Países Baixos
Jordaan

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Viajantes neste local
    • Dia 65

      VIJF FOTOS-Amsterdam Day 10

      17 de junho de 2022, Países Baixos ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      I woke up this morning with cold symptoms that doubled down a bit from yesterday. We already planned a low-key day. After going out for coffee, we returned to the boat and I slept for several hours.

      Yesterday, I talked briefly about the recently graduated student. He is very enamored with the Oregon Trail. He noticed Pete the Cat, and I explained to him about this storybook character and the photos we send to our granddaughter. Ben is a graphic artist, and he felt inspired to send me an image with Pete at the reins of a Conestoga Wagon as a gift to Olive. 💞

      I woke up feeling significantly better. We enjoyed our immersion into canal life with no agenda. We heard the excited shouts of children in a nearby schoolyard. We watched young folks gather at a dock along the canal. We watched young boys jump off the foot drawbridge, and we waved to those riding by in their boats.

      The experience causes me to recall a myriad of summer adventures near the water with friends and family when I was young.

      I remember sunburns on top of sunburns and my mother slathering me with Noxema.

      I think about staying in cottages in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Cape Cod. I remember picking blueberries in Truro when I was 6. I remember the merry-go-round at Watch Hill. I remember being the only one in the family to go in the ocean at Sand Beach in Bar Harbor, and being covered with blankets when my lips turned blue. I loved bodysurfing and playing with pinball machines at the beach arcade in Misquamicut.

      I remember responding to the dare of friends to join then in jumping off a small cliff into Lake Erie. I think of times with high school friends at the Flaming Gorge in Wyoming.

      What I saw today were people enjoying the promise and gift of summer. I know that being next to some body of water in the summer provides solace.

      Another day of just being present was the perfect prescription for the day.

      Thank you, Amsterdam. Next stop: Ireland.
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    • Dia 95

      Amsterdam

      24 de junho de 2022, Países Baixos ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F

      Miles: 10.3 Steps: 24204
      Flights stairs: 5

      Well what a cool city Amsterdam is! I didn’t know much about it before coming here - mostly only that prostitution and drugs are legal, and that it gets really cold. I’ve learned so much today!! it’s gorgeous - it’s a city built around water and canals much like Venice, but in my opinion even more attractively. It’s actually 6 meters below sea level. They are masters here at “water management”. And a little known fact - there are almost as many bikes here as there are people! 600,000 bikes. Bikes are EVERYWHERE. It’s amazing to see them used as the main form of transportation in a big city.

      Did you know Van Gogh was Dutch? I didn’t. We went to the Van Gogh museum - and I have to say it was probably the most enjoyable art museum I’ve been to yet. Just the way it was set up and how it lead me thru his life. Very well done.

      We wandered without much purpose for awhile which is actually really fun. We came across the red light district where prostitution is legal and found it was much different than I expected. The way they have it set up, I barely knew where I was most of the time.

      We took a boat tour of the canals which was really nice to see a lot of the city from that perspective and then Jordan and I spontaneously went and got small semi-matching tattoos together to commemorate our travels!

      We ended the night taking a tour of the Anne Frank House. It was so moving to walk thru it all and listen to the audio tour. I honestly didn’t know it was located in Amsterdam till I got here. How WW2, and the Nazi occupation, touched every country in Europe is mind boggling.

      Overall, it was a fantastic day that I hope to remember a very long time. I still haven’t adjusted to their VERY late sunsets - it doesn’t get dark till after 10:30. It’s easy to lose track of time and think it is endlessly 6:30 in the evening.
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    • Dia 36

      Our first full day in Holland.

      27 de maio, Países Baixos ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

      We are staying in a great location in Amsterdam.
      Today we walk.
      Just having a look around.
      First stop Noordermarkt. Lots of second hand goods.
      Then we wandered past Anne Frank’s old place.
      Then past the Palace square, where it’s time for coffee and apple pie.Leia mais

    • Dia 110

      117ème étape ~ Amsterdam (jour 3)

      20 de novembro de 2022, Países Baixos ⋅ 🌧 3 °C

      Journée pluvieuse = journée des musées.
      On commence par Madame Tussauds, on y découvre les statues de cire aussi impressionnantes que d’habitude.
      Puis nous visitons le musée du cannabis, on nous offre une tasse de thé (au CBD, sans THC).
      Ensuite c’est la visite du musée de l’érotisme, les commentaires ne sont pas nécessaires. 😂
      Et pour finir nous visitons la maison d’Anne Franck, nous y écoutons son histoire, ses peurs, ses joies, sa vie, sa fin.
      Nous finissons par un repas traditionnel dans un cadre très chaleureux. 🥰
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    • Dia 10

      Lost in Amsterdam

      9 de setembro de 2019, Países Baixos ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

      Well not lost as such, but we spent the afternoon wandering the streets taking in more of the sights. The red light district was 'interesting' to say the least, we also mooched around a large flea market and saw the palace and the old church. After another siesta (the walking was a bit much for Emily), we ended our evening at an Indian restaurant in Jordaan.Leia mais

    • Dia 5

      Amsterdam 2.0

      19 de junho de 2023, Países Baixos ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Das war heute ein echt intensiver Städtetag!
      Amsterdam hat wirklich viel zu bieten und man kann die Stadt eigentlich tagelang zu Fuß erkunden .... wenn man nicht von einem der tausenden Radfahrer niedergemäht wird. 😉
      Wir haben den heutigen Tag beim Museums-Quartier begonnen. Für die Museen war aber spontan kein Eintrittsticket mehr zu ergattern ... macht nichts, von außen waren die Gebäude auch sehr sehenswert.
      Dann ging es vorbei am Anne Franke Haus und weiter kreuz und quer durch die Innenstadt bis zum Zentralbahnhof.
      Eigentlich wollten wir noch auf den ADAM-Lookout und sind deshalb mit der Fähre ans andere Ufer. Wir waren aber von der Höhe des Gebäudes doch recht enttäuscht und wollten dann für die kurze Aufzugsfahrt doch keine € 17,-/Person ausgeben. Da sind wir dann doch lieber nochmals zurück in die Einkaufsmeile und haben etwas Geld beim shoppen gelassen - zumindest Frau hat.... ☺️
      Wir waren uns nach den beiden Tagen einig: wir erkunden gerne neue Städte und kehren nach vielen Jahren wieder mal in schon bekannte Städte zurück, aber am liebsten sind wir doch in der Natur. Deshalb freuen wir uns nach den Amsterdam-Tagen schon auf die Nordsee.
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    • Dia 3

      Neuer Tag, neue Eindrücke

      8 de agosto de 2023, Países Baixos ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Nach einer tollen und sehr ruhigen Nacht, geniessen wir den Kaffee mit leckeren Bachwaren im Bakhuys. Sehr zu empfehlen. Dies ist ein Kaffee direkt in der Bäckerei. Man kann, sofern die Produktion läuft, beim Backen zusehen.

      Gestärkt nahmen wir unsere nächste Stadttour unter die Füsse. Mit der Reiseführer-App von Marco Polo verfolgten wir die Route 1 „Ein Tag im goldenen Zeitalter“. Viele Schritte führen uns an vielen Sehenswürdigkeiten vorbei.

      Nebst den vielen Museen, welche wir von Aussen sahen, entschlossen wir uns eines zu besuchen. Im Diamanten Museum erhielten wir viele Informationen und insbesondere einen Einblick in diese Steine und deren Verarbeitung. Es hatte tolle Schmuckstücke. Auch wurden sehr viele Uhren von diversen produzenten ausgestellt. Selbst ich wusste nicht, dass fast alle Uhren im qualitativ und preislich hohen Segment weltweit, ausschliesslich aus der Schweiz kommen.

      Beim Café ‘t Smallle machten wir einen Halt, setzten uns direkt an die Strasse und schauten bei einem Gin Tonic dem bunten Treiben auf und neben der Strasse zu. Da wir merkten wie der Gin wirkte, entschlossen wir uns auch noch was zu Essen.

      Danach ging es quer weiter durch die Stadt zum Hafen. Dort lagen verschiedene Fluss-Kreuzfahrtschiffe am Peer. Auch lag die Prima von Norwegian am Terminal der grossen Schiffe. Morgen wird unser Schiff die APEX an selber Stelle stehen und auf uns warten.

      Auf dem Rückweg kauften wir uns noch ein paar Kleinigkeiten zum Abendessen ein, welche wir bei einem gemütlichen Abend zu einem leckeren Essen zubereiteten. Heute geht es dann früh ins Bett.
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    • Dia 2

      Day One and Disaster (almost) Strikes

      19 de agosto de 2023, Países Baixos ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

      Day One and Disaster (almost) Strikes

      Anyone who has experienced travel to the other side of the planet, would have to admit that there is no way that the flight over could be called pleasant. No one enjoys being squashed inside a metal sarcophagus with 300 or 400 others for around 24 hours. No one could enjoy the sensation of sitting in a seat for so long, while you can gradually feel your extremities losing all circulation. But that’s exactly what 10 of us have just done.

      The trip actually started early on Friday morning. For Maggie and me, the day began with a 5.30 am alarm. Not that we had really slept much that night. It is hard to venture to the Land of Nod when there are just so many active thoughts rushing through your consciousness.

      After hours of fruitless tossing and turning, I was actually glad when the alarm went, and we were able to start the long journey to Europe. We had organised for an airport shuttle to collect us and four others at 9 am. You can imagine my surprise when I happened to glance out the front window at 8 am, to see that the shuttle was already waiting. As I remember it, I didn’t even have my pants on!

      I messaged the driver, in case there had been a mixup with the pickup time. He informed me that he had just finished another job, and that he was happy to wait. First crisis averted.

      An hour later we had locked the front door and loaded our bags into the van. We were on our way at last. About fifteen minutes later we were joined by Gordon and Sue, and Greg and Andrea. We shared some light hearted chatter as we made our way to the airport. Somewhat surprisingly, the traffic flowed so smoothly that we reached Tullamarine about 10.10 am. At that rate we would be in Amsterdam before we knew it.

      The old days of interacting with a real human being at check in time are long since gone. Now everything is processed by a robot, including checkin, bag drop and immigration clearance. I used to enjoy a bit of small talk with the airline staff, but it is hard to chat to a faceless robot.

      The scheduled take off time for the first leg of our flight was 2.25 pm. We were all hoping for a punctual start, since we knew that our transit time in Hong Kong was going to be very tight. When boarding time started behind schedule, I was ultra keen not to keep the plane waiting for us. This almost turned out to be a truly disastrous move.

      The line of passengers moved relatively quickly, and Maggie and I dropped into our allocated seats. “Well that’s the first step done”, I explained to Maggie. In fact it was nowhere near done. Just as we were trying to squeeze ourselves into our seats, Gordon walked down the aisle and dropped a familiar looking item on my lap. Now where had I seen that thing before ? Hang on, it looked a lot like my wallet. It WAS my wallet, filled with cash, credit cards, driving license and other personal birthrights.

      Apparently in my haste I had dropped it under the seat in the departure lounge. If an honest child had not noticed it and reported it to Gordon, my trip would really have gotten off to a terrible start. For a while we were both quite shaken as we contemplated the possible consequences. Maybe the lesson is to always act in a careful and controlled manner, and always check that your personal items are with you. Acting in haste is never a great idea. But then again, when do I ever take my own advice ?

      With the wallet safely back in my possession, I thought that nothing else could go wrong. I was a little concerned when the flight finally took off about 30 minutes late. I was even more concerned when the pilot decided to take the long way to Hong Kong (making a couple of laps around Sydney), and thereby adding another 30 minutes or so to the flight time.

      The, already tight, transit time of 60 minutes, had now shrunk almost to zero. We finally touched down at Hong Kong at about the same time our connecting flight to Amsterdam was due to take off. In the immortal words of Corporal Jones, I felt myself saying “Don’t panic, don’t panic”, but at the same time picturing that this would not have a good outcome.

      We were rushed off the plane and ushered to a waiting Cathay Pacific rep. She then instructed us to follow her to the next flight. Well we tried to do that, but she immediately broke into a fast sprint that would have done Cathy Freeman proud. We lumbered along behind, vainly trying to keep her retreating hind quarters in sight. Didn’t she realise that we are not teenagers? We are no longer even middle aged. We are fully fledged “old farts” now, and this seemed to be an ill conceived procedure. Even if we managed to reach the flight, I was very doubtful that our luggage would be able to run as fast as us.

      Somehow we defied the laws of Physics and common sense, and avoided dual heart attacks, as we finally flopped into the second plane, just as the doors were closing. It really had been a close call. Soon we were back in the air, wondering just where our bags would be heading. Would they be heading off somewhere else on their own independent adventure ?

      The second leg of the journey was a thirteen-hour marathon, weaving up and down around numerous countries we had never heard of. I was more than a little concerned when the on-screen tracker showed us heading straight for Crimea, however we veered south at the last minute, to skirt over Turkey instead.

      Our landing at Amsterdam took place at around 6 am, just as the sun was appearing over the eastern horizon. We quickly cleared immigration and staggered forlornly to the Baggage Collection Area. We felt that it would take a miracle for our luggage to appear, however we were shown that miracles still do occur. All our bags somehow miraculously made the transit safely. We finally thought that our long day had reached a most satisfactory conclusion. The only thing left was the short shuttle transfer to our hotel. Easy Peasey, or so we thought.

      David had been entrusted with this easy job, and he assured us that "everything was arranged". But where was the driver? We walked up and down the airport, looking for a man with a sign. There wasn’t one. After about 45 minutes of fruitless searching, we were finally able to contact the company. They had obviously forgotten us. They arranged for another van and driver to collect us. It was a bit of extra stress that we could have done without.

      We arrived at the wonderful Wiechmann Hotel far too early to get access to our rooms, so we dropped our luggage and went for a walk (ie stagger) to the beautiful Vondelpark. It was the perfect location to relax, have a coffee and indulge in some people watching. This is the preferred place for Amsterdam folks to walk, jog, walk their dog or enjoy a coffee.

      It did not take long for the heat and humidity to take its toll. We were all completely exhausted, so much so that it took all our strength to make it back to our hotel to finally get to our rooms. According to my calculations, it had been around 50 hours since any of us had been in a bed, and we were not in a pleasant state.

      Along the way I happened to see a terrifying sight. We were approached by a group of mentally deranged people, all with bloodshot eyes, idiotic blank stares and staggering gaits. Surely the world had not been over-run by a zombie apocalypse since we left Australia? Unfortunately, it turned out to be our own reflections I was seeing in a shop window.

      In spite of the mishaps, we were all now safely in Amsterdam, our luggage was still with us, and another wonderful adventure is about to begin.

      You can join us if you wish.
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    • Dia 5

      Monday - Breakfast and walk

      15 de maio de 2023, Países Baixos ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

      Got up at 7. Finally a good nights sleep! Good breakfast and then headed out for walk of Joordan area. First stop - cheese stop for purchases and sampling. Then on to the head shop (hmmmm...). And then a stop at a bakery for coffees and a croissant with raisins. Now off to a nearby park.Leia mais

    • Dia 3

      Day 3

      29 de maio, Países Baixos ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

      Upon landing in Istanbul, I retrieved my bag from the overhead locker and was concerned when I saw that one of the pockets was still open. I double checked the locker to see that my ASIC and house keys had fallen out, which I retrieved. Thank God for my constant checking!

      Istanbul airport was enormous - truthfully, one of the biggest airports we’ve been to. It was a very long walk to the transfer gate, with an equally huge queue of people. We would’ve arrived there sooner if it hadn’t been for my ankle injury, and getting stuck behind a sporting team from Djibouti. The security was chaotic too - a lot of yelling and disorder but we made it through somehow.

      We had been excited about seeing the Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul airport, which has been touted as one of the best in the world. Sadly that excitement faded when it took forever to get there - and once there we had only 10-15 minutes before having to head to our next gate. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that our next gate was LITERALLY the furthest one from the airline lounge!

      I asked the receptionist if I could possibly get some assistance as my ankle was really giving me trouble, but she said I would have to pay for a buggy if I wanted assistance. Disappointed, we set off for the gate which, as mentioned, was a long way away. My ankle was throbbing by the time we arrived and even then, we had to wait even longer for boarding to start.

      When we finally started boarding, we were then left waiting ten minutes in the aerobridge before we could go onboard. The business class is pretty nice though - although it’s a bit dated looking, we each have our own private suite. This would’ve been better on the international flight, as you could’ve changed into your travel pyjamas without having to use the toilets! It’s a funny feeling too because you can’t see anything outside of your own cabin, so I had no idea the main door was closed until the safety demonstration started on the personal TV screens.

      The flight to Amsterdam was similarly very pleasant, with great food and polite service. Despite intending to watch a heap of movies and TV shows, I enjoyed the Turkish Airlines “quiet zone” to just read my book. When we began our descent into Amsterdam, we were greeted with grey skies and impending rain! It wasn’t quite the springtime arrival we were hoping for, but it was still nice to be back somewhere we haven’t visited for a long time.

      Fortunately, Schiphol airport isn’t half as difficult as Istanbul Airport, so the customs and baggage collection process was really simple. The only tricky part was trying to get into the city - the two InterCity trains had broken down so we waited about 25 minutes for a different train in, which was totally packed due to the cancellations.

      Upon arrival, we considered taking an Uber to the accommodation but decided to walk the 20 minutes instead. Unfortunately Amsterdam isn’t the most pedestrian friendly city when you have luggage, particularly since my suitcase has dodgy wheels. Our accommodation is wonderful though, as it’s on a beautiful quiet street and provides free coffee. Woohoo! We didn’t need to wait long for our room either and, even though we’re located on the 5th (top) floor, there was an elevator (rare in Amsterdam buildings) that took us all the way to the 4th floor, lessening our difficult climb with luggage.

      We decided to do some sightseeing which was very casual as we have been to Amsterdam before. Easier said than done though as the number of bicycles around are terrifying! I’m sure I saved Ted’s life more than once from being mowed down by a flying Dutchman. We are located near the Anne Frank House so we joined the surrounding crowds in getting a photo before continuing on. For lunch, we stopped at a Dutch pancake restaurant where I had an an apple and banana pancake with another coffee.

      Most of the sights we saw were the canals and houses which are always so beautiful, so after a couple of hours we headed back to our room. Last night’s lack of sleep was catching up with me, so I had a nap in the room. Ted woke me up after an hour to avoid messing up my sleeping routine but truthfully, I was so tired I could’ve easily slept another five hours.

      Originally we had planned to go to nearby Haarlem tonight to see my friend Dennis whom I’d met here 10 years ago, but since I didn’t want to worsen my foot injury, he said him and his husband John would come to Amsterdam instead. After getting ready, we caught an Uber to the Taboo bar in the Amsterdam gay street and had a drink whilst waiting for them.

      It was a great idea to catch up with the guys, as we always love a reason to go out with the locals. After having our fill of Heinekens, we went for dinner at the restaurant Black and Blue which was directly across from the bar. The waitress was American and mentioned her Aussie boyfriend was from Newcastle. The bar next door offered something called Wild Wednesday with beers for €2 so we went there to continue the evening.

      Before we knew it, it was 10:30pm, and the boys had to head off home. It was a bit unexpected as the days are much longer here, meaning there was still daylight until quite late. After catching an Uber back, we went to bed at about 11.15pm.
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    Jordaan, יורדאן

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