Greetings from our last port of call Amsterdam. When we awoke around 7 I looked out the
window and saw smokestacks I thought we had docked but no, that was the locks
that we had to pass through and actually almost 3 hours later we reached the
passenger terminal in Amsterdam.
As we were moving up the Amstel River it began raining so it
appeared that our steak of good weather luck had run out. However by the time we reached the tour buses
which we reached all under cover it had ceased raining, and by the end of our
three hour walking and canal tour I was in shirt sleeves and enjoying the
hottest sun of the trip.
Amsterdam was founded in 1275 as a fishing village with a
population of 30,000 by 1600 but this century was the Golden Age for the Dutch
as they established trading companies out of Holland that traded the world like
the Hudson Bay company in New York and Canada, and the Dutch East India company
that established trades routes to the East the primary spot Java is now
Jakarta. So by 1700 there were 200,000 people in Amsterdam. Today there are 800,000 but more bicycles
because only 30% of people own cars.
Politically Amsterdam was under Spanish rule but several
districts were given autonomy and a couple of them were Holland. Today the word Holland is not used as the
country is called the Netherlands but an orange clad nation roots for Holland
at soccer games. After the reformation
the Catholics were not allowed to worship publicly (1578) until Napoleon came
by in 1795 but after Waterloo the Netherlands formed a constitutional
monarchy. On April 13th
(Speer’s 40th birthday) the Queen abdicated and King William
Alexander became King the first King in 124 years. His queen is from Argentina and her name is
Maxima.
Our walking tour took us from the city center around the
area and included the red light district which is really a mixed area. The XXX in the city crest does not stand for
SEX DRUGS and ROCK and ROLL but for St Nicholas’s protection against the three
threats of water (rising) fire, and plague.
In fact the government has a program buying up properties which are used
for sex and drugs. However there will be
coffee houses (which is an establishment where besides drinking coffee,
cannabis is legal) and red light houses….just not so many. We did not actually
go into a church but walked through a museum and a former convent that is used
as a protestant church and has a 1644 wooden house, they now have to be brick
for fire hazard. The last few yards we
walked was through the world famous floating flower market which was
concentrating on selling tulip bulbs (tulips are actually from Turkey)
The last hour of our organized tour was a canal boat
ride. The boat was in much better shape
than those in St Petersburg. The canals
were all hand dug and this year the city is celebrating the 400 year anniversary. The canals run in 3 half circles radiating
from the harbor. The canals were used to
control water, drainage, and for traveling.
The merchants built warehouses along the canals and unloaded ships
directly in front of their business.
Today those old warehouses have been converted to upscale
residences. Along the trip we passed the
Ann Frank house which is the most visited place in Amsterdam over 1,000,000 a
year. Lyle and Marlene went through
there. It was a sad experience. The family and friends a total of 8 people
hid in small area behind a business owned by the father Otto Frank. Ann died in August of 1945 in Auschwitz of
typhoid not gassed.
We got back to ship about 2 and ate a bite. I will send this blog using up the last of my
internet. Tomorrow we will disembark
between 5 and 8:30 making our way to Paris.
We do not have anything certain booked until we reach our hotel in
Paris……so be sure to check how we make out.
No comments:
Post a Comment