The Long Vacation: A well regulated Gomorrah

Ah yes, contrasts. Ten hours in a plane and a whole new world unfolds. The Netherlands and India are probably as far opposite as possible. Where India is unkempt and rubbish-strewn, Holland is well-scrubbed and orderly. Where in India a speaker of English was a pleasant surprise, in Holland one could assume some proficiency from nearly everyone. Holland shop fronts were all closed up with windows and neatly arranged shelves. Water could be trusted for drinking. And on and on.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Queen’s Day. This is a holiday of somewhat more magnitude than St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. Fortunately we’d already been told of this and booked a hotel early for a somewhat decent price. It was a bit of a disappointment at first. The place resembled a flophouse with a single doorway on the street and a full flight of steep narrow stairs to a combination front desk/dayroom/computer room. After checking in we discovered our room was another four flights up. When Liz entered the room she was even more disappointed by the smell of cat urine. Not the shabbiest place we’ve been, but close. Then she looked out the window. What we had was a 5 dollar room with a million dollar view! Considering hotel prices around Amsterdam we consider this a qualified win. Certainly, Queen’s Day is a helluva show. Streets full of people, everybody wearing orange. Every few hundred feet is a bar with music blaring onto the street, from 60’s rock to rap to country to reggae. Souvenir booths and street food lining the streets which are closed to traffic. All of it happening right under our window.

View from our window

Also this

And this

Murphy, resident cat in dayroom, office, computer room.

Steep, narrow 18th century staircase.
We were 5 flights up.

　

Since it was early afternoon, we had the rest of the day to explore this amazingly compact city and see a little of everything Amsterdam has to offer. Museums, cathedrals, castles, cafés, restaurants, coffee shops (coffee isn’t the main menu item here), curious little picture windows with scantily clad ladies visible, live sex shows (not right there, you gotta pay heavily for the privilege) all within a surprisingly short walk. Everyone kept commenting on what a fine day they’d gotten. The impact of that didn’t sink in for a couple of days. Queen’s Day was pretty much all the sun we’d see here and certainly the warmest day. We wandered the streets and narrow alleys all afternoon, having a ball. By 9 or 9:30 we fell into bed, fatigued and somewhat intoxicated by a little of this and that.

Queen's Day street scenes

Next morning, up pretty early and out observing the aftermath of the big party. Also trying to get cash to fulfill our payment obligation to the hotel. No credit, cash only, it’s that kind of place. Small problem. All ready tellers require an imbedded chip that my cards didn’t have. Had to pay a premium to a moneychanger (no problem finding one of those here), who would happily trust my card to get the needed Euros.

At 11:30 we met up with Audrey and Jorrit who we’d originally met in Australia. They showed us a great time! They took us to Zaanse Schans, a Dutch equivalent of Mackinac Island or Old Williamsburg. Lots of windmills, all but one dating back to Holland’s golden age. The operating one was a working sawmill, built from original plans by rabid enthusiasts. The whole thing was wonderful! Thanks again, Audrey and Jorrit for a great time! We also spent the night with them in their beautiful house and had dinner the next day at a most unusual Japanese restaurant along with another couple, there to help celebrate Jorrit‘s 30^th birthday. Up to 6 courses of sushi and other Japanese delicacies with 6 selections each, all for 20 Euros. We had to admit defeat by the 4^th round.

Our hosts, Audrey and Jorrit

Like some other cities we’d visited, Amsterdam had a free walking tour. Our guide, Dave, was an expatriate Irishman who walked our legs off all over the old city. Since Amsterdam is actually quite small, in three hours we’d crossed it north to south and east to west, crossing over many of its 300 bridges and seeing many of the churches and museums.

　

On our last day, we finally managed to get to the Rijksmuseum early enough to beat the crowds and get inside. Lots of Old Masters, headed by Rembrandt. I had never appreciated how photographically real these paintings are. Every fold of cloth and even the edges of books done with exquisite detail. Also lots of silverwork, woodwork and porcelain, much of it done as paintings, suitable for framing. We finished up with yet another walking tour of Amsterdam vice- marijuana and prostitution mainly. Sorry, no free samples and the ladies would take great exception to being photographed. Of course, since these vices are legal there seems to be actually a bit less of them than in some other cities we’d seen. For example, even in Hanoi, as puritan a city as I’ve seen (not even facebook allowed to sully the citizen’s psyches), a single man would hear tuk-tuk drivers offering girls and weed and hinting of other illegal available delights.