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Sunday, April 9, 2017
I slept all right, but not that well. The room still too warm. I finally realized that they may not have air conditioning turned on, so I cracked the outside door open. That helped. (Note: this lack of air conditioning was confirmed when I checked out the next day)
After breakfast here in the hotel, I again took the shuttle to the airport and the train into town. I'm getting to be a real pro at this!
I headed in a different direction today – towards the Prinsen Gracht, one of the three main canals that circle the downtown area. This area used to be all warehouses before the buildings were converted to expensive city dwellings. They are all tall narrow fronted buildings (taxes were determined by canal frontage footage). And they all have large hooks at their peaks to assist in hauling stuff to the larger upper windows for storing in the buildings. In fact, a good number of the buildings have facades that lean towards the canal so that stuff being hauled up the front of the building wouldn't collide with the bricks. One that I looked closely at had the top peak about 18 inches or so farther over the street fronting the canal than true vertical. Strange to see.
The photo on the left above is the view along one of the side canals, taken from the middle of a bridge. This one has a lock in it (foreground). The center photo shows one of the many bridges over the PrinsenGracht and all the activity surrounding it. The photo on the right shows some of the former warehouses discussed above.
This is the Noorderkerk, or North Church, which was the first in Amsterdam to be built in the shape of a Greek cross. This church was started in 1621 and completed two years later. The photo on the right shows a side door to the church with an access door next to the door itself.
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The photo on the left shows some of the former warehouses that line Prinzen Gracht reflected in the windows of another former warhouse across the canal from them.
The photo on the right shows another bridge over the Prinzen Gracht. There were a lot of people out and about this Sunday.
Most of the morning was spent on the Prinsen Gracht. I walked by the Anne Frank house museum, which faces this canal. The line for the museum was down the street and around the corner. Pass.
The photo on the left shows the towering bell tower of the Westerkerk, which is mentioned in the Diary of Anne Frank - she could hear the bells ringing from their hiding place. The center photo shows part of the line queued in front of the Anne Frank house museum from across the canal. it continued around the side of the building for quite a ways. The photo on the right shows more of the former warehouses reflected in the windows the encase the Anne Frank house and houses the associated museum.
The three photos above all show various views of the Westerkerk. The center photo is zoomed in to show the top of the steeple.
The photo on the left shows a kayaker paddling on one of the side canals (the Liedesgracht).
The photo on the right is another busy bridge over the Prinzen Gracht.
I eventually turned my back on the Prinzen Gracht and headed over some of the other streets in the area.
The photo on the left above shows a very large tree in a small park near Liedseplein. The center photo shows some details of the Stadsschouwburg, an historic theater that also houses a film and theatrical book store. The photo on the right shows an ornate tower looming over yet another canal. I never did figure out what the building was...
I finally wound up in Vondel Park, a large park on what was once the edge of town. Very pleasant.
The photo on the left shows a man using nets to blow large soap bubbles to entertain the many strolling people in the park. He had two sizes of nets. One blew hundreds of small bubbles. The other created really huge ones, which is what is shown here.
The photo on the right shows the Film Museum reflected in one of the large ponds in the park.
The photo on the left shows a statue of Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel (1586-1679) for whom Vondel Park is named. The statue is visible across the pond shown. He was surrounded by lounging guests to the park.
The photo on the right shows some of the tulips in bloom around the base of the statue.
My legs got tired, so I headed back to catch a tram to Centraal Station. Again, I looked like I knew what I was doing. I wondered around Centraal Station for a little while before taking the train back to the airport and the shuttle back to the hotel.
Instead of lunch, I decided to have a dessert at the hotel as a mid day snack. I ordered a sundae and, while I was waiting for it, decided my jeans could probably go another day before changing to something else. When the waitress brought the sundae, she got it almost on the table and dropped the whole thing (it was very top heavy). The vast majority of it landed on the table and floor, but a splash went across one knee.... I think I got all the sticky out of it... They fixed me a replacement sundae, which was delicious.
Then I went back to the room to download today's images. They're all labeled and backed up. I'm to meet with the rest of the group at 6 for a small meeting, followed by a group dinner.
It's an interesting group of people! There are eleven of us, counting the two leaders, Kevin and Mike. We're from all over the continent (two are from Canada).
Dinner was a buffet tonight. Tomorrow starts early.