19 September, 2023

Today we have a 240 kms trip ahead of us as we drive from Bremen into the Netherlands. We leave Bremen at 11:45 am and drive into an overcast and very windy day with the occasional downpour.

Instantly we know we have left Germany – the landscape is decidedly flat and there are double vowels everywhere.

Not to mention the odd ‘traditional’ windmill amongst the stands of modern wind turbines.

Neither of us had been to northern Netherlands before, hence the decision to visit Leeuwarden. Co-incidentally, we discover that Anne and Jurgen’s daughter, Nicola, studied wildlife management here.

Around 2.30 pm we arrive in Leeuwarden at our accommodation which is located on the edge of the old town.

Our B&B is the former home of one Wilco Julius van Welderen Baron Rengers (1835-1916) during his period as City Councillor of Leeuwarden from 1867-77. He later became Mayor of the city and Member of the First and Second Houses of Parliament.

In our room, the Royal Salon, there is a large portrait of him over the marble fireplace.

We are on the ground floor with a view to the outer city and also onto the narrow lane that leads to the old town and canals. Our parking is free (for a change) and easy to access behind the building.

Just as we venture out to do a quick recce of the town, it starts to rain, but the quaintness of the town distracts us from the inclement weather.

Like Bremen, the old town is on an island created and surrounded by a defensive moat, and it is also bisected by several canals. In the main old town square Lynn notices that the Specsavers building is not quite square and leans to the left. She makes the comment that perhaps the builder should have gone to Specsavers. LOL.

The region has been continuously inhabited since the 10th century. It came to be known as Leeuwarden in the early 9th century AD and was granted city privileges in 1435. It is the main economic hub of Friesland, situated in a green and water-rich environment. Built on reclaimed land, half the province is below sea level. Leeuwarden is a former royal residence and has a historic city centre, many historically relevant buildings, and a large shopping centre with squares and restaurants. Leeuwarden was awarded the title European Capital of Culture for 2018.

The exotic dancer Mata Hari was born in this city. So was the painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who added his middle name to his surname to be an early entry in alphabetical catalogues, and his fellow artist M. C. Escher. The town also has a link with Rembrandt: his first wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, born in 1612, was the daughter of a local grandee.

Internationalism is deeply-ingrained here. From Maria Louise of Hesse-Kassel (1688-1765), is descended every crowned head in modern Europe, including the late Queen Elizabeth II. Twice regent, Maria-Louise designed her own unostentatious, elegant palace, which dominates the fine main street to the light and airy Grote Kerk, where she is buried.

20 September, 2023

Would you believe it’s 9.30 am before we wake this morning? That’s about 12 hours’ sleep. We must have been more tired than we thought!

There are numerous cafes near our B&B so we walk to the nearest. No guns this morning but toys of another persuasion!

Keeping to the erotic theme, after breakfast we visit a statue of Mata Hari which is located outside the house where she was born.

Mata Hari, pseudonym of Margaretha Geertruida (Griet) Zelle (Leeuwarden, August 7, 1876 – Vincennes, October 15, 1917), was a Frisian exotic dancer and lady-in-waiting. During the First World War she was recruited as a spy. However, she was accused of double espionage and shot by the French. The question of whether she was really a double agent is still a matter of debate and has contributed to her legend.

We then walk across the island and over the moat to a round-a-bout at the end of Harlingerstraatweg to view an uncolourful monument to – naturally – the Friesian cow.

The Holstein Friesian is an international breed or group of breeds of dairy cattle. It originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland and in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the dominant breed in industrial dairy farming worldwide, and is found in more than 160 countries. It is known by many names, among them Holstein, Friesian and Black and White.

On our way to a viewing some interesting sailing vessels moored along the moat, the roadway starts to lift in order to let a number of pleasure boats move from one section of the moat to another.

Moored along the moat (Noorderstadsgracht) on the other side of the road there is a long line of what appear to be flat-bottomed sailing ships. These were built mainly for use in the Wadden Sea and the English Channel.

This ship type has no beam keel but characteristic of these vessels are the two leeboards and the extremely low draft of around 1-1.5 metres allowing sailing at low tide on large parts of the Wadden Sea. Usually built between 7 and 30 m in length they have 1 to 3 masts.

In the province of Friesland, flat-bottomed barges (mostly tjalks and prams) were used to transport their cargo (peat, fertilizer, sand) through shallow channels from Friesland to Westland and Randstad.

Nearby is Oldehove, a leaning and unfinished church tower in the medieval centre of Leeuwarden. Oldehove is also the name of an artificial mound on which the late 9th century church dedicated to Saint Vitus was built. It is over 39 metres tall and 1.99 metres off plumb.

In 1529, Jacob van Aaken started the construction of this leaning, crooked and ultimately unfinished tower. The intention was that a new church would be built next to the Oldehove to replace the old St. Vitus Church, but this never happened. The tower should have been more than 120 meters high. Things were not going well for master builder Jacob van Aaken, because the tower collapsed during construction. An attempt was made to continue laying bricks perpendicularly on the crooked substructure, but unfortunately this was without the desired result. In 1532, Jacob van Aaken was dismissed and replaced by Cormelis Frederiks. Construction stopped in 1533 and never resumed. The tower has never had any special functions, yet the tower has become one of the most important symbols of the city of Leeuwarden.

Leeuwarden, like most of the European towns we’ve visited so far, is also dedicated to the cyclist, with pedestrians being marginalised. Cars in the narrow lanes are the least of a pedestrians problems. Cyclists everywhere and even worse… silent electric motorcycles. Watch your step at all times.

Walking past the cinema and the theatre we come across these 2 plastic, outdoor “pissoirs” which accommodate 4 users each – thankfully not at the moment! We must be getting closer to Paris.

Every winter, skaters are poised for news that the ice on canals between the 11 cities of Friesland is, at every point, at least 15cm thick. Then, at only a day’s notice, 30,000 participants assemble for the 200km race from city to city, starting and ending at Leeuwarden. Or they would do, but rising temperatures mean that the last such event was in 1997; since the launch of the Elfstedentocht in 1909, the race has been staged only 15 times. Even the last sharp winter – remember the Beast from the East? – could not bring about a race to open Leeuwarden’s year as capital of culture. And so the city chain has been marked instead by the commissioning of 11 fountains, one in each city of the skaters’ route. Leeuwarden’s, opposite the railway station, shows two children’s faces in oversized profile, and the water takes the form of a mist.

Entitled ‘Love’ it consists of two 7-meter-high sculptures of a boy and a girl. They appear to be looking at each other, but their eyes are closed and their facial expressions are serene.

Usually, but not today, a 2-metre-high mist hangs around them. According to the artist, Plensa, ‘They dream, for children the future is a dream full of promises.’ The Spanish artist got his inspiration for the mist fountain when he saw the mist above the Frisian fields early in the morning. ‘In Friesland,’ he said, ‘the water comes from the ground.'”

Along the southern moat (Zuiderstadsgracht), there continues long lines of moored flat-bottomed sailing ships.

Just over the road from our B&B is the Library, the former city gaol.

Walking back into the old town we come to the original Stadhuis (Town Hall).

And, next door, its contemporary.

But, in the middle of the square is a small garden which seems to be a monumental garden dedicated to William of Orange.

As it turns out, William of Orange lived in the building to the right of the garden below, previously the Royal Residence, now the Het Stadhouderlijk Hof.

William IV, Prince of Orange (September 1, 1711 – October 22, 1751), was the first Hereditary Stadtholder of The Netherlands. he was born in Leeuwarden, the son of Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the Frisian branch of the House of Orange-Nassau, and of his wife Marie Luise of Hesse-Cassel. He was born six weeks after the death of his father.

William succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders. In 1733 William was named a knight of the Order of the Garter. On March 25, 1734 he married Princess Anne, daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. In 1739 William inherited the estates formerly owned by the Nassau-Dillenburg branch of his family, and in 1743 he inherited those formerly owned by the Nassau-Siegen branch of his family.

In April 1747 the French army entered Flanders. In an effort to quell internal strife amongst the various factions, the States-General of the Netherlands appointed William to the hereditary position of General Stadtholder of all seven of the United Provinces. William and his family moved from Leeuwarden to The Hague.

Which means we have come full circle as far as William is concerned, having visited the Museum of Orange Heritage in Sloan’s House, Loughall, County Armagh on 27 January, 2023 – the museum being dedicated to the Orange Order since its inception in Ireland in 1795.

On our way back to the B&B we pass by De Waag, the weighing house. The oldest mention of a weighing house in Leeuwarden dates from 1483 and it is assumed that there was a weigh house in Leeuwarden as early as the fourteenth century.

The weighing house mentioned in 1483 probably stood just east of the current building. The weighing house that stands on Waagplein today was built around 1590. At that time it was mandatory for a market trader to have his goods weighed at the weighing house. This obligation mainly applied to (wholesaler) traders in meat and dairy. Today it is a lunch cafe.

Tonight we are trying one of our host’s restaurant recommendations: Dax Gastrobar on Grote Hoogstraat. And it appears that Ruthger puts his money where his mouth is – as we go to sit down he and his partner are seated next to us and are in the middle of their meal.

21 September, 2023

We have now been on the road for one year. Inflation and a very poor exchange rate to the Australian Dollar has so far made this past year about 50% more expensive than our first 2-year trip to Europe in 2014/2015. We are about to have to buy more Euros and the exchange rate has dropped a further 10% to 0.60. This further supports our reason for early retirement as I would hate to be just starting out on our 10 year travels.

It is raining again this morning so we sleep in again until after 9:00 am. After a light breakfast in our room and coffee and cake at a local bakery I head back to finalise the blog while Lynn goes to the Fries Museum (as in Friesland).

On my return our B&B host lets me know that they did my washing and returned it to our room and replaced our towels. No wonder this place gets a 9.3 rating.

The Fries Museum was founded in 1881 and In the early decades this local museum on the Turfmarkt was focussed on typical Hindelooper goods and other Frisian curiosities that had been collected by the local preacher-writer Joost Hiddes Halbertsma.

A further important boost to the collection occurred when William III of the Netherlands bequeathed many portraits from the collection of the Stadhouderlijk Hof.

The Frisian architect Abe Bonnema initiated the new building. When he died in 2001, he left 18 million euros to the Museum. The new museum on Wilhelminaplein was designed by Hubert-Jan Henket. On 13 September 2013, the building was opened by Queen Máxima.

The Museum’s collection consists of 1 million objects and is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history from the years 1200 to 2000.T It has won the Global Fine Art Award which is sometimes nicknamed the Museum-Oscar.

The Museum has 3 floors of exhibits: the current highlight being the Christoffel and Kate Bisschop exhibition – advertised by a massive 3-floor drop poster in the museum entrance space.

On the 1st floor is everything Friesland. One is the iconic Hinderloopen Room. Apparently the Frisian town of Hinderloopen used to be a real metropolis. On their trading trips Hinderloopers brought furniture from Amsterdam, fabrics from India and porcelain from China and incorporated these into their homes and colourful traditional dress.

Photographs printed from glass negatives show the transition from traditional ways. Here the Osinga family in front of their barn, 1911. All but one of the girls are wearing traditional dress with headpieces.

Of interest is a portrait of Egbert Roels Kuipers and Jantje Tjeerds Wiegersma commissioned by their sons and painted by Piet Mondrian in 1901 – not a straight black line nor primary colour in sight!

Besides a photograph, only 3 things of Mata Hari’s are on display: her tiara and breast plate.

In the 18th century millions of paint-decorated tiles and dishes left the Frisian potteries in the village of Makkum and the cities of Harlingen and Bolsward to be shipped all over the world.

In only a few years after his emigration to London, Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s start as a painter of life-like paintings of scenes from the classical world began to rise. Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), who was born in the Frisian town of Dronrijp, painted this scene in 1881. He called it Amo te ama me, ‘I love you, so love me too.’

Between 1920-30 Tjerk Bottema liked to play with shapes and here he reduced the farms, cattle and trees to the mere basics by leaving out as much detail as possible.

Having seen the tower a couple of days ago, it’s fascinating to see it depicted in 1809 by Nicolaas Baur. Skating is an age-old tradition long before 1809 when the whole of the City of Leeuwarden turned out to see the skating race for young, unmarried women.

The 2nd floor is dedicated to the main exhibition. The collection delves into the personal life and art of Christoffel and his English wife Kate Bisschop-Swift and shows how the Frisian artist used the past as a great inspiration for the present (1828-1904), in particular incorporating Hinderlooper daily life and artifacts – his trademark.

Sharing the 2nd floor is also the Resistance Museum showing the impact of WWII on Friesland. Chillingly, a photo of Nazi-occupied Leeuwarden on 3 April 1943.

Finally, the top floor is dedicated to contemporary artists in an exhibition entitled: “Seeds of Memory”.

Here an incredible tapestry by Mercedes Azpilicueta (Argentina, 1981) using fruits and weeds, ear irons and silver bowls, writers and poets to interweave people, plants and objects in a rewritten history of the Frisian Orangewoud estate which has been home to workers, poets, rebels and the royal family.

Walking home Lynn detours via Grote of Jacobijnerkerk – the Great or Jacobin Church.

In 1245 followers of Saint Dominicus – Dominicans or Jacobins – founded a monastery in Leeuwarden. Building of the monastery church began around 1275 and finished around 1300. A large part of the original building still exists. In 1580 the last roman catholic sermon was held and from then on the church became strictly protestant.

In 1588 the wife of the first Frisian stadtholder (governor) Willem Lodewijk of Nassau, Anna of Orange, daughter of prince William of Orange (William the Silent) was buried in the chancel. During 2 centuries, the church was the burial place of the Frisian stadtholder family, the ancestors of the royal family.

During the French Revolution in 1795 these remains were destroyed for the most part. However, in 1948 the crypt was restored on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reign of Queen Wilhelmina. Only the black marble crest of arms on the wooden tomb are remains of the original monument for Anna of Orange by the Flemish artist, Johan Schoorman.

The famous Orange Entrance on the outside (above which a little tree with orange apples can be seen) was also restored at that time in 1948. This was the private entrance used by the governors to access the chancel and their ‘bench’ opposite the pulpit.

5 minutes’ walk from the B&B is the Kanselarij (Chancellery). The Chancellery for the Court of Friesland was built between 1566-1571 and displays late-Gothic elements. The statue of Charles V on the top gable presides over the administrative, legal and military powers. The facade also has statues of the Seven Virtues and prosperity.

Construction concurred with the beginning of the revolt against Spanish rule, resulting in financial shortages with the south extension not being built. The Renaissance-style balcony with its double stairway and heavy parapet dates from 1624.

The Court was disbanded in 1795, after which the building was used as a law court, military hospital, barracks and prison. In 1895 it housed the Provincial Council Archives and Library. In 1995 it became part of the Fries Museum.

22 September, 2023

Today continues to be cool (16 Deg. C) windy, overcast and raining for our 1.45 hour drive to Amsterdam.

We drive along the A31 which takes us past Harlingen on the coast, down through Zurich and onto the A7 – the Afsluitdijk – where it joins North Holland. On the seaward side of the road is a high dyke.

The Afsluitdijk (“Shut off Dyke”) is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from the village of Zurich in Friesland provice to Den Oever in North Holland province, over a length of 32 kms, a width of 90 metres and an initial height of between 6.7-7.4 metres. It is a fundamental part of the larger Zuiderzee Works, damming off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea, and turning it into the fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer.

Increases to the height of the Afsluitdijk have been made several times since 1958, when height increases were undertaken during regular maintenance periods as a result of the North Sea Flood of 1953, with the section between the Stevinsluizen and Lorentzsluizen sluice complexes seeing the crest level raised to 7.8 metres. Major upgrade works commenced in 2019 which will see a further increase in the height of the dam, by approximately 2 metres.

The countryside continues to be flat, although with more trees in North Holland, and the traditional windmills replaced by rows of wind turbines marching across the terrain..

We arrive at the hotel, on the north side of Amsterdam around 1:00 pm. Apparently there is a conference on at the event space next door so the hotel is booked out with lots of young ones. While we wait for our room to be ready we park the car underground and sit in the lobby.

The location of the hotel is on the Motorkanaal and across the IJ river from Central Station and the old town centre. Its location also makes it easy to access from the motorway and provides good but expensive parking. Although it would have been desirable to stay in historical accommodation in town, there was no parking available. Plus we are only 10 minutes’ walk to the Noorderpark Metro station and 15 minutes’ walk the free ferry that crosses to Central Station.

Just before our room becomes available at 3:00 pm we see Lauren, Lynn’s friend from NYC, walk through the front door. We last saw Lauren when we visited her in NYC about 4 years ago. She happened to be in Norway so when she realised we would be here in Amsterdam made sure she spent some days with us before her flight back to NYC on Monday.

After we all unpack we meet up in the bar for celebratory drinks and snacks. We decide to check out the ‘hood for restaurants only to find that, surprisingly, there aren’t that many about. There is one on the waterfront called the Lowlander Botanical Bar & Restaurant which we discovered, once seated, is vegetarian so we just have an expensive starter and leave.

After getting some supplies at the supermarket across the road we decide to eat at the hotel restaurant, only to find that they are only serving rudimentary mains tonight such as hamburgers, fish and chips and pizza. The reason being that the kitchen is serving refugees tonight, in the section next to us, and actually their grub looks pretty good! So we share an antipasta platter and retire upstairs to catch up over a glass of wine and dessert.

23 September, 2023

The weather forecast for today is supposed to be cool, wet and windy so Lynn reschedules our walking tour to the same time tomorrow. Instead we walk the 15 minutes to the ferry, getting drenched on the way, and arrive 5 minutes later near Central Station.

Here we buy a 48-hour unlimited rail, bus and metro ticket for each of us then promptly catch a No. 17 tram to Koningsplein to visit the flower market.

Apparently the market is the only floating flower market in the world. The sellers’ stalls stand on houseboats and evoke the old days when the market was supplied by boat.

Tulips, naturally, are the predominant flowers for sale – be that bulb, fresh or wooden varieties – plain or frilled, and even black ones (“Queen of the Night”). Bulbs are even ready to post home.

Also for sale are conifers, sunflowers and dried flowers. Interspersed with the flower stalls are the ubiquitous souvenir stalls and some cheese shops.

The market is on the Singel canal between Koningsplein and Muntplein where the Munttoren (“Mint Tower”) is located and where the Amstel river meets the canal.

Originally the tower was part of the Regulierspoort, one of the main gates in Amsterdam’s medieval city wall. The gate, built in the years 1480s, consisted of two towers and a guard house. After the gate went up in flames in a 1618 fire, only the guard house and part of the western tower remained standing. The tower was then rebuilt in Amsterdam Renaissance style in 1620 with an eight-sided top half and elegant open spire featuring four clock faces and a carillon.

Mint Tower refers to the fact that the guard house on the side of it was used to mint coins in the 17th century. In the Rampjaar (“year of disaster”) of 1672, when both England and France declared war on the Dutch Republic and French troops occupied much of the country, silver and gold could no longer be safely transported to Dordrecht and Enkhuizen (where coins were normally minted), so the guard house of the Munttoren was temporarily used to mint coin.

The present guard house is not the original medieval structure but a 19th-century fantasy. The original guard house, which had survived the fire of 1618 relatively unscathed, was replaced with a new building during 1885–1887 in Neo-Renaissance style.

To replace our walking tour we opt to visit the Rijksmuseum instead as the Van Gogh Museum is sold out today and tomorrow. Both Lynn and Lauren have been to the Rijks before, but I haven’t.

I quite enjoy it as it has quite a variety of material on display arranged according to the periods of 1600-1650, 1700-1800, 1950-2000 plus special collections. The items range from the paintings of Dutch masters – most notably Rembrandt’s “Night Watch” – Delftware, Meissen, jewellery, furniture, arms, model ships to a library.

A nice surprise is stumbling across a painting of Napoleon that we also saw in the museum in New Orleans. State portraits, such as this painting, were distributed throughout the French empire. Napoleon initially reigned in the Netherlands though his brother, Louis. In 1810 he took personal control and made the Netherlands part of France.

Despite not being able to visit the Van Gogh Museum we get to see one of his self portraits. Vincent moved to Paris in 1886, after hearing from his brother Theo about the new, colourful style of French painting. Wasting no time, he tried it out in several self-portraits. He did this mostly to avoid having to pay for a model. Using rhythmic brushstrokes in striking colours, he portrayed himself here as a fashionably-dressed Parisian.

Today, the “Night Watch” can’t be viewed up close as it is behind glass. The aim of the project, “Operation Night Watch” is to conserve the painting for the future. The research began in summer 2019 and is continuing in full view of the visiting public in a specially-designed glass chamber.

Rembrandt’s largest and most famous painting was made for one of the three headquarters of Amsterdam’s civic guard. These groups of civilian soldiers defended the city from attack. Rembrandt was the first to paint all of the figures in a civic guard piece in action. The captain, dressed in black, gives the order to march out. The guardsmen are getting into formation. Rembrandt used the light to focus on particular details, like the captain’s gesturing hand and the young girl in the foreground. She was the company mascot. The nickname Night Watch originated much later, when the painting was thought to represent a nocturnal scene.

Unfortunately the magnificence of the Night Watch has been diminished as it suffered several indignities in its 377-year history: in 1715, Rembrandt’s large-scale painting was cut down in order to fit a new room when it was transferred from a militia headquarters in Amsterdam to the city’s Town Hall. Originally 400 cm x 500 cm (13’1″ x 16’4″) in size, the still enormous painting now measures 3.6 metres × 4.4 metres (11’9″ feet × 14’5″).

To see what it might have looked like, adjacent to it in the Museum is this painting a year later in 1643 by Bartholomeus van der Helst entitled: “Militia Company of District VIII under the Command of Captain Roelof Bicker”.

Like “The Night Watch”, this painting was made for the great hall of the Kloveniersdoelen in Amsterdam. Van der Helst did not line up the more than 30 archers in a static row but positioned the ones in the lightest clothing in front at reglar intervals. Its dimensions are – height: 235 cm (7’8″); width: 750 cm (24’7″).

After 2 hours of walking around the Museum I need a rest so we decide to take the Tram and Metro back to the hotel for a 2-hour break. Lauren and I hardly get on the tram when the driver takes off like Daniel Ricciardo resulting in both of us falling backwards and squashing a couple of other passengers!

Time to head back into town to make our 5:45 pm time slot at the Restaurant Max. We get drenched again walking to the Metro station but at least it is a 5 minute shorter walk than to the ferry.

At last, the weather starts to clear once we are in town and for our short walk to the restaurant.

Lauren has chosen Restaurant Max for its high rating on TripAdvisor for “the best place to eat Indonesian food in Amsterdam”. Apparently, an Indonesian “rice table” is a quintessential Dutch dining experience.

Lynn tells me she is experiencing deja vu. When she first traveled to Amsterdam in 1985 the tour guide said that he would take her group to “the best food in Amsterdam.” Here she was expecting Dutch food, only to find they end up at an Indonesian restaurant which, of course, would more likely be available in Australia than Dutch.

Needless to say, the food is exquisite, along with the 2 bottles of rioja!

The walk back to the metro is very pleasant. The tourist have gone home and the twilight seems to bring out the colours of the buildings and flowers along the canals. It seems that the rainy weather has passed for the time being.

24 September, 2023

Today’s weather forecast for a sunny day with temperatures around 20 Deg. C delivers.

We take the Metro direct to Rokin then walk back towards the meeting point for our walk at Beursplein past Dam Square.

While we wait for the appointed hour of 2:00 pm we have a coffee in the sunshine from the Grand Cafe and in front of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange – appropriate, given the shared experience of the 3 of us having worked in investment/banking over the years.

Our walking tour group is around 13 strong lead by a vivacious Amsterdammer named Esi.

After a brief history of the Netherlands and Amsterdam we walk past the Damrak and head immediately towards the Red Light District. Disappointingly, “there’s nothing to see here!”

Nearby we arrive at the Waag, a 15th-century building on the Nieuwmarkt in the centre of Amsterdam. It was originally a city gate. The current name refers to its later function as a weighing house. The building has had a range of other functions, including guildhall, museum, fire station and anatomical theatre where Rembrandt initially used to draw pictures depicting surgical and anatomical procedures.

Some of the canals have houseboats on them ranging from barges to a shed on a raft. There are around 2400 houseboats within the Amsterdam city centre, all connected to services, and quite a few are rented out as holiday lets.

Next we swing by Waterlooplein where we learn that during WWII this area was the Jewish Quarter. Towards the end of the war all the houses were deserted and as the remaining locals were freezing to death, they scavanged as much furniture and wooden building materials as they could to burn to keep warm. At the end of the war the shells of houses were demolished so now the area has more modern housing.

Here Esi offers us all an Amsterdam treat: Stroopwafels. Yum!

Walking towards the University we walk past a building which has the Amsterdam coat of arms on it which we had also previously seen on a flag: 3 white Xs on a red and black background. According to one theory, the crosses symbolize the three plagues that hit Amsterdam, namely water, fire and the plague. However, this symbolism is also attributed to the colors: red is fire, white is water and black is plague.

In a University building, which was once a hospital, we stop in a long passageway which is now a second-hand book market.

Lastly, we arrive at Dam Square where Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the best-known and most important locations in the city and the country. Today there seems to be a rowdy demonstration taking place.

On the west end of the square is the neoclassical Royal Palace, which served as the city hall from 1655 until its conversion to a royal residence in 1808. Beside it is the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). The National Monument, a white stone pillar designed by J.J.P. Oud and erected in 1956 to memorialize the victims of World War II, dominates the opposite side of the square. Also overlooking the plaza are the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and the upscale department store De Bijenkorf. These various attractions have turned the Dam into a tourist zone.

After our tour we decide that a canal boat ride would give us another perspective on the city so we walk the short distance to the Damrak basin and jump on a 1-hour cruise. You can’t visit Amsterdam without a canal cruise.

The boat turns right into Oosterdok then right again into Oudeschans past the Montelbaanstoren.

The Montelbaanstoren is a tower from 1516 at Oudeschans 2. The name arose because the Duke of Alva (Alba) wanted to build a castle near this tower and gave this castle the name Monte Albano . The tower was then called “Monte-Albaens-tooren”, which was popularly corrupted to Montelbaanstoren. The tower is nicknamed Malle Jaap , because the bells of the tower once started playing spontaneously at irregular times.

Montelbaanstoren was built after an attack by the Duke of Gelre on the Lastage (during which it was completely burned down) as a watchtower over the Zuiderzee. For this purpose, a new canal was dug on the east side, the current Oude Schans. Where it approached the IJ, a watchtower was erected as part of the fortifications of Amsterdam.

In 1606 the tower lost its function. A decorative crown in Renaissance style was then placed on it, designed by city architect Hendrick de Keyser. Rembrandt, who lived nearby, drew the tower in 1644, but without De Keyser’s superstructure.

At the end of Oudeschans we turn left into the Amstel River then immediately right into Herengracht where we get to see the view of “7 bridges in a row”.

We cruise the full extent of Herengracht until we turn right into Brouwersgracht then left into the lock at Singel.

This brings us to Open Havenfront where we cruise past Centraal Station then back into the Damrak basin.

Must be time for dinner so we walk to the nearby red light district once again but this time we walk down that passageway. Only 1 sex worker is in her window, clad in mismatched bra, knickers and high heels and perched on a stool.

Conveniently, Chinatown (or in the case of Amsterdam, China Street) borders the district so we pick one restaurant out of several on Zeedijk and order some dim sum and a pot of Chinese tea.

Some unusual plates on the menu including cold jellyfish, steamed cattle organs and steamed cow stomach in black bean sauce – for the adventurous!

25 September, 2023

Lauren must depart the hotel at 8:00 am for her noon flight to NYC so we need to meet her downstairs at 7:50 am.

This means that I am up in time to see today’s sunrise! Big hugs, au revoirs, we wave her off in her taxi and hit the breakfast buffet.

Since we are so far behind in our blog writing we plan to spend the remainder of the day catching up. Tomorrow morning we leave Amsterdam for a short drive to Delft which is just outside The Hague. It is only about a half hour drive away so we will call into a laundromat on the way.

After a long day catching up on the blog and other “admin” stuff we decide to just go to the hotel restaurant for dinner. On the day we arrived at the hotel we had planned to have dinner in the same restaurant but found that the restaurant only had veggie burgers and rubbish pizzas as they were feeding a bunch of refugees (who looked over fed, wore designer clothing, had iPhones and could afford to buy cigarettes).

The hotel restaurant was advertising their proper menu on the room TV but when we go downstairs they again tell us that they are busy feeding the refugees and that nothing is available for hotel guests. WTF! Again the “refugees” were hoeing into some excellent looking burritos, nachos, and chicken dinners. I would be more than happy to be able to access their menus but no, nothing is available to hotel guests.

Since there are no restaurants in this area we have to go over to the supermarket and buy soggy baguettes for dinner. Now, I am not against looking after legitimate refugees but there is no wonder that we get “refugee fatigue” when they get priority at our expense when they are definitely not seriously struggling. Time that these guys go home and fix their domestic “issues” there. There were no children or single mothers in this group just young adults looking for a free handout.