Amsterdam - Day 3

Note:  This blog was written yesterday.  Except for a few minutes on Thursday, we are without WiFi which means no TV either. I can't upload a video to the blog without WiFi.

I woke up at 6:06 am again this morning!  There is no doubt about it.  I, truly, am a princess.  Cathy told me so last night.  Even after trying to use pillows and my foam neck pillow under my hips, I could still feel the slate bed.  At this point, all I can do is dream of the moment I lay down in my own bed.  I may have to put a pillow over my face so the neighbours don't hear me moan!

At 8 am, I decided to walk around the streets of the area we are staying in.  I wanted to capture images of Amsterdam when it is early and few people are around.

The first thing I noticed is this is the time of day when trucks deliver goods to stores, hotel laundry is picked up or delivered and the streets are washed.  In a city this size, it makes sense that cleaning has to be done.  People drop their garbage even though an empty garbage can is nearby.  At the end of the day, however, garbage cans are overflowing in the busiest parts of A'Dam.

In Amsterdam cannabis is legal.  You can't walk very far without getting a whiff of pot.  It isn't a pleasant smell.  At eight in the morning, I saw people smoking a joint. There are 165 "coffee shops" in Amsterdam.  The average shop makes a pretty penny which is somewhere between 280,000 and 380,000 Euros a year.

The shop in this picture is at the corner of the street we are staying on.

There are side streets/alleys everywhere.  I walked them and came across lots of shops I probably wouldn't have noticed later when you're watching out of bicycles and people.

              Taken in the early morning.

                      Taken in the evening.

This is the area where our hotel is.  When we first got here and wasn't sure of how to get back to our hotel, it was nice to see this sign lit up because we knew we were in the right area of town.

There are so many types of shops.  There is no shortage of places to eat or buy anything you are looking for.

Just thought the tree was pretty through the window.

There are bicycles everywhere. They are leaning against anywhere that there is a free space.  What is surprising is that they aren't all locked up.  We noticed it was usually motorcycles that had large chain link locks on them.  Bicycle theft in Amsterdam is widespread: in 2005, about 54,000 bicycles were stolen, and every year between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles are retrieved from the canals.  Statistics in 2015 reported 442,693 households (850,000 residents) in Amsterdam altogether owned 847,000 bicycles—or 1.91 bicycles per household.  You can buy bicycle insurance.  It is recommended not only because your bike could get stolen or damaged but also in case you have an accident.  I'm thinking like running into someone and they are injured.  Bike insurance costs around 2.27€ a month.  That's pretty cheap for peace of mind.

Parked bicycles in an area where you can't miss the signs saying no bicycle parking.

We are around the corner from the red light district.  Officially, it is called De Wallen.  The first sex workers in the sex work area can be traced back to around the 1300s when De Wallen was still a trading port.  The first sex workers in the Red Light District had a loyal clientele consisting of sailors bringing merchandise into the area.  Prostitution in Amsterdam is as old as the city itself.

In a square on Damrak.  I noticed the word Euronext on the wall surrounding a Christmas tree and wondered what it was.  When I turned around, a building had the same word on it.  In front of the building was a bull just like the one I saw at the New York Stock Exchange.  I, then, noticed a ticker tape running across the entrance to the building so I asked a fellow going inside if I was looking at the stock exchange.  I was!  My God, I sometimes amaze myself!  Euronext was formerly called the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

There are 165 canals in Amsterdam.  The total length combined comes to 75 km. There are 1,281 bridges that cross the canals. On average, 100 people and 35 cars a year fall into the canal.  Often, passers-by are the first to be on the scene.  Whenever a car falls into a canal a special diving team of the Fire Brigade springs into action.  Along some canals, low guardrails that are about 5" tall have been installed to prevent cars from going into a canal.  Amsterdamers think they are silly.

I saw this car pulling out of a parking spot at the edge of the canal.  Look how close his tire is to the edge!  I am still trying to figure out how he got into his car.  Did he climb from the passenger's seat into the driver's?  Secretly, I was hoping I might see a car go into the canal.

You can see the guard rail on the left side of the picture.   It runs along the edge of the wall.

This is across from our hotel.  I can imagine boat's coming up to these doors to drop off wares back in the olden days.

Look how narrow the black coloured building is!  Bet they don't have big couches or beds.

Here's another view of the Schreierstoren where we had breakfast our first morning in A'Dam.  Our table was in front of the window on the left.

It's now 11:30 am.  Time to wake Cathy up again so we can go exploring more of A'Dam.  We left at noon and went to Febo.  It is a chain of Dutch walk-up fast food restaurants of the automat type. Founded in 1941 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, FEBO is most notable for this automatic format: a counter is available for purchasing French fries, beverages, and hamburgers.

I knew they sold a food called Kaassouffle which is is a Dutch snack of melted Gouda cheese inside a thin dough-based wrap which has been breaded and then deep-fried.  I had it the last time I was in A'Dam.  It was also on my list of things I wanted to eat on this trip.  The Kaassouffle was good.  Cathy liked it too.

Across from Febo was a delicatessen that sold cheese.  It looked like a store you'd see in an old movie.

We came across a market selling vegetables and cheese as well as flowers.  Once again the varieties and types of cheese as well as flowers is amazing.  I kept thinking of my son-in-law who loves cheese.  I don't know if it would be possible to try every kind of cheese in Amsterdam in a life time.

I wanted to take Cathy to see one of the 30 most Instagramable sights in Amsterdam.  We walked about 20 minutes to the Staalmeesterbrug (bridge).  I was there a year ago in the fall when there was still leaves on the trees so it was difficult to see the church tower in the distance. The bridge is a tourist attraction, but not always for the classic bridge itself. From the bridge there is a beautiful view of the tower of the Zuiderkerk, which has been captured by various artists. The most famous among them is, undoubtedly, Claude Monet.

This is Monet's painting of the church.  It was done in 1874.  It's called De Zuiderkerk, Amsterdam seen from the Groenburgwal.  Groenburgwal is the name of the canal the bridge goes across.

Using Google maps I tried to get us to a tram to take us to where I wanted to have lunch.  That was a fail.  On the bright side, we came across Amsterdam's largest daily flea market on Waterlooplein.  It is the place to pick up a bargain among pre-loved and vintage clothing, bikes, antiques and general knick-knacks.  It was one of the sights I wanted Cathy to see.

We laughed at this one particular part of the market.  It is found in the back corner.

Next was to go to another favourite restaurant.  Google maps failed me again.  We ended up walking a long time to get to the place to take the tram.  Sometimes you have to take your mind off of how long you've been walking.  I did.

So we caught the tram and headed to Mondoza Steakhouse.  It is an Argentinian steakhouse.  Amsterdam is full of them.  This one, however, I found last year after going to Anne Frank house.  I was not leaving Amsterdam until I had a hamburger there.  It is not like a run of the mill burger at home.  I have wanted this burger for over a year.  It was no longer on the menu but the owner made it especially for us.  Cathy thought it was good.  

Cathy was cold so asked for a regular cup of coffee with milk and sugar.  Did she get what she asked for?

After we paid, the owner asked if we were twins.  Cathy said we were sisters.  He said "Yes, but twin sisters?".   No tip for him!  haha I suppose that is much better than when the woman at the Victoria airport asked if we were mother and daughter! 

We left happy especially since the tram we needed to catch was waiting for us across the street.

This evening I booked tickets for us to go to the Xtracold Icebar.  We were given three chits for drinks.  One to use in a lounge where was had a Heineken beer.  The other two you use when you are in an ice room.  The premise of the ice bar is you are on an old sailing ship from 1759.  It is going on an expedition to the Artic.  There is a film of the captain telling you about the journey and to get ready to sail so you need to dress for it.  You are then given jackets and gloves to put on.  We walked into a room that was made to look like the deck of a ship that was frozen in ice.  The room was -10° Celsius.  Our shot glasses were made of ice.  Was it cold in there?  You bet.  My hands were freezing trying to take pictures.  Cathy and I had two shots of Nutella (that's what the worker told us to get).  The actual name of the liquor was Nougat Almond Vodka.  It was delicious.  No bite to it at all.  I said I hadn't had a drink in a while.  I actually had a bit of a buzz!  The bar tender said "We can make you an alcoholic quickly!".  We lasted 20 minutes in the freezer.  Even with gloves on, our hands got cold.  It was a neat experience.

We then headed back to take the tram to Amsterdam Centraal.  We got a shock when the sign at the tram stop read no trams are going to Station Centraal.  We learned it wasn't going there because the station is blocked. I asked the tram employee what do we do, she said take the Metro (underground train) which was right next to us.  That was easy.  A new experience for both of us.  When we got off the train, there was a bunch of policemen in full riot gear at the bottom of the stairs.  I asked one of the police officers what was going on.  He said there is a football (soccer) game in Amsterdam.  They have to be there in case riots break out.  This past September during the game between Ajax (a Dutch professional team based in Amsterdam) and Feyenoord someone threw flares onto the pitch and riots broke out.  The game had to be stopped. The police aren't taking any chances at the game between Ajax and AEK Athens.  BTW, Ajax won 3-1.  Cathy asked if we could have a picture taken with the policeman I was talking with.  He said sure.  His name is Daan.

These next pictures are from inside the train station.  Lovely lights and trees.

This is the crowd,  of what looked like mostly men, waiting to go to the football game.  Many were singing their team football songs.

Then we were off to go to the Red Light District or De Wellen as it is called in Amsterdam.  I used Google Maps to find it.  What made me laugh afterwards was that I walked through it three times earlier today and didn't know it.  It is only two blocks away from our hotel!

It is, to us anyway, a little sad that the women working there do this for a living.  We hope it's by choice.

After a short walk up one side of the canal, we decided to head back to the hotel.  I was craving wonton soup and since we were in Chinatown, I went into a restaurant and got a small soup to go.  It was good but not as good as the soup from Asian Kitchen.

There are art installations throughout the city.  We found this one of our way to De Wallen. 

The ststue is Alida Margaretha Bosshardt who  was an officer of the Salvation Army. She managed to keep dozens of Jewish children out of the hands of the Germans, for which she recieved the Yad Vashem award in 2004. In 1948 she started her charity work in the Red Light District in Amsterdam. For thirty years she provided practical assistance to the homeless, addicts and those working

in the prostitution.  In 2009, two years after she passed away, she was voted the Greatest Inhabitant of Amsterdam of All Time.

I wanted a snack so we went to look for a grocery store near our hotel.  Nothing was nearby.  You'd think with the number of cannabis stores, opening a store in this area would be a gold mine.  Plenty of people with the munchies?  We walked 10 minutes to Damrak and went into the first store was saw that sold chips or cheezies.  It is called American Supermarket and has a lit sign above the door with an American  flag on it.  The store is stocked with snacks, etc. that are supposedly imported from the U.S.  We picked up a bag of cheese balls and a bag of Cheetos.  Family size.  The cashier rang them in and said 29.98€.  I said we only have two bags.  He said the price was right and to go look at the price on the shelf.  We did.  He wanted 14.99€ for a bag of cheezies!  Well, you all know I'm vocal about things.  I said that is a rip off.  I'm not buying that.  We both put the bags back and left the store.  I've since read reviews about this store.  None are very pleasant.  I wonder if this store will be open in a year's time!  We walked three more minutes to a Jumbo (cheaper type of grocery store found all over the Netherlands).  We bought the cheezies there for 2.50€ a bag.

That was the end of our third day in Amsterdam.  I'll close with this shot of Cathy, the beautiful buildings, a cruise boat and the canal near Amsterdam Centraal.

Steps today - 22,963