Mike Walters

Our last full day dawned after a very quiet night on our funky houseboat.

We decided to forego the mayhem of the city, and instead hopped on a 391 bus to Zaanse Schans to stare at windmills in awe.
The driver showed skills worthy of F1 in his cornering technique, and we arrived to see the sails spinning in the distance.

I had visited back in 2010 as part of a Scout Camp, but it was a little less stressful having only Christine to look after, instead of 20 excitable youngsters 🤣

We watched a man make a clog in abut 5 minutes, then saw a fake cow being milked before having some samples, including the appealing beer cheese👍

A stroll along the bank of the Zaans was peppered with photo opportunities of several working mills, most of which appeared to be thatched.
Between the 18th and 19th centuries, around 600 windmills were built on the banks of the River Zaan to power the regions industry. In this area, 11 can be seen, some dating back to the 1500s. 2 are on their original site, the rest moved between 1961 and 1974 to preserve the history.

Next, we spotted a small boat ferrying people across. Stepping aboard, it felt like it was run by a pair of enthusiastic pensioner volunteers…which it was, with Cap’n Birdseye at the helm!
The lady claimed it was her first day, and they gave each person an A4 sheet outlining some history of the properties we would see: very cute!

On the other side, we strolled about admiring the old houses, then found ourselves outside the very well kept Brouwerij Hoop - a microbrewery.
The perfect spot for lunch and a beer. The drinks were lovely….the food….well, let’s say the chef perhaps had a slow timer: slightly overdone 😳

From there we headed back to town by train, and a slightly dangerous walk along a well used cycle path….my navigational skills finally letting me down a shade😱

Amsterdam is a nice place to wander:
watching the queues at the Van Wonderen Stroopwafel shop (serving since 1907);
Marvelling at the sheer number of cycles (and total lack of scooters) - it is incredible we failed to witness a single crash, the criss-crossing of cycle/car/pedestrian lanes at junctions is crazy;
Admiring the number of ‘herbal’ stores 🤪
Also astonishing how much the older buildings are leaning off from vertical 👀

We headed uptown to the museum quarter. Nice to hear some good quality buskers: violins, accordion, sax, clarinet….but it felt like they all played the same tunes. Does Amsterdam have a buskers charter, with weekly playlists? “Hallelujah” was todays favourite, heard at least three times🤷‍♂️

On the museum front, it turned out we should have booked Van Gogh about 2 weeks earlier to get in. Then we remembered we had seen it all at the Van Gogh Experience in Leicester during lockdown, and instead made for the rather more contemporary Stedelijk Museum: the very place I visited back on my 1987 Interrail experience!

Inside we started with the General Idea section downstairs. A trio of men who spent 25 years together in all possible senses of the word, with two sadly dying of aids in 1994. Interesting art…
We also discovered a few works by the likes of Degas, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Chagall, as well as one Jackson Pollack and some Andy Warhol.
Charlotte Perriand featured heavily in the furniture section, but we knew her better for designing the very stylish Les Arcs Aiguile Grive apartments we were so familiar with.

Overall, a couple of hours at a varied and enjoyable museum, although sadly the cafe was closed when we were gasping for a drink 😔

Afterwards, we headed past the impressive Rijksmuseum and sought refreshment in the sun at Cafe Hans en Grietje. Amazing how invigorating the power of a cuppa can be!
A stroll back past the Cuddle Pub, & on for a look at the Sea Palace, a favourite work haunt to take customers in years gone by.

With time marching, we went back through the station to pick up a light salad dinner & catch the 8:15 F4 ferry back across to our home side.
A nice day out, with the distinction of being the second most steps walked on any day…Read more