A Full-time Life

AMSTERDAM

It's Thanksgiving Week here in the US and we have so much to be thankful for  -- we had so many good days here in Oregon this summer and fall -- and took lots of pictures.  But our trip to Europe  has consumed almost every one of our blog posts lately.  When we got "re-Oregonized" back in July, I thought it was a joke  when I said I'd probably be blogging about our 'grand tour' until it was time for us to go back to our Florida winter home.  But here we are in real life getting close to that departure  and yet  in blog-land we're still on our early-summer European trip.    (And I'll definitely still be blogging about Oregon after we get back to Florida!)

 

Amsterdam has over 1200 bridges and 165 canals.  

But the end is in sight.    This post is about Amsterdam -- and Amsterdam was the last stop on our European tour. 

The City started around a dam in the Amstel River -- all of the land around the river was originally marshy, but it was made liveable by draining the swamp and building the canal system.

 

 

 

We saw this banner or sign everywhere in ordinary shops and stores -- at first, we thought  Amsterdam was capitalizing on its reputation as somewhat of an  "adult" (X-rated)  city*.   (A little frighteningly for us at the time,  the banner even hung on the window of our hotel.)   

But fortunately, we learned  that this banner is actually Amsterdam's historic coat of arms -- the white crosses on the black background represent St. Andrew's Cross (because he was a fisherman and in the 1500s, Amsterdam was a fishing village).  Or, in another version, the crosses stood for  the three perils that the City once faced -- flood, fire, and plague.   I  like either of those versions better than what we first thought.      

*And yes, we did walk through that part of town and no I did not take any pictures.  And now we can say we've been there.    (We actually felt completely safe everywhere in the City.)

 

 

Everyone knows that we are drawn to water and boats and so of course Amsterdam was right up our alley canal.  We saw all kinds of  tour boats (we took one) and many personal pleasure boats, but the most fascinating to us was the many many live-aboard houseboats docked right along busy downtown streets .   Some were beautifully kept, some nearly derelict.   These boats are not cheap lodging.  The  sign in the window of the center boat  says "For Sale by Sotheby's."   That firm does not deal in low-rent housing!    Our canal boat tour guide somewhat satisfied our curiosity about how space rental and maintenance concerns were handled.    I think we may have been the first people who asked that kind of question.  

 

Dutch architecture.   

 The tall narrow houses were built because they used to be taxed by width.   Some homes along the River were built on stilts because of the sandy soil.  They've settled over the years and now appear to be leaning forward.  

Koninkluk Paleis  (The Royal Palace)

 

 

Views of Zuiderkerk (South Church) from the Staalstraat Bridge

Part of the reason I blog is to clarify the memories.     I used to imagine  (when I started blogging)  that someday, when we got too old to travel and explore, we could sit in our rocking chairs and read about what "adventures" we'd had.    I'm grateful that  (as of today anyway)  neither of us has yet reached that point.    Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

  

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to the hosts: 

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;   ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; TUESDAY TREASURES;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and  FRIDAY  BLISS; and WANDERING CAMERA

 

 

 

 

KINDERDIJK AND (on-our-own again) in HAARLEM

We arrived at Kinderdijk (The Netherlands) in mid-afternoon on the last full day of our River Cruise.  This charming town is a living historical museum with  19 still-functioning windmills.  It is the only place in the world with so many windmills so close together. 

 

 

 Built in the 18th Century, the Kinderdjik windmills harnessed the power of wind to reclaim land from the sea, making it possible to cultivate and settle the area as well as to prevent flooding.  All 19 remain in working order today.   The area has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We enjoyed a short talk about the history of the area  and a guided tour of the windmills including a re-creation of the original living quarters inside one that is open to the public.   (People do live in some of these windmills -- the original structure and function must be maintained.)   

 

 

That night was our final one on the Viking Skirnr -- the  boat docked at Amsterdam at 4 the next morning.   The ship's staff handled final disembarking  with great efficiency.    Because we were staying in The Netherlands, we were the among final group to disembark.  We had time for the on-board breakfast buffet and coffee... and time to wonder how we would adjust to not being able to count on breakfast and coffee automatically appearing every morning as soon as we were ready for it! 

 

 

Haarlem, The Netherlands

We were called when our Taxi was ready at the dock; our luggage was brought out by the staff.  And -- just like that -- we were on our own in The Netherlands!  I'd say 'back to the real world' except we were in a whole new and beautiful country -- not at all our usual world!   Off we went to Haarlem where "we" (meaning the travel planner of the family, not me) had booked an Air B&B.    

 

Top left:  the street marker is on the corner of Scheepmakersdijk,  where our  Haarlem "home" was located.  Upper right and lower left pictures are outside and inside the B&B.  Center picture is the city gate, a remainder of the wall that once surrounded the city.  Lower right is a neighborhood  Canal.  

Back at home before the trip we'd actually thought of Haarlem as a suburb of Amsterdam and had pictured ourselves taking the train into the big city several times during the days we had booked at our B&B.   But, to our delight, we found Haarlem to be a perfect city on its own.  We fell in love with it -- and had no wish to leave during the time we had booked.

 

 

We walked the canals and narrow streets every day,  found the neighborhood shops and cafes delightful, enjoyed people watching,  and  explored every nook and cranny we could.  We felt comfortable just living on our own (for a change at this point).  Even making morning coffee is a small  adventure in a new place.  (Especially coming right after time on a cruise.)

 

 

This is just a little hand-made sign that someone had put in their apartment window -- but  I liked the sentiment (even if it is not quite grammatically correct).     The City was full of life, busy without being frenetic.   A perfect place to re-adjust to real life after the somewhat un-real existence on the cruise ship.

 On that same street there was an office for "Expat Services" so I assume that's the reason for the English sign.  Almost everyone we met spoke excellent English, but most signs here were in Dutch (as of course they should be). 

 

 

   We loved the open air cafes, whether they were downtown or along the canals.   And of course we enjoyed looking at water and boats.  

 

 

 

We read that there are at least two bicycles for every person in The Netherlands.  Above are some of them -- parked at the Haarlaam Train Depot.  We've heard and read that some pedestrians are intimidated by bicycle riders.  We didn't have any problems either here or later in Amsterdam (we did go back to spend a few days there at the end of our time in Europe).  

  

 

In fact, we found it charming that everyone rode them!  Especially the families, such as  the moms, dads, mom-to-be, and even grandparents!    (All snapped while we ourselves were   sitting at  outdoor cafes watching people and trying not to feel lazy.) 

 

 

Our  days in Haarlaam went by too quickly! On the morning of the fourth day, we schlepped our suitcases a few blocks from our little apartment to that train station (unlike getting off the ship -- here in the real world, there were no porters to carry our luggage).  Here we hopped on the "local" back to Amsterdam, where we caught a longer-distance train to the next country we would be fortunate to visit.  

 

Linking to the following sharing opportunities with thanks to all of the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; TUESDAY TREASURES;  SAY CHEESE;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and  FRIDAY  BLISS;