Val Ease Central Railroad by Jeffrey MacHan
The Eurospoor 2003 AdventureZ
Report #2: On the road to Eurospoor! Saturday, October 11, 2003, 2003
Saturday, October 11, 2003
- This was the first breakfast at Maes B&B. It was a rather
intimidating climb to the third floor to join the Sutfins at the
smallish breakfast table. Our host, Vlad, was busy stacking cold
cuts, cheeses, jams, croissants, juices and sundry other items on the
table. Of course, after such an adrenaline-generating climb, our
first priority was a cup of French-press coffee. Vlad's coffee was
very popular between the three of us and Vlad shared the secret of
his fine brew. You have to use coarse ground coffee in the press.
Espresso grind is too fine. Well, there you have it, the secret is
out.
Helen had already put together an itinerary for our first full day
together in Amsterdam. After breakfast, we took in the local market
which was located about two canals further up Herenstraat and a
couple of street corners over. We arrived just as the last stands
were being set up. The first thing one notices about a community
market is that they tend to look the same no matter what the
continent. There is always a bakery present, a flower shop, knitted
clothing, crafts, used appliances and tools, second-hand books,
cassettes, tapes and CDs etc. What made this market special for us
was the large assortment of cheeses (naturally) and sausages. There
was also a sculptor who had placed a man-sized creation that looked
like it had been made for a Star Wars movie set. Terry and Helen
posed for a photo with the creature and it's daddy. As we were
making the turn to head on to our next attraction, we were serenaded
by the sweet sounds of a classical trio, dressed in 18th century
attire. The music was very well played and the quaintness of the
sight made for a great picture opportunity.
At our return to base camp, Jean-Philippe was waiting for us following
an all-nighter at work then the flight over from London. He was happy to join us for our next activity.
We headed downtown with
Terry in the lead to have lunch and collect our tickets for the canal
tour. Terry had found a shortcut to the downtown core, at least that
is what he told us. It was a more direct route than I had followed
the day before. It took us along side the imposing bicycle garage,
past the taxi stand and up to the Centraal Station terrace. While
Terry and Helen stood in a long queue to pick up the canal tour
tickets at the Tourist Information Centre across the square from the
station, I rented some time on the Internet at the adjoining
coffee-shop computer terminals. It seemed oh so civilized to me to
be able to relax with Jean-Philippe, sip my caffe latte while sending
a message off to Marthe that our son had finally shown up. I also
informed her that she made the right decision to skip the trip to
Amsterdam. She would never have been able to climb the stairs in the
B&B. Soon my colleagues joined Jean-Philippe and me with the tour
tickets, city maps and various tour info brochures. It was decided
to purchase day passes on the canalbus which would take us around the
major canals and gave us an overview of the city core. Our canal bus
tickets seemed a little on the expensive side but the selling point
was the opportunity, or so it seemed to us at the time, to get on and
off the boats at marked docks around the circuit.
It was time for something to eat. I have never found continental
breakfasts very filling and I was ready for something substantial to
eat. We walked up Damstraat, the major artery that divided Amsterdam
into two halves, until we found an acceptable menu and a comfortable
terrace. We were seated in the street side window so we had a good
view of the other tourists passing by. People watching is such an
informative activity. So many different sizes, shapes and styles.
Lunch consisted of an overcooked ham, cheese and mushroom omelette but it
did the job of filling the void in my stomach.
It took us 3 attempts to find the correct dock on the correct side of
the canal. The slow pace of the tour was great for Terry, Helen and
me but for poor Jean-Philippe, who was basically walking in his
sleep, it was too much. He managed to keep his head from banging too
hard against the table for about half of the ride but he finally had to
accept defeat and he headed back to the apartment to catch up on his
"ZZZZZs".
For the remainder of our canal cruise, we enjoyed the
descriptive commentary and marveled at the extraordinary sights
outside our windows. I was immediately impressed by the skill with
which the canalboat driver maneuvered his craft around impossible
turns and under all sorts of bridges. We were struck by the variety
and uniqueness of the hundreds of house boats along the way. It was
hard to imagine that people actually lived, some actually worked, in
these house boats. We were informed that the city provided
electricity, gas and water hookups. I didn't see any waste water
pipes so I came to believe that sewage from these boats went directly
into the canals. No wonder they were "flushed" with water from the
diverted Amstel River 3 times a week. Imagine the smell if the
canals were left to drain on their own!
The tour took so long that finally there was no time left to make use
of the 'get off, get on' flexibility of the day pass. We later found
that the tram system was by far the most convenient and fastest way
to get around town. We did, however, spot several of the major landmarks and museums that we wanted to visit later.
We connected later that evening with Jean-Philippe for supper at the
Thai restaurant next to our apartment. We ordered one plate each "to
share" and ended up with a huge quantity of leftovers. We decided to
walk along the canals in order to help digest our overindulgence. We
admired the extraordinary lights in the lofts of the gabled houses
and tried to take low-light pictures with our digital cameras of the
various monuments. Terry had a new Nikon Coolpix 3400 which he was
just becoming acquainted with. Of course his camera blew my Canon
S100 out of the water when it came to good night-time photos.
I still got a couple of decent shots using the exposure compensation
setting. All Terry had to do was twist a setting dial and hit the
shutter button. The fun thing about having Terry discover all the
goodies and features of his camera was that I discovered several
features of my own camera that I was unaware of.
It wasn't hard falling asleep when we finally got back to the B&B.
This would be my last night in the ground floor apartment.
Jean-Philippe would be returning to London the next day so I had made
plans to move into a single room for the rest of my stay in
Amsterdam. Smart thinking. Too bad that the move proved to be a
little more complicated than I expected!
Stay tuned. The Eurospoor Adventure continues...
Stay tuned for Report #3 of the Great Eurospoor AdventureZ | Return to Eurospoor 2003 Home.
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