Monday 9.27.2010

 Ah Amsterdam

Well here we are in good old Dutch Amsterdam with more canals than Venice, more prostitutes than Vegas, and more stoners than San Francisco. Our host Peter serves breakfast between 9 and 10 which we think is very civilized. Today there is a pile of pancakes, bacon and fruit with all the trimmings (21 toppings to be exact). Our breakfast buddies this morning are a couple from New Delhi who are very fun (they did the “Red Light” tour last night) and chatty. With Peter leading the conversation there are no uncomfortable pauses. Our Indian friends tell us that B&Bs don't exist in India because their culture requires that if someone knocks on your door you must provide food and a bed for them as they are messengers from God. To charge for that in your home would not be acceptable. Who knew?

One of the real perks that Peter provides is doing laundry for his guests. Before we go out for the day we present him with a bulging laundry bag with ten days worth of clothes.


We have light rain this morning that looks like it will last all day. Peter says the radar shows that it will clear in two hours but we are dubious. The first thing we notice when we hit the streets is that this is definitely a world city. Stockholm had the statuesque and fashionable Swedes, Oslo had the bold and wealthy Norwegians, Copenhagen the proud and feisty Danes, but this is something different altogether. We have plenty of folks of color, Hassidic Jews, Halal restaurants, stocky Dutch, and piercings and tattoos in every place imaginable. When people speak of the value of diversity, it is recognizable here with a very different beat, like it or not, than the other cities we have visited on this trip. When coupled with the 16th century architecture, the canals and the history, the current population completes a picture that is very interesting indeed. Even the Dutch language spoken in basso tones with elongated vowels adds an air of the exotic.


Unfortunately we view it all through each other’s umbrellas as the rain continues all day. We do a walking tour that is supposed to take three hours and we are out in the slop for six. It has something to do with, "I have to read the next page so we have to find an awning so you can hold my umbrella and I can dig this wet book out of my pocket to find out where we need to go next, and, by the way, where are we now?" Not overly pleasant but still entertaining.


The city is below sea level and the canals were built to capture the surface water so that the resulting land could become habitable. The canals form concentric circles extending out from the "centraal" train station. These canals are crossed by spokes of other canals and the streets of the city follow the circles and spokes in what appears to be an orderly fashion when looking at a map. When you are wandering around, however, you find that there are no parallel streets and if you follow a canal going south long enough, you will be going north. When combined with frequent street name changes, the loopy layout definitely requires that attention be paid.

And then there are the bicycles. Because the local powers that be have decided that the populace needs to ride bikes all the time, they are given the right-of-way over all other types of transportation including pedestrian. We have almost been dumped several times today as we cross the street with the light only to have to dodge bikes coming from the side. According to some estimates there are 1.6 million bikes in this city of 1 million people. Looking through umbrellas doesn’t improve our chances of survival.


Through it all we see the Palace/City Hall, the major squares and pedestrian malls and a pretty impressive flower market. The flower market is mostly selling bulbs to the tourists now, but we can imagine the summer displays.


We have no desire to go out again tonight so we hit the local grocery for meat, cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine. John thinks he also needs a chicken Caesar sandwich to make up for missing lunch. We tell Peter that he is a crappy weatherman and then entertain ourselves while watching old American TV and current Brit chef shows. Our laundry has arrived nicely washed and folded, but we do have an issue with a cream colored shirt that is now a tie-dyed pink. We’ll see about a solution in the morning.


Maybe the rain will be gone tomorrow


Today’s weather: Cold, rainy, miserable.