The feet are healing. We're finally making good progress furnishing the new place. We're going to contract with a local builder to put some bookcases against the western wall in the living room. Gonna have a few parties over the next few weeks. If you are reading this post, you are invited to the party on June 23. Food and drink supplied. Transportation not included.
Flashback to TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 - Amsterdam
Sleeping late is a good thing. 
Everyone should do it when you can, especially on vacation. Sure, there's a lot to do and see in a brand new place, but there's no point in rushing around like idiots, trying to squeeze in as many attractions as you can. Lay back, smell the chlorine and take it easy. Recharge those cell-phone batteries.
Everyone should do it when you can, especially on vacation. Sure, there's a lot to do and see in a brand new place, but there's no point in rushing around like idiots, trying to squeeze in as many attractions as you can. Lay back, smell the chlorine and take it easy. Recharge those cell-phone batteries. I took so many pictures from Monday (with my ancient Canon S10 digital camera) that I filled up both of my flash cards. I'd hoped to find a way or a place to upload my photos to a website so that I could erase my flash cards, use them again, and then be able to access all those photos from the web when we returned to Houston. Simple, eh? It oughta be.
The Amsterdam American Hotel was fully wi-fi'd, but I'd deliberately left my laptop at home, thinking that it was too large for travel, and I just didn't want that extra hassle. That was probably a mistake. It's got a 17" screen on it, and I just didn't want to lug it all over Europe. In hindsight, I should have taken it. I would have happily paid the wi-fi charges and could have uploaded pictures from the hotel room. But without the laptop, I had to find another way to get my pictures on the web. In addition to supplying a wi-fi signal, the hotel also provided several computers scattered around it's lobby and second floor, but they charged an absurd 15 Euro/hour, and they looked at me funny when I asked if they had USB plugs. Turns out they did, but I can't just plug the USB from the digital camera into any computer. First you have to install some software on the host computer to transfer the pics, yadda yadda yadda, and most computers at hotels or internet cafes are not going to let you download any programs onto them. So, the only solution is to find a card reader into which I could plug my flash memory cards. So the hotel was out, for that. Anyway, 15 Euro/hour is really steep. We slept pretty late, lounging around and ... showers! Great shower in the hotel. Big.
We decided that we needed a few items from a drugstore, so we asked at the front desk and were told that there was a drugstore over on Overtoom, and by the way, there is an internet cafe over there too called SRS.
Still without breakfast or even coffee (oh, the horror!), we walked west to Overtoom and found a few (closed) restaurants. Hardly anyone opens for breakfast around here! A drugstore was open, however, so we bought a few things, and by the time we were out of there, a place called Tig Barra was opening up. The cook wasn't there yet, but the bartender said he'd make us some coffee and bring it outside. Cool. So we sat outside, the first and only patrons at 11:30am, and had some coffees until the cook arrived. He wandered in only about 15 minutes later, and we hungrily consumed an omelette and something stuffed inside ciabatta bread. Finally, breakfast, at 12:15pm. Of course, back in Houston, it was only 5:15am. So, what the hell. Just across the street was the internet cafe SRS. As I feared, as with so many places in Europe, there was no air conditioning in the place. Fortunately the day hadn't gotten too hot yet. The attendant took my flash cards, plugged them into a card reader and transferred them over to station #6. Presto! There they were, on drive Y. Unfortunately, the Webshots website where I hoped to upload all the pics would only accept one photo at a time. The computer prohibited the addition of software that would have allowed me to upload all the pics at once. Not a big surprise. They don't want people downloading all sorts of crap on their computers. Can't blame them. Would you want a visitor puttin' crap all over your hard drive? SRS charging only 3 Euro/hour, though, so it wasn't so bad. It gave me a chance to check some email while uploading pics.
After about an hour, I'd uploaded all the pics from both cards, so we took off back to the Leidseplein. Grabbing some Euros from an ATM at ABN Amro bank right across from our hotel, we headed towards the Flower Market along the Singel canal, the innermost of the four main canals in Amsterdam. We casually strolled through the market. I got scolded by a shopkeeper for touching the beautiful tulip bulbs. There were large signs all over, "Do Not Touch." Somehow I didn't see any of them. Funny thing, vision. It can be very selective.
We stopped at another outdoor cafe along the Singel canal for some lunch and a beer or two. The waiter at this place was named "Rafi," he was a young guy, maybe 25 years old, and was from Iraq. We had a long conversation with him about Bush, Saddam and Iraq. Since there were only four people in the restaurant, including us, he had plenty of time to talk. While he hated Saddam, he said that life for most Iraqi's was probably better before he was ousted. "At least people could go out for dinner, or see a movie, without fear of being assaulted or kidnapped on the street. Everyone knows someone who has been kidnapped or killed," he tells us. While he disagreed with Bush's actions in Iraq, he still was wanting to move to the states. Some of his family had left before Saddam fell and was already living in Los Angeles. He was going to college in Amsterdam and barely making ends meet, but still thought he was going to end up in America.
Slightly intoxicated and no long hungry, we wandered thru the Flower Market some more. It's a riot of color and flora, and odd-looking people. Mostly tourists, presumably. It's like a freak parade half the time.
They sure have some tiny cars over here. And some tiny parking spaces too. Gas is not cheap over here, so you want something that's going to get good mileage, like a bicycle, or a "Smart Car." We saw tons of these tiny cars, and they're just adorable. (Ed. note - 2007 - we've put down our deposit on a Smart Car for when they widely available in the US. Estimated delivery January 2008.)It was now time to call up Marc and see if we could still hook up that evening. You have to purchase a calling card to use some of the public phones, but they are clean and actually do work, unlike just about all of the public telephones in the US these days, which are vandalized and baring their guts to passers-by.
Marc was available and kindly offered to take us on a personal tour of the canals in his boat. Introduced to Marc via an online friend, I was expecting quite a nice houseboat, loaded with amenities. He suggested that we bring some cheese and bread along and we would have a picnic/dinner on the canals, which seemed like an excellent idea, so we found a vintner at the Flower Market, in a low-slung semi-basement that was musty and dark. When I asked the shopkeeper what this one particular wine was like, he replied, in a French accent, "Ees dreenkabull." Ok. Hey, I'll take it. We can drink it.
We walked all the way over to Marc's place, but even though it was technically "across town," it wasn't really that far. Maybe a mile, maybe two kilometers. We took our time walking from the Flower Market to the Jordaan, taking pictures along the way.
We found a grocery store almost to the Jordaan and picked up some cheese and bread. Strange things, these grocery stores. From the outside, they look like your typical small and narrow row-house, but step inside and they open wide and curve left and right. The front can look quite small, but inside they can be quite large. Fully supplied and finding Marc's address, we rang the bell and he buzzed us inside. Up steep, narrow stairs to the fourth floor (no elevators here) and Marc's place opened into a basic square, divided into four rooms. He showed us around his place and inside the courtyard in the middle of the block. Nice view. Airy. Pretty spartan but very pleasant. And very, very expensive. 
Marc gathered up his bag and a couple of sticks that he claimed was a new "experiment" for the boat, and we took off back down the stairs and westward to the canal where he moored his yacht.
Marc gathered up his bag and a couple of sticks that he claimed was a new "experiment" for the boat, and we took off back down the stairs and westward to the canal where he moored his yacht.
I had to chuckle when we got to his boat. It was your typical, small, bass-fishing boat with three wood benches for seats and a single motor on the end. Pretty far from the described "luxury houseboat." Yet, functional. His "experiment" was a clamp that would go on the front of the boat, where I sat, which would keep a stick perpendicular to the water, from which we hung a votive candle encased in a glass frame. This would be our "running light" if it got dark.
A single candlepower. Simplicity. Before we launched, Marc's girlfriend, Vicky, arrived. She works at the same place as Marc: Doctors Without Borders. She had brought more cheese, more bread, and other munchies, such as olives, carrots and celery. Ah! Once launched, Marc discovered he'd forgotten to bring his bottle of chardonnay. We'd have to make do with only our bottle of merlot. It was a pretty cool trip along the canals of Amsterdam. Marc and Vicky know quite a bit of the history of Amsterdam, politically and architecturally. A more personalized tour of the canals you're unlikely to get. It's interesting to see the varieties of boats on the water. Houseboats, party boats, tour boats, tugboats, kayaks, paddleboats. About the only type of water activity you won't see is skiing, although I'm sure they do it now and then. In the winter when some canals freeze, they'll go ice-skating on the canals. Cool.
We stayed on the water till dark and headed back. The single candlepower light wasn't really enough light after all. Marc had some more work to do that evening, so we headed on back to our hotel. Even though Vicky had brought her bike with her, she volunteered to walk us all the way back to our hotel, which was very nice of her. People around here are just very nice.Once at the hotel, Vicky took off for home on her bike and we, a bit tired from the long walk, went up to the room and had a little room service. Modesty prevents me from giving any further details.
Next up, Wednesday, September 6, 2005
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