15/6
No sun today, just light then heavy rain. Inspired by news of John Dicicco finishing his first half marathon in incredible style as well as the example of tough, go-get-it Dutchies, we get the hell out of our cosy beds and go for a run.
A last, sad coffee with Paul & Judith. They have been unbelievably generous with their time and friendship. Great people.
No school today as we do a grocery shop, re-fuel and head back to Amsterdam (the only city/town we have visited twice this year!)- and TomTom to speak to a human face to face.
Jeff has found a really handy location at Camp Vleigenbos in North Amsterdam this time. Whilst it’s cleaner and smells of the nearby city park rather than pot, it still tells of A’dam’s drug troubles as evidenced by the UV blue lighting in the toilet block making it harder to see veins.
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| on the punt to Amsterdam Centraal |
We jump on the bikes and catch the free ferry across to Centraal Station and spend the rest of the afternoon in theTomTom waiting room to learn……... they can’t do anything, it’s not their area, the devices are fixed at another location, they don’t have the authority to replace a device, they are not retailers and don’t hold any hardware…...GRRRRRR! Large company group evil. Actually they admitted that they just put it aside when they received it, didn’t log the job in and have only just started working on it - nice of them to be honest.
16/6
Jammed in campsite, very noisy night - so much easier in Ed than Cozza in these situations. Nonetheless, we ask to move away from driveway a bit in the morning.
With much greater confidence in crowds today, we take the ferry across to The Dam & the Van Gogh museum.
Some harbour pics:
The line up is impressive but for a moment the sun is shining so all is well. In a large, concrete block building we, together with thousands of others, saw his Peasant Meal series and more from his period in Arles and thereafter as well as the art of others he has influenced subsequently. So much painted in just 10 yrs and he only sold 1 painting in his lifetime. I must say, the surroundings & conditions of the museum did less for my appreciation of his art than our previous viewings in the magnificent Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
The nearby Albert Cuypmarkt beckoned for an impromptu lunch of cheese, warm mixed nuts, dark nutty bread and juicy purple grapes. Also cluttering the 100 year old outrageously busy market are souvenirs, flowers, clothing, the ever-present sex trade of sorts, bong shops…
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| Amsterdam's answer to carbon issues |
Wil’s dead keen to finish off with a typical Dutchie stroopwaffel (a thin, warm circular waffle sandwich smeared with gooey caramel syrup). I cleanse the palate with a chunky whole smoked harring….mmmm!
With the sun still high at 1700, we took the slow road home past the flower markets full of stacks, racks and hanging sacks of bulbs, bent houses & bent people and through a strangely ordered chaos marveling at an impressive range different hair styles & accents. Chirpy, cute and highly complicated little tunes ring out from clusters of various sized bells in church spires that always make me look around for buskers with triangles & percussion.
Jeff (nong) stops to buy some scotch, riding out of the carpark of the shopping centre, 1 litre bottle in front left coat pocket, camera on back, sees a car zipping in off the road towards him, instinctively (back in Oz) swerves to the left and the car swerves to it’s right, near collision, Jeff swerves harder and skids landing on left rib cage on the camera, left hand still clutching the scotch - scotch intact, camera fine, rib re-broken or just badly bruised, ego in tatters! All witnessed by Wil who says “dad the way you protected that bottle of scotch suggests you may have a problem” - and it’s Vat69!
17/6
The sun is peeking through but the wind is roaring. No school or exercise today as we’ve planned a busy last day in A’dam. First stop, an enthralling and thoroughly educational visit to the Sheepvaartmuseum. An almost theatrical display (short films orientated around the lives of 7 typical folk, great information panels, wonderful models and pictures of the naval fleet,
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| Nice ship |
a life sized outdoor replica of The Amsterdam about the Golden Age tells the impressive yarn of the VOC.
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| The Amsterdam |
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| harbour plan |
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| The Little Dutchie Kib |
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| The Nemo (kids science museum) |
The Dutchies both positively & negatively, touched almost every continent in the world trading people, ideas & goods and filling in our knowledge of the globe & one-another. In the 17th century, The United Republic of the Nederlands was known as the ‘warehouse of the world’ and because it didn’t choose to feed an expensive monarchy and consumed less than it traded, became very, very wealthy.
VOC Stuff (Golden Age, 1602-1798), by Wilsen Conn
The success of the Dutch VOC (United East India Company - Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) probably owed to how much water the Dutch had and their skill in boat making.
They also had a mentality that was unique with voluntary poverty, choosing to trade most and consume least - thus grow their wealth instead of squandering it.
On top of all of this, they also became the best globe-makers and cartographers.
In the 17th century Amsterdam was the biggest port in the world and to this day is the 4th largest.
They traded through Russia Turkey and the Baltic, which brought them immense wealth.
The Dutch also created different boats for different purposes, such as the Baltic boat which was narrow and thus attracted less tax. There was also the classic Flute, which had a rounded front and hardly ever ran aground. It could also carry a lot of cargo.
Who founded New York? The Dutch. It was called ‘New Amsterdam‘ before the English took it.
The Dutch also brought Africans to America through slave trading. In fact(tually), they traded 500000 slaves between Brazil, Spain, America and England.
They traded in their produce in Brazil for sugar and nuts, (did you know brazil was named after the nut, not the other way round?) which were worth a fortune.
In 1602 they had a monopoly with Asia, as no-one else was allowed to trade with the East
There was a critical VOC trade route triangle between America, Africa and the Netherlands which consisted of slaves, sugar and tobacco.
Because of all the Dutch wealth, wars started at sea. Pirates slaughtered crews of Dutch ships and the English and Spanish attacked.
Slaves were often taken from Africa to Holland to be servants, and then shipped back because they would die in the cold.
These Dutch pursuits definitely helped form a national identity as cunning tradesmen with naval expertise, a historical presence in every continent and a language for clearing one’s throat.
In the early 1800s corruption finally saw the company become bankrupt. Strangely, the VOC name & trademark was bought by the Wright family in Margaret River,Australia in 1995.
Wiser and invigorated, we make for the centre of this addictive town to track down a traveling reading stash at an English book store & have a last crazy coffee. Serendipity has it that as we walk into the book store, a captivating title beneath the cashier desk grabs my eye - ” The Dutch and their Delta” ...AND the author, Jacob Vossestein, happens to be upstairs for a book signing……..NOW! We pop upstairs for a chat with this amazing ex-geography teacher. What a privilege.
Back through the throngs of people, blindly pushing on in their own pursuits, maneuvering our bikes in our customary line through the tiniest potential gaps.
Relieved, we make it back to Ed. And it’s Sunday.
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| The Dam on 1 fine Sunday afternoon
AMSTERDAM (by Wilsen Conn)
Slosh slosh slosh. The sound of the water soothed him. It washed through his head like a silk cloth, dabbing away at his troubles and stress.
‘Woah! Watch it matey!’ Someone called down to him, he had nearly rammed their boat.
‘Sorry!’ He smiled and payed attention to the waterway, navigating the city he knew so well.
As he passed the red light section, he smiled to hear that same American guy advertising.
Every thing was so familiar.
He passed by a bakery, and sniffed the air with delight, the warm smell of fresh bread made his stomach growl.
He passed under a big public bridge, and chuckled at the absolute chaos.
Cars screaming round the corner and reversing, bikes ringing their bells and angry yells of pedestrians.
Somewhere nearby, church bells started ringing out a sweet little tune and market store owners shouted the price of their produce.
Some crazy guys in a rickshaw yelled at a little family of four to speed up, and a guy on a motorbike revved his engine so loud the cobblestones shook.
Lots of people from tourists to homeless lounged on the grass in front of a statue.
He passed under a bridge and into the lush green part of the city.
The birds chirped and frogs burped. The wind rustled the leaves and two kids laughed with delight on a flying fox.
This was definitely his favourite part of the city.
It smelled fresh and... foresty after the recent rain.
He tied his boat to a jetty and jumped out. He found a bench and settled down to read.
When he finally got up, he checked his watch and jumped.
He sprinted back to the boat, untied it and revved the electric motor, shooting off down the canal.
It was getting dark now, and Amsterdam is very different by night.
He shot past light neon signs, alleys with drunken shouts coming out and a throng of customers outside the red light section theatre.
He nearly smashed his boat on a big houseboat slowly chugging up the canal and swerved to avoid another.
He muttered a quick ‘sorry’ and reaccelerated.
He moored his boat at his private jetty outside his house and practically sprung inside, savouring the peace and quiet.
He slowly got into his PJs, ate a quick dinner and flopped down into bed.
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