to the rule that pedestrians always have the right-of-way. We were constantly admonished by our Program Director to “Mind the bicycles!” as some Dutch cyclist was furiously ring-ring-ringing his/her bike bell to alert our slow-moving pack of their approach.
[*said to be red from the blood of unwary tourists!]
At FEBO, a local fast-food restaurant, these are sold in “vending” walls, similar to the automats of old New York. It’s just €1,60 for a hot deep-fried luncheon munch. Yum!
How to identify a Protestant church in the Netherlands? Look for a rooster, symbolizing the betrayal of Peter (the founder and representative of the verboten Roman Catholic Church), perched above the “Catholic” cross on converted church towers.
This street scene just happened to be smack in the middle of the green district–Doobie Central–and the adjacent Red Light District [Insert your own witty tagline here.].
Purveyors of the cannabis varietals brand their establishments under the misleading name of “coffee shop” throughout the Green District. Ample warnings were issued that if you wish to purchase an actual cup of coffee, seek a cafe or a restaurant–anything but the obvious: a coffee shop.
This bronze statue on the edge of the Red Light District is a tribute to sex workers worldwide. Named after the French word for beautiful, the sculpture shows a woman in a door frame at the top of a staircase. Hair up and in high heels, she stands with her hands on her hips and her head up, looking tough and challenging at the same time. The plaque reads: “Respect sex workers all over the world.”
And there’s no picture-taking in the Red Light District…or you risk being relieved of your camera by an irritated “business” woman and watching helplessly as it is flung into a canal. This photo was just the right amount of risk taking before stowing away the camera.
Rob summed up the uncomfortable experience of walking through alleys lined with “business offices” quite succinctly: seeing these women behind their red neon-lit display windows was like visiting an updated zoo with the glass-fronted boudoirs being their “natural habitats.” It was unnerving.
Dutch to Deutsch: The Great Rivers of Europe 