Carol is Saved by a Teapot

Saturday September 3rd
In Which Carol is Saved by a Friendly Teapot

Our first full day in Amsterdam began with our final breakfast on board the Magnifique. Since the boat would be taking on a new batch of passengers within a few hours, it was fascinating to see how the whole transition process took place. While we were in the dining room enjoying our final breakfast, the crew were already stripping the beds and preparing the linen for the next occupants.

At this stage our team was splitting into multiple components. Some would be leaving the Odyssey Ride completely, others would be making their way independently to Donaueschingen and the rest would be scattering to hotels around Amsterdam.

Our preferred hotel was the Amsterdam Hotel Wiechmann, situated right on the intersection of two canals and about 1 km from the city centre. We had last stayed there in October last year and really loved the place.

While it is not a modern hotel, it is steeped in character and has a glorious outlook on the canals and the bike fuelled chaos that is Amsterdam. The front window has a very distinctive display of china teapots and inside the lounge room is an eclectic mixture of other memorabilia (including a canon and a suit of armor).

Since there were 12 of us who would be staying in the same hotel we decided to book three taxis to take us from the boat to the hotel. We gave a final handshake and wave to the Captain and crew and bundled our gear into the taxi for the short ride to the Wiechmann. It cost us each 5 Euro, but it was well worth the money for the saving in energy and shoe leather. I was also not confident that the wheels on some of the bags would withstand the punishment of a 2 km walk on cobblestones.

It is a comforting feeling to arrive at a hotel and find that your booking had been correctly received. It was even more comforting to find that my computer remembered the WiFi password from my previous visit and that we were to stay in the same room we had used last time. It really was like coming home.

After climbing the staircase to our room on the first floor (you do not "walk" up Dutch stairs, you really do climb up them like a ladder) and dropping our luggage in the room, it was time to take a walk around the city.

While the women decided to walk to the Rembrandt House and soak up some culture, it did not really appeal to the men in the group. After a little discussion we decided to visit Gunther Van Hagen's famous display of dissected human corpses instead. I was sure it would be an uplifting experience as the theme was "The Happiness Project".

Thus David, Ross and myself headed back into the centre of the city and the Bodyworlds Museum. On the way there I couldn't help but hum along to myself that well known song "We're off to see some Gizzards". On arrival at the ticket office I presented my senior's card (actually they took one look at me and took my word for my age) as well as the discount coupon from the hotel and thus secured a rare "double discount"on the entry price. David and Ross, being not so bright, missed out and paid the imbecile's surcharge instead.

We spent the next hour wandering among the exhibits of preserved bodies doing some amazing things, including two amorous cadavers who were forever preserved in the act of procreation. Other displays clearly demonstrated the damage done to the lungs by smoking and the terrible effects of alcohol on a drinker's liver. (Judging by the vast amount of smoking and drinking that the Dutch seem to perpetually engage in, it seems that not many of the locals have actually visited this museum).

Actually the whole display was very tastefully done and left an indelible impression of just how wonderful our bodies are.

We had arranged to meet the women back at the hotel at 1 pm and we were there with a few minutes to spare. The women were nowhere in sight. We waited. And waited. Still no sign. Eventually a phone call from one of them was received. Apparently they had got lost along the way and had no idea of where they were. They told us not to wait any longer. We didn't. It was time for lunch.

Much later in the afternoon, when the ladies had finally returned, Maggie and I headed once more to the centre of the city. Maggie was determined to see the Banksy Exhibition and I was just as determined to find a quiet, secluded spot to have a cup of coffee. She went to the exhibition, but as for the quiet secluded spot - forget it. We had arrived at Amsterdam right in the middle of some sort of drunken bacchanalia. All over the city were seas of noisy young people, many in fancy dress and ALL in various stages of intoxication. Those that were not busy swallowing beer were swinging their cameras around on the end of long selfie sticks. There was a very real danger of losing an eye (and probably your wallet as well).

Since I am not a fan of crowds of people, this was definitely not my type of scene.

I was really glad that our hotel was on the outskirts of town, rather than in the middle of this maelstrom. When she emerged from the exhibition I told her that I had seen enough for one day and that it was time for dinner. Somehow we managed to find the same little Italian Pizza Shop that we discovered last year and had a wood fired pizza dinner.

When we arrived back at the hotel the others were still deciding where to go for dinner. It was somewhat of a relief to be able to tell them that we had completed our exercise for the day and would be going to our room instead.

While I love Amsterdam, I definitely could not spend too much time in such a crowded place. When we were here last year it was much later in the year and the crush of tourists had already disappeared. The tragedy is that, for many tourists, this is their only experience of Europe. I was so glad that we will soon be back on the bikes and in the relative solitude of the bike paths and back roads.

The next morning we heard that Carol had gotten a little lost on the way back from dinner. Well actually very lost. She was convinced that the canals had been shifted and wandered around for ages looking for the hotel sign. It was only when she finally saw a line of teapots that she knew she was safely home. It is worth reiterating that the most important thing to always note when in any unfamiliar city is the name and location of your own hotel. Look for distinctive landmarks and features that will guide you back home (or better still - buy a GPS).Read more