Days 17 and 18–Amsterdam, The Netherlands

We woke up to Lego buildings. At least that’s how Neesh put it. Everything was blocky 60’s construction in the port area. Then we made a turn and had a little better view.

View from almost the balcony – day 17

First on the agenda, the Van Gogh Museum. We rushed out to catch the water taxi and were greeted by a huge cruise terminal, not unlike a mid sized airport. Finally out the door and then we just ended up doing a lot of looking around for it. Crap, next one in 35 minutes. So we took a taxi for 20 Euros, and the driver threw in some tidbits of knowledge on the way.

Arriving at the museum, we were greeted by a line. Of course, this is one of the most popular attractions in the city. About 20 minutes later we were inside. Unfortunately, they do not allow photography, so nothing to share there. The museum was very crowded, so the queues to view the paintings moved excruciatingly slowly. This was compounded by the cursed audio tours where people would stand in the prime spots forever listening to the narration. C’mon people. While I didn’t see the Sunflowers and Starry Night here, what I believe is his most famous self-portrait was there.

Being able to view the actual paintings and examine the brush strokes and textures was well worth it, however. “He made this” kept running through my head. It was also cool to examine the individual strokes up close and then back away to see the effect. Well worth it.

Next up we wanted to go into the center of town, get some lunch and walk around. At the Dam (the Queen’s Palace), we headed off on a pedestrian walkway. Again, not much for pictures here, as it was very crowded and we were in essentially tunnels.

Walking down the Rokin

I had no clue where we were headed, and eventually none at all as to where we were. It was kind of a refreshing change from staring at a map. We just followed the crowds and picture up some souvenirs, as well as 2 big blocks of yummy cheese for ourselves.

Across from the flower market

Typical of the many skinny buildings

We have a deal worked out. Neesh shops, I get to stop and try a new beer from time to time (and rest my feet). This works for both of us in the opposite, as I do my own share of picking up stuff, and she gets to rest her feet and have a rum and coke. The flower market was interesting, complete with cannabis starter kits, but lots of different flowers and, naturally, tulip bulbs.

One stall at the flower market

We eventually stumbled on a little plaza, and given the showers had now ended and it was getting warmer, plopped ourselves into a couple of chairs and had another drink, smoked away, and people watched – what you’re supposed to do in Europe, right? Steve and April called. “Where are you?” “I DON’T KNOW!” All I could tell is we were somewhere 0.9 km from the Dam, near a trolley, and oh there it is, we’re in Rembrandt Square. I couldn’t guide him to us since I couldn’t find it on the map at the time, and he couldn’t find it, either. As it turns out we walked quite a ways.

And no, I didn’t go into one of these.

Who plays pool stoned?

After about 6 hours, we had both had enough of walking about, and it seems like hit everything we could see, so we hopped a taxi back to the ship, keeping open the possibility of going back in. As it turns out, we were both beat enough, so we watched a couple of movies and went to sleep.

The next day was clear and warm. Dang it, we docked on the wrong day. Neither of us had any desire to make a dash run into town (all aboard at 1:15). Passengers are getting off and on here for the shorter segments of the trip. What I didn’t realize was there’s another mandatory muster today. Yuck. We also need to clear our passports with some British officials onboard for going into Southampton tomorrow. Double yuck. This “having to do things” is brutal.

ESPN2 came back on the TV today with a great bonus. Last night’s Red Sox/Tigers game. Better yet, they were using the NESN feed, so I’m getting my fix of Orsillo and Remy.

Sail away was interesting, passing through the city, many wind turbines, and then the country before we had to pass a lock to raise us up to sea level. It was an early night for us, as the ship was way too hot and made us sleepy. Off to Southampton in the UK tomorrow.

Interesting copper structure resembling a ship’s hull