Oude Kerk

We weren’t familiar with Amsterdam so initially simply followed everyone else walking off the ship. A quick show of the passport to customs in the port terminal, then outside, turn right, walk for ten minutes towards the large train station, then turn left, over a bridge, and you’re pretty much in the city centre. We got out our map and quickly found Oude Kerk. Oude Kerk is the oldest building in Amsterdam at over 800 years of age.

The curved, wooden ceilings were particularly impressive to me while my wife loved the spiral staircases that we sadly couldn’t climb. There had been an opportunity to ascend the building’s tower through an entrance on the southern side of Oude Kerk but this was an additional cost and we were keen to take advantage of our city cards as much as possible for this trip. If we return – and I’ve no reason to suspect we won’t – then I’d certainly consider doing that.

An interesting fact about Oude Kerk that we enjoyed remarking to people with whome we talked on the cruise ship over the next couple of days was that the church was right in the middle of the red light district. We’d not been looking for it but it was difficult to miss once you stepped out of the church to get your bearings. I decided not to take any photos of the women in the windows. Numerous people on the cruise had apparently been hunting for the red light district but couldn’t find it; we’d decided to go look for some history and culture and found it as a reward. There’s possibly a lesson there.

Our Lord In The Attic

Not far from Oude Kerk was another museum, Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder (or Our Lord In The Attic). This was a traditional Amsterdam house with various elements from different decades and centuries that also featured a Catholic church hidden in its attic. This was created during a period when Catholicism was technically not permitted in the Netherlands but it was tolerated for a number of reasons (mostly financial) so long as it wasn’t seen. This was a very interesting and recommended visit across many floors and up many tiny staircases with the accompaniment of informative audio guides. A combination of the general darkness and lack of seeing anyone else using a camera meant that I decided not to take any photos of the interior of the museum, restricting myself to one shot across the rooftops through a window on the balcony of the attic church.

The walk to the museum was an easy one but the high winds and changeable weather that would sweep over us throughout our trip on Azura to the Netherlands meant that we couldn’t escape a brief downpour before arriving at the impressive maritime building. Built in 1656 the museum building consists of four blocks named after the cardinal points of compasss, forming a square; the courtyard area inside is bright, clean, and covered (handy for drying off while waiting to get our free tickets courtesy of our city card) and contains tickets booths, souvenir shops, cloakrooms, etc.

We only really hit three places in the museum in order to maximise what else we would see in Amsterdam, although we could have stayed for a lot longer and seen a lot more. The first of these was a reconstructed, 18th-century, cargo ship.

In the hold of the ship are plenty of crates and ropes. As the ship is only a reconstruction far from restricting touching anything people – children in particular – are encouraged to climb around if they so wish. We thought this was a nice touch. Many of the areas below deck seemed to have surprisingly high ceilings. Our experience on other, actual sailing vessels had prepared us for far more crouching. A section towards the rear of the ship with officers’ quarters was more what we’d anticipated. On the top deck it was possible to get some decent views of the city of Amsterdam and looking northwards in the direction from which we’d come we could also see the top of our cruise ship, Azura over the tops of other buildings.

Across a jetty from the reconstructed ship was The Royal Barge.

The Royal Barge was designed by C.J. Glavimans. The ship was built between 1816 and 1818 at the Navy shipyard in Rotterdam […] It was last used in 1962 for the silver wedding anniversary of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard.

The final area in the maritime museum that we ended up seeing (and surprisingly enjoying) was a showcase of cargo transportation around the world and a room that you entered (there was only my wife and me there), waited for the doors to close, then experienced what it would be like to be a case of wine with a virtual ride by crane, forklift, air transport, shipping, and carrying through the wonders of four large screens set in each wall. No photos, sadly, but quite a lot of fun for a few minutes.

The area immediately outside the gardens was suitably lush green with grass, most noticeably between the tram lines that ran along the curved streets.

Hortus Botanicus

We had a short wait to get our free tickets through use of our I Amsterdam city cards on account of a woman ahead of us and a man with his son who complained angrily in Dutch about something, gesticulated at the prices, and eventually drove the ticket clerk to get so flustered she then started getting angry too and pointed in frustration at her computer monitor and had to be replaced by a calmer, younger man. We wouldn’t have minded so much but it had started to rain again and there was no shelter as we waited to get through the gates.

We headed immediately for the large greenhouse to our right on entering the gardens as the rain was still spitting enough to warrant getting under shelter. On the way we either passed evidence of plants knocked over by the high winds that plagued our few days in Amsterdam or it’s possible that even nature needs a sleep every now and then. I will confess to knowing next to nothing about gardening.

The first section of the greenhouse was warm – as you’d expect – but it was still maintained at a standard climate. Up a walkway and through some sliding doors we entered the tropical area. A lens cloth almost permanently wiping the front of the camera and very quick shots allowed me to grab some photos without having them completely fogged over (even though the eyepiece was fogged over and I had to rely on the camera doing a lot of the focus work and shooting effectively blind). Eventually, the temperature and moisture levels even out on photography equipment when you move from one climate zone to another so if you wait long enough you don’t have to take this approach to taking photos but there’s a little thing called impatience and I have it.

From the tropical zone we hit the desert zone. The transition from wet heat to dry heat, fortunately, has no effect on a camera lens so after one last clean to remove any remaining moisture I could put away my lens cloth to take photos in this part of the gardens’ greenhouse.

The weather had brightened considerably by the time we left the greenhouse. Just outside and over a small bridge we found a heron.

The final stop for us in the small but pleasant botanical gardens of Amsterdam was the Orangery. A few people were inside making use of its space to relax and sketch the small number of plants around. We took a few photos and climbed up a spiral staircase to a metal walkway to bring us closer to the glass dome of the building.

The round trip itself, despite what the brochure said, took around two hours to complete. English commentary played at various points but due to the nature of the trip where people could embark or disembark at different points of the circular tour of Amsterdam’s canals some of the commentary was repeated several times. It was, however, overall very interesting.

At one point we crossed the main canal in which we had come down the day before so we got to see the P&O cruise ship Azura docked at Amsterdam port.

In addition to the interesting waterways and very typically Dutch buildings alongside them there were some other fine examples of architecture on display, the best of which was a wonderful piece of brutalism with struts supporting the main structure jutting out over the canal water and some fabulous hexagonal windows.

A canal cruise excursion in Amsterdam seems like one of those things that as a tourist you simply have to do and we weren’t at all disappointed with it. We’re somewhat fond of water-based trips whenever we go on cruises anyway and on this particular day it was a very pleasant way to get out of the wind and occasional downpours of rain.

Our full day in Amsterdam had included visits to the maritime museum, the botanical gardens, the Gassan diamond manufacturing tour, the Hermitage museum, and a 2-hour canal cruise excursion, all thanks to the wonderful and highly recommended I Amsterdam city card. We’d also had some lunch but had to pay for that; you can’t get everything for free. We concluded our day by hopping on the tram (also free thanks to the card) and heading back into the main area to locate a pub we’d been in the day before for a few local drinks.

The pub was called In de Wildeman and did a large range of ales. As you might be able to work out from the poster pictured above on the two nights we visited we happened upon a “Meat & Great” when a local butcher treated us to free meat dishes while we drank (and they were wonderful) and, on this night, a “tap takeover” where beers were being tapped and added practically every 20 or 30 minutes. Our success at ordering a different range of drinks was hampered a little by unfamiliar staff being drafted in to assist with pouring for the crowd and drinks not being quite ready to consume but dry hopped ciders and dark, local beers were imbibed and greatly enjoyed, even if they were a smidge pricey.

From the pub it was a short walk to the waterfront area of Amsterdam and the train station that served as a good destination point for anyone looking to tour the city.

We headed right from there along the water’s edge back towards our floating home, Azura. The clear evening sky and darkening dusk of the evening came together to produce some great light for photos of the buildings along Amsterdam’s waterfront. I know that a lot of people will see the historic buildings and think they’re worth photographing but will ignore modern office complexes and apartments but I’m a big fan of repetition and colour transition in structures and the patterns that these sorts of pictures produce can often induce a sense of serenity in me. I know, I’m getting all arty and will stop.

A running joke when walking past the building above, as we did several times in our few days in Amsterdam, was “Oh look! Bimhuis! It’s a huis full of bim!” I guess you had to be there to appreciate this.

We arrived back at the port and I snapped a quick photo of Azura and a short bit of video before we got back on board to shower, change, snap a shot from our balcony, and go grab something to drink in the Planet Bar to finish up the night. It was our expectation that this would be the last we would see of Amsterdam but those strong winds we’d encountered on our trip had other ideas as the next post in this portfolio will show.

We’d been using the I Amsterdam city cards to visit places and luckily for us we’d bought the 48-hour versions. They were still valid for the entirety of our additional time in the city so we checked the map and elected to head towards the zoo. This walk initially took us back past the maritime museum we’d visited the day before.

Encounters With Dutch Cyclists

We had two interesting encounters with Dutch cyclists on our walk.

We didn’t get lost because I knew the approximate location of the zoo and figured it would be difficult to miss something that large but I did pull the map out at one point just to verify which of two roads would get us to our destination in the shortest time. This caused a woman on a bike to come to a screeching halt and immediately try to to help us out. This was very nice of her but as luck would have it she appeared to be the one person in Amsterdam who spoke no English. She did seem to have some German, or assumed we were for some reason, and I knew enough German words to pick out her directions and thank her even though I knew where I was going anyway.

Just as we arrived at the zoo we stopped and waited for another woman on a bike to come through one of the dedicated lanes. She did so at a fair speed but then her wheel seemed to clip the pavement, the bike wobbled, and she went flying. We ran across the road to assist and discovered she was bleeding quite heavily from her forehead, elbow, and foot. We handed over tissues we were fortunately carrying and asked if she wanted an ambulance; she said no and explained she wasn’t sure what had happened and that this had never happened to her before, that she was in her seventies and should know better, and that she just felt embarrassed. Another Dutch woman turned up to assist and we got her disentangled from her bike and on her feet. I picked up the things she’d dropped and broken (the frame of her glasses were detached) and another woman then also turned up from a nearby premises with a First Aid kit. Figuring she was in better hands with those people than with startled foreigners we wished her well, were thanked, and carried on. A shock for all involved and we hope she wasn’t too badly injured as a result. We were just glad we were there to help.

Artis Royal Zoo

To give it its full name Amsterdam Zoo is more properly known as Natura Artis Magistra but it’s recognised by the shorter name of simply Artis. The zoo is one of the oldest in Europe. We didn’t wander around with any particular plan, instead favouring just seeing where the winding paths led us. We were quite pleased to see so little fencing around as it makes taking photographs a lot easier.

I had to contend with bright backlighting and made some heavy adjustment of shadows and highlights in processing to save something of the following two shots but it was nice to grab some pictures of a mother with her baby up in the treetops.

We only saw one pair of animals exhibiting any signs of stress, those being the raccoons. For the very largest part this was a very relaxed-feeling zoo interestingly located within view of numerous buildings no doubt offering people living there great sights on a daily basis.

I like cats and I like brutalist architecture so it was lovely to see the former enjoying some of the latter at the zoo.

We can only assume there is something magical about elephants in the Netherlands as the excitement of the children who spotted the animals is difficult to describe. It was all we could do to stay standing as streams of kids thundered past and into us and around us shouting “Olifant! Olifant!” as their parents tried to hush them to little avail.

As well as enclosures outdoors there were a number of interior spaces for butterflies (forgot to visit this; next time), insects, and reptiles. This proved handy to escape a sudden torrential downpour at one point although my wife kept well away from anything that looked like it might remotely contain spiders. While neither of us like arachnids I do find them fascinating and am happy to peer at the creatures behind the safety of glass.

A large building given over to an aquarium was very nice, very spacious. The tanks seemed very clean, especially when compared to various sealife centres we’ve visited around the UK on our travels. There weren’t a huge amount of creatures on display but what there were looked beautiful. The only slight blot on the visit to this particular part of Amsterdam Zoo was that a school group were in attendance in one of the larger rooms and the sound of several dozen children mostly shouting over one another in an echoing hall-like venue did affect the enjoyment of the fish in their environments.

Back outside we ran into the tail end of a sea lion-feeding show taking place.

Our bonus half day in Amsterdam was very enjoyable and thanks to the excellent I Amsterdam city cards, free. We’d have no hesitation in visiting the place again if we were in the city as it’s a nice break from museums.

Sculptures

Just outside the zoo entrance was a small grassy area containing some odd, metal sculptures that was what I’d been intending to photograph before going in until we’d been distracted by the cyclist coming off her bike. I quite liked their unsubtle nature. Make of them what you will, but these were the last photos I took during our lovely few days in Amsterdam on our P&O cruise before making our way back to Azura and heading away from the Netherlands.

We didn’t have any excursions booked in Amsterdam as we’d been to the Netherlands on Azura a few years earlier and made great use of a city card to take in a lot of sights and experiences already. But we’re not generally fans of just playing things by ear, especially after a cruise at the end of last year where we did that a little too much and came away feeling we’d spent far too much of our time wandering when we could have been learning, so we did have a rough plan for the day’s activities.

Our day and night in the Dutch capital city was taking place on Liberation Day which meant there was a music festival taking place on the outskirts. We don’t do music festivals at home because they tend to go hand-in-hand with tents and we really don’t do tents. But a free festival in a foreign country is something for the experience checklist so that would be where we would end up and that will be covered in the next post. Ahead of that, though, we had an afternoon and early evening to hit Amsterdam and find some things to interest us. We’d done the canals, numerous museums, and even the zoo on our previous visit but there were always more museums to take a nose at and we had our eyes set on two in particular: something sexy and something violent.

Dam Square

Finding your way around Amsterdam is very easy as the city is effectively a series of concentric semi-circular canals centred on the train station with roads that more-or-less run horizontally and vertically through them. I tend to navigate through landmarks after taking a look at a map and planning an approximate route coupled with my pretty decent natural sense of direction. The less said about how my wife navigates, the better. Neither of us really use phones that much; it’s often only brought out to confirm that we’ve not missed what we were roughly aiming for or to confirm that we have and it was ages ago. Our first target was Dam Square, a large, open space at the southern end of the older, central section of Amsterdam and also a mutterance I’m trying to make popular with the kids. “I was hoping my eyebrows was going to be all on fleek but nah, it’s Dam Square.”

Coming out of the cruise terminal we headed right which took us towards the Centraal train station, then followed the main road as it swung left over tram tracks and under a bridge for the trains, then straight over a wide canal before angling right again onto Prins Hendrikkade.

This brought us outside the Basilica of Saint Nicholas and facing the facade of the Centraal train station across the canal.

We then followed Damrak to the south knowing that it would bring us to the square in short order.

The square is a wide open space intersected by many tram lines and with the clear landmarks of Madame Tussaud’s to the south, the National Monument to the west, and the Royal Palace to the east.

The National Monument is a concrete pillar, 22 metres in height, covered in white stone. It was erected as a permanent replacement for a “liberty pole” that had been raised in the same location to celebrate the end of World War II. With this being the weekend of the celebration of the Netherlands’ Liberty Day it was bedecked with wreaths and attracted a large crowd of attendees paying their respects.

One place we really need to put on our list of places to visit for the next time we hit Amsterdam is the Royal Palace. Originally built in the mid-17th century as the town hall it became the palace early in the 19th century at around the end of Napoleon’s reign over that part of Europe and the restoration of the monarchy to the country.

The square was pretty crowded and the largest group we were attracted to seemed to be formed around a small number of people with microphones. Our first guess was that this was something specific to Liberty Day again as we’d heard that there were often talks commemorating the war dead on this day but we soon realised this was another one of those “Watch us do some tricksy dances and jumps then grab some people from around for some audience participation then ask for money” things. We didn’t stay long as it started to rain quite persistently at this point.

“Raining,” I said to my wife, pulling my hoodie up and trying to protect my camera from the worst of the inclement weather. “Dam Square.”

“Nobody is going to start using that phrase,” she replied as we left the location. “Just stop it.”

We headed south along Rokin past an interesting-looking sculpture and didn’t stop until we reached the first of the museums that we were interested in and the one that would satisfy our search for violence in Amsterdam.

The Torture Museum

Amsterdam’s Torture Museum isn’t the first museum dedicated to the history of torture through the ages that we’ve visited. In fact, it’s precisely because we’d found our trip to the Torture Museum in Bruges so interesting that we wanted to compare it with the Dutch take on the same topic. Plus, as anyone who knows me will attest, I’m a dedicated misanthrope and atheist and anything that reinforces my conclusions about the barbarity of humans in general and organised religions in particular is fine by me.

Trying to be very fair here with the torture museum comparisons there are certain things that each country’s exploration of one of the darker chapters of mankind’s search for truth does better than the other. The Belgian museum certainly had the more detailed information so if you really want to learn why torture was used and how it both spread and faded from use then Bruges is where you want to go. On the other hand if you like your experience of torture equipment to be in a narrow, squeaky-floored building with red and blue lighting that plays absolute havoc with your attempts to take any pictures then it’s hard to fault Amsterdam. In each of the museums, though, you’ll look at some of the equipment and the descriptions next to them and you’ll wince and clench your buttocks tightly as you shuffle past so they both do equally well there.

American Beer

We’d chosen to visit the Torture Museum first as it was the farthest point from the cruise ship we’d wanted to reach. Heading back towards the centre of Amsterdam for the second of our museums of the day we stopped en route at the Beer Temple because torture makes you thirsty.

Generally, we favour local ales when we’re travelling but we’d been to Amsterdam before and satisfied that desire so we were more open to alternative drinking establishments. This place, specialising in American craft beer and with 35 on draught plus a couple of hundred others available in cans and bottles, was on the way and an easy side-journey to take.

We parked ourselves at the bar and had a very nice couple of drinks each. The staff were friendly and there was some great music being played. When Joe Walsh’s In The City started up and I nodded appreciatively at the barman, remarking it was the end music to The Warriors, this led to the pair of us re-enacting that scene from the film. As you know, that’s a global law when anyone mentions that movie and I’m no lawbreaker.

The Erotic Museum

The Erotic Museum on Oudezijds Achterburgwal, close to the heart of the city’s red light district, was where we headed next. This naturally took us past Oude Kerk, the presence of which in that part of the city still amuses us.

Set in a typically Dutch, narrow, multistorey building, the ground floor was a shop for any of your erotic needs while a staircase – once you’d paid the entrance fee, of course – led upstairs to the floors housing all sorts of erotic memorabilia in roughly-themed collections. I was quite surprised and very pleased to be told that photography was allowed, something I’d not been expecting. The collections covered such broad areas as erotic sculptures or fertility symbols, pornographic photography, erotic artwork, dolls, movies, bondage, etc. It was a little light on information – you won’t find the reason that people have decided to make salt and pepper shakers in the form of penises, for instance – but there was a large amount to look at – such as salt and pepper shakers in the form of penises, if that’s the sort of thing that interests you – and it was all organised well. The presence of sketches by John Lennon was a welcome addition to what some might see as otherwise frivolous and titillating.

If you’ve reached this part of this post and have been at all shocked at any of the pictures here, blushing brightly and maybe even mouthing “Dam Square” under your breath as you scroll quickly past, then may I humbly recommend you read the title of things you’re looking at on the internet in the future?

Dutch Ales

We’d originally had no firm plans beyond this point of our general idea for how to occupy ourselves during our day in Amsterdam other than head west towards the park where the Liberation Day music festival was taking place and see if there was somewhere to stop for a drink on the way. However, our stop at the Beer Temple had alerted us to another location run by the same group of people called Proeflokaal Arendsnest. Instead of American imports this bar only served Dutch ales, fifty on draught and over a hundred bottled. And it was roughly in the right direction for us too. We headed there, passing the usual array of attractive examples of architecture and very photographable canals in the city.

The bar itself was also attractive but somewhat lacking in seating space for the large number of people present. Obviously, a good sign as to the quality of the ales on offer. There was a nice view out to one of Amsterdam’s canals and some outside seating was available but only those with a nicotine fix to address or who laughed in the face of bitter northerly winds braved them.

In the next post of this series covering our short cruise aboard Celebrity Silhouette to Amsterdam I’ll cover our experience of the Liberation Day music festival and, yes, there may just be a little more drinking involved.

Maybe not. We may not be music festival people but we are experiential people, especially when it’s not a common experience, and for the obvious reason that life is short, nobody really knows what tomorrow will bring, but that the good money is on our species dying off in a failed science attempt to undo the damage to the planet before we reach retirement age. Many people have walked on the Great Wall of China (done it) and many people have seen the Northern Lights (that too) but the number who have experienced both is small as a fraction of the planet’s population. We’ve experienced a lot of things that combine to make our travels unique and this opportunity to attend a music festival in a foreign country is just another one to add to the list. It’s that one-upmanship that everyone who travels shares; we all want to be the ones in conversations to have done the thing or combination of things that nobody else has done, to ignite even a mote of jealousy. Don’t believe any traveller who denies it.

Westerpark

And so to the second part of our day in Amsterdam, the part following on from our successful search for Sex And Violence And Beer. Leaving the bar we headed towards Westerpark, a place you may not be at all surprised to learn is a park to the, er, west of the city, even if you don’t speak any Dutch.

We could hear the music from the very outskirts of the park so the lack of any signs wasn’t a problem at all. A few paths headed in the general direction through the grassy areas and trees and it was an easy enough walk so long as you kept an eye out for cyclists thundering through (well, it is Amsterdam) and obviously drunk or stoned guys swaying and shouting incoherently (well, it is Amsterdam) and veered away from them. We diverted slightly from the most direct route towards the music in order to take a look at a lake in which there was a statue of a headless woman (nope, no idea) and a number of birds present.

Troost Brewery

We’d expected perhaps a little more from what we saw in Westerpark and the music festival area when we entered. There was one stage where music was being performed in front of a small crowd, there was a huge open space of grass, there were some food vans in the distance, there were some buildings to one side, and there was a smaller crowd still in front of that.

On the one hand this was very early evening and the festival was due to continue until late so it might have been too early for most attendees, but on the other hand this was a Sunday so it didn’t seem like there was much else to do. The only thing that we remarked on that might have been having an effect was the wind which had been bad enough when walking in the streets of Amsterdam but out in the exposed park it was decidedly frigid indeed. We ignored the music to start with and walked straight through to the buildings because there was one thing present there that I knew from looking at the map: a brewery.

Brouwerij Troost Westergas, in its own words, “is a brewery, brewpub and shop in one” and a very attractive place indeed. A good range of ales all produced on the site, plenty of seating, food available. Well worth a visit if you’re nearby but worth noting that they only take card payments. We both went for the Brunette ale and it was bloody lovely although we had to sit outside due to the venue’s popularity, some of which may have been due to other people trying to find a way out of the wind.

DJ Stage

The smaller crowd we’d seen upon first entering Westerpark weren’t all just huddled around the brewery; the majority were instead enjoying the sounds booming out of a small stage setup hosting some DJs. Did we know any of the tunes playing? Don’t be so stupid. Did we like it? Actually, yes, because a lot of what we listened to sampled some old school hip-hop and disco and soul tracks which was right up our musical alleys. We didn’t enjoy it quite as much as some people there and when the wind whipped around in a different direction you could get the odd whiff of just why they were having such a good time but, well, it is Amsterdam.

As you can see from the photos and from the video (temporarily removed) there were plenty of coats done up tightly, many instances of gloves being worn, hats and scarfs in abundance. You can’t tell but we were huddled close together and bouncing along with the beat of the music but mostly just to keep warm as we’re not really the dancing types when we’re sober.

I was reluctant to leave the music and the opportunity to take photos of people, something I just don’t do anywhere enough these days, so I persuaded my wife to shift around and closer to the crowd enjoying the DJ to see if we could use them as a form of shelter. It didn’t really work because the wind has scary magical powers that lets it go around individuals who aren’t tightly clumped together so we didn’t stay much longer.

Music Festival Food

We decided to make our way back to the main stage but indirectly, via the food vans we’d seen a little earlier just to see if any of them were producing the right sort of smells that might entice us to part with some Euros. Short answer: no. Longer answer because when have I ever used a short answer on this site when there are sentences and paragraphs just waiting to spill forth from my fingers?: we thought the range of food on offer was pretty decent, covering most tastes and dietary requirements or choices: omnivores and vegans were equally catered for. Given the number of people actually attending the Liberation Day music festival it was probably just the right amount of food offerings too. Simply put, though, we didn’t suddenly turn to one another and say “Ooh, yes! Let’s sit on one of these chairs exposed to the elements while tucking into this fine fare!” and so we walked on by.

Main Stage Music

We reached the main stage area and located a spot at the back of the few-hundred-strong crowd gathered in front of it. We did debate moving in amongst the bodies for more shelter but the choices were either to stand amongst the smokers or the dancers.

Something we’ve found a lot when we’ve travelled in Europe is that smoking seems far more noticeable than back home. I don’t know if Europeans smoke more or if locations abroad that attract tourists just also attract a larger number of smokers through the power of statistical probability, making it more obvious than at home because who in their right mind would visit the crappy sections (that’s most of them) of Portsmouth I find myself in? It’s something we’ve observed less outside Europe, though, but not observed enough to perform any kind of scientific analysis of numbers, nor would we really want to. Maybe we’re all just more stressed here. Perhaps if more of those people travelled abroad they’d have less need to smoke. And they’d want to save their money for travelling. Travel is arguably good for a well-rounded mental state – Mark Twain, of course, famously stated: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime” – but should it be a physical health right too? And should I stop digressing and get back to describing this Liberation Day music festival in Amsterdam?

The smokers wasn’t an option, therefore, and as I’ve already indicated it takes a threshold of alcohol to get us shimmying and shaking so we thought better of mingling with the movers in case our static presences irritated those enjoying themselves. I can care about other people. There’s no need to look so surprised. We slowly edged around the back of the crowd with the intention of cutting our visit to the festival short on account of there being less to see than we’d hoped for and us being too sober to not care about being unable to feel our fingers.

The artists on stage in Westerpark were called Arp Frique And Family. It won’t surprise you to learn that we had not heard of them before but that’s pretty much true for any artist who didn’t have some form of musical success in the twentieth century. But, we quite liked the music. Good mix of African rhythms fused with elements of prog rock to form a genre you can’t find listed as a suggestion on Spotify. And the crowd certainly appreciated what they were listening to with some quite energetic dancing from some members of it near the front of the stage.

The wind was that sort of cold that you think isn’t too bad for a few seconds or a minute but it has the effect of slowly sucking out all your warmth like a sponge so our plan to head “inside, somewhere, anywhere” was still on track, but coming alongside the front of the main stage I realised there was quite a large gap between the dancers and the artists performing. Were the people leaving a respectful distance as part of some unwritten rule of music festivals in the Netherlands? Were they simply not that keen to be looking up so much at Arp Frique or his family because neck health is an important consideration on the continent? Had the bass from the speakers slowly bounced them all away from the stage without their noticing? Whatever the reason, I spied an opportunity to get a lot closer than I’d expected so mouthed to my wife (on account of us being beside the speakers) “I’m just going to get some photos near the stage.” I got a nod that said “Okay” and a tight-lipped smile that said “Be quick. If I freeze to death over here I will come back to life and kill you.”

I was quite surprised to see one of the many clones of Anthony Michael Hall taken during his filming on The Breakfast Club enjoying the music; I had him down as more of a soft rock person.

The sunset was attractive in the western sky beyond Westerpark’s Liberation Day music festival but that signalled a reduction in radiation from our solar system’s star which meant it was getting colder still. Years of marriage have honed my skills and I know the threshold beyond which I cross from irritating my wife to pissing my wife off and this was it so we made our move away from the sounds of Arp Frique and back towards the city.

J.D. William’s Whisky Bar

We could have headed straight to the ship but it felt like a waste of a visit to Amsterdam if we weren’t going to take full advantage of our time in the city. We fancied a drink – don’t feign shock – and had spotted a place that sounded interesting on our earlier walk towards Westerpark so retraced some of that route.

The place we’d spotted was called the J.D. William’s Whisky Bar and in there we dropped. We had a very friendly welcome from the single member of staff we could see working who was helping another group of people to decide what they wanted and indicated he’d be along to help us too, soon. We didn’t need any help but we did need some time to peruse the wall of whiskey (I spell it with an ‘e’) and blackboard listing what was available by type.

We know what we like: Islays. Something with a rich, peaty smell. For me, it’s a memory of trips to Ireland to see family when I was a child and toasting bread over an open peat fire. For my wife, it’s a trip to Scottish islands as a child and similar house-heating methods. The friendly barman could tell we knew our stuff but was happy to chat about options and make recommendations and made small talk as he cleared tables and refreshed drinks in the venue. Whiskey turned up along with water as well as the bottles themselves for those photos for posterity and promotion; a good move from the bar.

The drinks and ambience were fabulous and we stayed for a couple. Let’s be clear, though: come with deep wallets if you’re planning on spending any time here because, like everywhere in the Dutch capital, cheap it ain’t. Still, where else could you find such a wide range of wonderful whiskies? If you do like whiskey and want to try something a little different then this place gets our seal of approval which, while worthless, does give you an excuse and someone to blame if you’re disappointed.

It was dark when we left and we decided that would be the end of our day in Amsterdam. We made our way back to the ship at the cruise terminal where we weren’t at all surprised to see a giant clog but were somewhat perplexed by the Union Jack-decorated cow. Is there a Dutch legend about a British cow swimming to the Netherlands? Let’s just assume so.

That concludes our day in Amsterdam; a day of museums, drinking, music, and occasional periods of not having any sensation in our fingers. In the remaining travel portfolio posts the final day of this short cruise aboard Celebrity Silhouette will be covered, including departure from the Dutch capital, travel along the North Sea Canal and through the locks at IJmuiden, and speciality dining in the Murano restaurant followed by the evening’s entertainment on the ship.

I am a fan of Amsterdam’s architecture which is largely eclectic and modern, and if there’s anything remotely brutalist in appearance then I’ll probably take a photo of it.

We could see the A’DAM Tower on the north side of Amsterdam and we know a fair number of cruise bloggers had visited there on trips to this Netherlands destination in the past because of its high viewpoint and the swings that offer a thrill from the roof. We might do the same at some future point, but that wasn’t our plan for this visit.

As Celebrity Silhouette completed docking beside the cruise port we headed up to take part in the morning trivia, figuring it would be lightly-attended and we’d have a reasonable chance of winning. It was lightly-attended but we did not win.

We’d taken everything we’d need for the day before we’d taken part in the trivia so as to give our steward all the time he needed to clean our room, so as soon as the quizzing was over we headed down to the gangway and made our way ashore.

Our initial walking destination was to the waterside part of Amsterdam’s Centraal station and this would take us past some of that eclectic architecture I’ve already mentioned. First to catch my eyes were the ventilation shafts over one of the tunnels under the canal. Not as visually appealing as those along the North Sea Canal that we’d seen a few times before (and would again when we departed), but very distinctive.

The building below has escaped my quick check to find out much about its history but it was at the time of photographing it a Levi Strauss corporate office in Amsterdam. It feels like it might have once belonged to a shipping company given the position by the water but it would be nice to know the reason behind the mock castle appearance.

The final interesting bit of architecture on our short walk was that of of NACO Huisje, or the Koppe’s Shipping Agency Office, originally built in 1919. The odd, outward-sloping face to the roof design and its mounting on concrete supports is definitely eye-catching. The present location of the building comes following removal of it in 2003 from a few hundred metres away during heavy redevelopment of the area. The building’s status as a national monument meant it couldn’t be demolished but it took until 2021 before a new spot was found and it was finally returned to Amsterdam’s waterfront.

We completed our walk to the ferry terminals outside Centraal. The one we were after was the one to the NDSM area on Amsterdam-Noord, and the wonderful thing about Amsterdam’s ferries is that they run regularly, making them very convenient, and they’re also free for pedestrians, adding to their appeal and usefulness.

A short ride took us across the water with views back along it to where our cruise ship was docked.

In the next post in this cruise travelogue series we’ll have a look around the museum dedicated to street art from around the world, STRAAT, and it is an absolutely fabulous place indeed.

Much of the walk was not particularly interesting but we started by crossing the Zijkanaal I, a side channel with some attractive little waterside houses along its length. In front of one we also saw a narrow train track running alongside it and an older gentleman outside with controls sending a small steam train along the length. We stopped and watched for a couple of minutes, sharing in the joy of a fun little hobby.

We’re fans of architecture – you’ll see that this post is tagged to show it and by following that tag you’ll see just how often we make a point of photographing or talking about the architecture we see when we travel – so it was very nice to see a few examples of the Amsterdam School movement here in Amsterdam. If it could almost be Art Deco in red brick and you’re in the Netherlands then it’s probably the Amsterdam School design you’re looking at. The building below was formerly a school, built in the early 1920s, but now, like so many historic buildings, apartments.

Our target was Oedipus and we arrived there at a fair pace because thick, black clouds were rolling in over us and raindrops had just started to fall as we entered the premises. A large space providing some food options to go with the many drink options in a colourful, cartoon-like environment was very welcome by this point, and we were instantly amused by the toilet door decorations as the male character resembled a friend of ours. We made a point of sending him a photo.

We’d not long sat down with our first drink than the rain started to really come down, and when you’re in a large space with corrugated roofing the noise is deafening. The angle of the rain started to come through the main entrance too so the shutters had to be pulled down for about ten minutes giving all of us in there a bit of a lockdown feel.

One other fun element while we were in the Oedipus brewery in Amsterdam was a group of British blokes on a stag weekend. They were well-behaved but at one point one of them went to the bar to ask about jenever, as they sold it there in addition to beers. We’ve had jenever before and once was definitely enough. What this guy wanted, though, was to effectively try a Jägerbomb but with a local beer and jenever. The barman suggested this was a bad idea but the rest of the stag do suggested it was a great idea and everyone watched to see the result. It was, indeed, based on the facial expression, a bad idea, but amusing.

After a few drinks and definite improvement in the weather we headed back to the ship. The walk to the nearest free ferry crossing was one punctuated by artwork. Some apartment blocks had art canvases on their ends but the piece I most liked was one called The Wall by Alfred Eikelenboom. The original piece had been erected in 1987, been constructed from red steel, been controversial, been described as an eyesore not fitting the location and spoiling the view, and had fallen into disrepair. However, it had become a local fixture so money was spent on creating a new version in 2020, this time in plastic, and the version you now see today.

We didn’t have to wait long for a ferry across the water, which was handy as it had started to rain again, and we would soon be back aboard Celebrity Silhouette.

In the final post in this short cruise travelogue series I’ll include a few more photos from aboard the ship on the last couple of nights with some further thoughts about cruising with Celebrity.