Amsterdam 1

Day One

I had promised myself a travel free summer this year but alas the looming term has pushed me into a quick booking and here I am in Amsterdam. It is day one and noticeably warmer and more humid than home. Garmin also tells me that my stress levels are too high. No wonder, as I had to leave the house at 4am and spend hours in airports. This is perhaps one of the few times I wish we had 'remained' as I join a long snaking queue to get my passport checked. The self check-ins for EU and Swiss remain almost unused as I join hundreds of Americans. I must say everyone is being very patient. Schiphol's arrivals procedure seems to be intent on creating intense anxiety and boredom at the same time. All the arrivals and departures seem to be in one hall and two officials are crowd controlling. An American lady is pushing her way down the queue saying she has 10 minutes till her flight until someone tells her she is in the wrong queue. It feels chaotic and it takes roughly an hour from plane to collecting case. I'm not sure if I look suspicious but the passport official (they always look like they could wrestle you to the ground with a little finger), asks me what I'm doing here. I explain that I'm on holiday and that I've booked some museums, very unusual I'm sure. He waves me on but I would have been happy to elaborate.

I've bought all my train and museum tickets beforehand. I can't say I trust a QR code really, but so far all has gone well.  Train travel is very cheap and straightforward here, or is it us who are complicated and expensive? Having said that, years ago, getting in a tram here was easy, you just punched your ticket and used whichever door you pleased. Now you have to embark via certain doors and swipe out through the exit doors. For all that, I love trams. A 3 day ticket for all of Amsterdam has cost me just £18.49.

After finding the hotel, I trek off to my first booking. The Amsterdam Lookout. This is a high viewing platform with rotating restaurant, you know the kind of thing. Windows reach the floor but I don't get too queasy. The outdoor viewing area is surrounded by a cage which is comforting. There are also swings which swing right over the edge of the building. This you have to pay extra for, can you imagine. Embarrassingly I have had to pose in front of a green screen, and told to do something unusual. I needed a lay down so I opt for this as it doesn't take too much acting skill and there is a large queue watching. 

I have never seen the city from this height and it is worth it. It is north of the Central Station and requires a free ferry crossing.

The Centraal Station has to be one of the most beautiful in Europe.

Garmin says 7.3 miles

 

Day Two

The hotel I am staying in doesn't produce breakfast so I have biscuits and a banana in my room, but being a fan of hobbits I then head out for a second breakfast at a place recommended by the hotel. I arrive one minute to 8 and am encouraged to sit outside but it is a quite chilly 14C so he puts on the heater for me. I am the only customer. Waiters here are very friendly and attentive but I notice they are often not Dutch. Waiters are usually immigrants like most places. I have a rather nice poached eggs on sourdough with extra smoked salmon and green tea to wake me up. The day has started with some very sad news and the food goes some way to make me feel a little better. I hope that is not too trite. Losing a friend one hasn't seen for years brings back so many memories of others lost. Ultimately these things are good for the soul and remind me to say thank you for every minute and to be careful to live right. 

Fortified,  I head for the Rijksmuseum. It is 22 years since I have been here so the first time I have seen the new building. It is stunning and like many museums is an exhibit in itself. 

I have booked a tour which is unlike me as I find tour guides verbose but this guide says she is only going to take us to a few paintings and it will only be an hour. I'm already feeling better. However, I could have listened to her all day. She has an excellent tactic of asking questions, and having answered a question correctly on a medieval painting she then turns to me quite often so I am kept on my toes. There's nothing like feeling intelligent and knowledgeable in a museum, even if it is only basically about people who are good at drawing pictures. The famous Night Watch by Rembrandt is undergoing restoration but it is still on display as it is a very laborious process and going to take years. I wonder if I will ever see it restored in my lifetime. 

I think our guide has been reading the art historians as she tells us that the little heater on the floor of the Milkmaid by Vermeer (yes that's what it is), is in fact a symbol of lust, due to the fact that you can put it under your skirt to warm things up. I would have thought that would have been a fire hazard. I find with art historians that they almost always bring it back to sex. I suppose that is what makes the world go round in the end. This is the best photo I could get without barging in. I think if Vermeer had known that so many people would be crowding round his paintings he would first have fainted, then put up his prices and made it a darn sight bigger. 

As I leave the museum I take photos of cyclists.  A word about bikes. Of course Amsterdam is full of them but they have their own pathways and seem very sensible. To be honest I am fed up with people at home complaining about cyclists jumping lights and not wearing crash helmets, both of which are common here (I confess to doing both on occasion). The latter is striking and the only helmets I have seen have been on children in carriers. I leave it to you to do your own research on bike fatalities in Holland!

After a lovely Italian lunch (when in Amsterdam), I go in search of two possibilities, the Oude Kerk (old church) and a canal boat trip. Neither materialise mostly because I can't be bothered and I am also quite tired, so I do a tram hop. I sit waiting for the tram and a Dutch lady asks if we can swap seats as she is about to smoke and she is upwind. Very thoughtful. The tram is 8 minutes in coming so there is plenty of time to share life stories. She used to live in Horsley and has an aunt in Bromley. I don't really have a clue about Kent. She then asks me if children in the UK still wear school uniforms, which she appears to think is quite quaint and also bemoans the fact that English is becoming the first language in Amsterdam. So many people serving do not speak Dutch she says. I've noticed this and think it is a change over the last few decades. I had even brushed up my Dutch on Duolingo but that was completely unnecessary, though fun (if only we'd had Duolingo at school). I take the opportunity to quiz her about getting on and off the trams. So on I get thinking I'm sorted. However I'm called by the member of staff who thinks I haven't swiped. I tell him I have, wave my phone and walk away down the tram. So getting off should be easy I think, just swipe, except I end up scrapping around trying to get out, very embarrassing. By now the tram is moving and I've missed the stop. I go back to the conductor who checks my ticket and it is fine. I find out later that could have just pressed the button and exited. The locals must've thought I was stupid. That was really the only drama of the day. Think I'll stick to the Metro. 

An evening stroll to see Amsterdam at night.. 

 

 

Garmin says 9.8 miles