Because we had to change hotels for our free night at the Renaissance Marriott, the Ramblers didn’t plan any activities for our last day in Amsterdam. Instead, we decided to take a look at the area around the hotel. The Marriott is on a narrow side street which was close to yet another canal, and an open square with food stands but sadly, no places to sit down. The Marriott was also close to the famous or infamous Red Light District and several coffee shops including the Bulldog. For those who might not know, coffee shops serve marijuana which is legal in Amsterdam, not coffee.
Our youngest son, then a graduate student at the University of Georgia, visit Europe for the first time shortly after 9/11; his rationale was that it was probably the safest time to go as security was very tight. He had wanted to experience New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam so he booked a stay at the Bulldog Hostel. This turned out to be a bad idea, but that is another story. We were surprised to find that the Bulldog was just a short distance from our hotel, tho we did not visit it.
We also had a chance to see some wedding fun. A wedding party had stayed at the hotel, and after the ceremony, it seemed to be a tradition for the groom to pedal his bride around the square in a wheelbarrow cart. This was not so easy because of the cobblestones and uneven pavement. He almost dumped his pretty blonde wife onto the pavement several times, much to the amusement of the bystanders. The Ramblers noted that Amsterdam seemed to have more than its share of tall, slim, blond and attractive young men and women.
The Ramblers also checked out the nearby restaurants. Probably the most famous was Stubbe’s Haring stand. They mainly served haring (herring) in several ways, which has been a traditional Dutch food for generations. However, I had been forced to eat pickled herring at home when I was a child and developed a strong dislike for it. Therefore although I am usually game to try local specialties, herring did not fall into that category. Stubbe’s is supposed to be one of the two top places to experience this Dutch treat in Amsterdam, but the stand near the canal has recently closed, although they still have another location in the city.
We finally settled on a small place called Stach staffed by one smiling young woman, who efficiently ran the place. Everything looked fresh and tasty and the senior Rambler didn’t even realize that he was eating at healthy food restaurant or that his cake was gluten free. LOL
After a good nights sleep, we gathered our bags and headed downstairs to wait for the Uniworld bus. We thought we would wait outside, so the senior Rambler could have a smoke. It is ironic that you see almost as many people smoking marijuana as you do conventional cigarettes, easy to tell as they look sort of lumpy. While we were outside, the Uniworld rep was looking for us inside and we were finally located just as the bus arrived. The River Queen was docked not very far away, on the Rhine, and we were happy to board our new home for more than a week. For the first time, I had booked an suite, and we would get a lot of ribbing about it from our new friends on board.
The River Queen only has four suites; they are not huge like those on ocean cruises but very well fitted out. They also come with a butler wearing formal butler garb. This was a new experience for the Ramblers. The Uniworld butlers go to the same training as those who work for the British Royal family. No doubt we didn’t take full advantage of our butler as he always wanted to do more for us. We found a beautiful orchid waiting for us in our suite, a very nice welcome.
After checking out the cabin and meeting our butler, we headed up on deck to watch the river traffic.
The River Queen was docked on the Rhine rather than a canal. The river is deep enough here so that large ocean going vessels also dock there. We were somewhat startled to see the Celebrity Silhouette glide by. It made the River Queen look very small as it headed out to sea. The Uniworld ships are always polished and spotless. The River Queen was no exception even though it had the look of an old-time river cruiser. One of the staff, polished the ship’s bell before we left port.
We would spend one night on board in Amsterdam before starting to wend our way towards Basel. Of course, our day included both a tour of the Rijksmuseum and another canal cruise. The canal cruise was first, and we saw some entirely different views of Amsterdam from the water that morning. We began to appreciate just how important the canals were to the the citizens of Amsterdam. The oldest one, Singel, acted as a moat around the city. The three main canals, Herengracht, the gentleman’s canal Prinsengracht, the princes, canal and Keizersgracht, the Kaiser’s canal, were dug in the 17th century during the Golden Age of the Netherlands. They form concentric belts around the city and are lined with more than a thousand historic buildings. There are many canals; some wide and busy and some quiet and dreamy. At least one connects to the Rhine as we found out that morning on our canal tour. In all, there are more than 100 kilometers of canals (60 miles worth) and a total of 165 canals, 1,500 bridges and many islands. Amsterdam is considered with good reason, the Venice of the North.
Perhaps the most bizarre thing we learned about the Amsterdam canals is that their murky waters are a repository for unwanted bicycles
. So much so, that the city has teams of workers who search the murky water for bicycles and other other unwanted items. and remove their rusting remains. It is said that between 13,000 and 15,000 bicycles are dumped into the canals during a year. Some were stolen, a few were unwanted but most seem to end up in the water because of hooliganism. If you have to leave your bike outdoors, it is a necessity to chain it to an immovable object. About a car a day also ends up in the canals, and surprisingly to us, there are many sunken boats under the water which have to be removed.
Sometimes people end up in the water as well, although the canals are not suitable for swimming at the moment. The 3 meter deep canals have a muddy, debris filled bottom. The Dutch are working to improve the water quality but from what the Ramblers observed, it will take a while. Amsterdam is also the only city that has four divers on call 24/7 to removed unwanted objects from the canals.
In the winter, after a prolonged cold snap, many of the canals freeze over and the Dutch skate on them as they have done for centuries.