Amsterdam #34 - Waar Ajax tweede in de poule wordt

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Day 22 - Saturday

It’s 6am and I feel Chris physically tugging on my leg urging me to wake. The ferry has docked at Hoek van Holland. Still immersed in this cloud of grogginess I drag myself to the lower decks to join Chris on gorging on the breakfast buffet. The sleeping tablets are so strong that even the smell of mushrooms, hot toast, eggs, the whole English breakfast get up has not had an effect on me and I eat it in a zombie-like state. I remember falling in and out of sleep whilst on the train from Hoek van Holland to Amsterdam Central. The seats on our carriage were quite roomy. I wondered why anybody would need such wide leg room and plush cushiony seats, but then reasoned that Dutch people were amongst the tallest people in the world. A grumpy train inspector later kicked us out of the first class carriage into second.

We met Luca on platform 2a in Amsterdam Central. The platforms are quite long seeing as 2 Dutch trains can fit on one platform, so spotting him at the other end of the platform and walking towards him felt like being in one of those old slomo movies. We both gave him a giant hug, pun intended because he is tall. It felt really strange as we’d only just been with him in Australia on the other side of the world a couple of months ago. He takes us back to the hotel so we dump our stuff and we spontaneously decide to rent bikes from MacBike and ride around the city.

Bike riding in Amsterdam is an amazing way to see the city in such short time. To me the traffic is organised chaos. As bike riders you have to be aware of trams, cars, busses, people, other cyclists and fully indicate your intentions. There are no helmet rules, which makes me think of the many regulations Australians are put under. Everyone sort of just goes for it; if you think you can take on a pedestrian they will ultimately step out of the way for you. We zip through alongside some canals and make our way to museum square. After chaining our bikes together in a threesome Luca produces 3 Van Gogh gallery tickets. Luca speaks a couple of words in Dutch to the security guard and we sroll past the enormous queue of tourists straight into the gallery. VIP!

The gallery is broken up chronologically into sections. Early life, Nuenen, Antwerp, Paris, Arles then the mental asylum at Saint Remy. I remember thinking the crazier Van Gogh had become, the more colourful and happier his paintings seemed to become. There was also a period of his life where he was influenced quite heavily by Japanese prints. Quite pleased that we had learnt something for the day we treated ourselves to chips with mayo. At this point Chris and I vow to always eat chips with mayo. The consistency is amazing and unlike any mayo I’ve had in Australia. I also treat myself to pickled salty Dutch style herring. It comes with a cute little Dutch flag and I become actuely aware that I am eating tourist food. Luca takes us to a Dutch icecream stall. The icecream is a mix of whipped cream and vanilla icecream and tastes unique. Luca teaches me the phrase “dank ye wel” and use it liberally for the next two days to gain brownie points with the locals.

We dump our bikes back at MacBike and make our way to the Anne Frank House. Again Luca works his special Dutch razzle dazzle and we skip the snaking queue and head straight into the house. The first three floors of the house are spacious factory areas, but as we climbed through the hidden passage way behind a bookshelf into the Frank living area I feel a slight chill. It is a little creepy being in hidden area where the Franks used to live and even creepier still when peering into the attic. The walls of Anne’s room are patched with newspaper clippings of movie stars and pets. It feels pretty surreal.

It is dark after departing from the Anne Frank house so we quickly grab a falafel and run to catch the tram to the Amsterdam Blauw Wit stadium. Chris is excited to see a national game of Korfball. Korfball is a popular Dutch sport. In short, 8 players on a team, 4 attack and 4 defense. The aim of the game is to shoot balls into yellow hoops, much like shooting netball hoops except the height of the ring is at least 2 feet taller, there is no limit to which distance you can shoot at and it is a mixed sex game. It is a damn fast sport too and the Dutch crowd really get into it. There are drums in the crowd, the people are dressed up either in shimmering red bathrobes or blue and white colours and both teams have brought very loud and annoying bullhorns.

After the match we hop back on a tram towards the Amsterdam central where we stroll through the red light district. On first assumptions it seemed as if the red windows were few and far between. Then we turned into a narrow lane and the windows were lit up from door to door and stretched for the whole block of houses. Every so often a door would open and a woman in a thong would haggle over prices with groups of drunk men. The doors would often close followed either by laughs or rude gestures but once in a while the men would step in and the curtains would be pulled. I was actually expecting the district to be seedier, so again I had learnt something interesting about the city!

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Op maandag 27 februari 2012 20:52 schreef AMDB het volgende:

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Sterkte

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Op woensdag 29 februari 2012 14:48 schreef bitterend het volgende:

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Waar wij wonen is het leuk...allemaal gezinnen en een echt dorpsgevoel (disteldorp) maar ja noord gestoord

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Op dinsdag 28 februari 2012 16:54 schreef Luco het volgende:
Dit weekend vrienden vanuit Australië over gehad in Amsterdam. Heeft een leuke blog geschreven over de eerste dag (en dag 2 volgt binnenkort):

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Friet was gehaald in de Voetboogsteeg bij Vlemminckx en het ijs was uiteraard bij van der Linde gekocht. Toch bizar dat er bij 6 graden een rij buiten dat winkeltje staat voor hun ijs

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Op woensdag 29 februari 2012 15:01 schreef AMDB het volgende:

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Precies de reden waarom mensen Noord niet als Amsterdam zien :p

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Op maandag 27 februari 2012 20:33 schreef bitterend het volgende:
Ik woon al 5 jaar in Amsterdam Noord

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Op woensdag 29 februari 2012 15:01 schreef AMDB het volgende:

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Precies de reden waarom mensen Noord niet als Amsterdam zien

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Op woensdag 29 februari 2012 19:30 schreef WammesWaggel het volgende:
De beste friet en mayo haal je trouwens in Noord, links net voor je de Schellingwoudeburg op gaat, in dat gebouwtje

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Op woensdag 29 februari 2012 19:32 schreef Thorical het volgende:

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Dat was een paar jaar geleden zo. Nu is het 3 x niets.

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Op woensdag 29 februari 2012 18:41 schreef Bleie het volgende:

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Dat dorpsgevoel kende ik ook al van de Oostelijke Eilanden waar ik hiervoor woonde.

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Op vrijdag 2 maart 2012 16:51 schreef Piles het volgende:
Hier nog iemand met contacten voor (tijdelijk) woonruimte in Amsterdam? Kans bestaat dat ik binnenkort uit m'n appartement moet, dus opzoek naar iets anders. Sociale huur is onmogelijk qua wachttijd, vrije sector onmogelijk qua inkomenseisen Kopen met tijdelijk contract ook onmogelijk. Wat een heerlijke woningmarkt hebben we toch

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Op dinsdag 28 februari 2012 16:54 schreef Luco het volgende:
Dit weekend vrienden vanuit Australië over gehad in Amsterdam. Heeft een leuke blog geschreven over de eerste dag (en dag 2 volgt binnenkort):

[..]

Friet was gehaald in de Voetboogsteeg bij Vlemminckx en het ijs was uiteraard bij van der Linde gekocht. Toch bizar dat er bij 6 graden een rij buiten dat winkeltje staat voor hun ijs

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Op dinsdag 20 maart 2012 19:39 schreef magneetstrip het volgende:
Binnenkort 2x proefstuderen aan de VU Zijn er plekken/winkels in Amsterdam waar ik gewoon geweest MOET zijn?

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Op dinsdag 28 februari 2012 16:54 schreef Luco het volgende:
Dit weekend vrienden vanuit Australië over gehad in Amsterdam. Heeft een leuke blog geschreven over de eerste dag (en dag 2 volgt binnenkort):

[..]

Friet was gehaald in de Voetboogsteeg bij Vlemminckx en het ijs was uiteraard bij van der Linde gekocht. Toch bizar dat er bij 6 graden een rij buiten dat winkeltje staat voor hun ijs

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I vowed to finish posting about Amsterdam! So here I am, 2 weeks later with a hazier memory of my second day in Amsterdam.

10 am Sunday morning. Feeling slightly seedy from the previous night in the red light district, so Chris and I do the complete opposite of a dirty night out and head to the very homely and wholesome ice rink near Diemen (De Jaap Eden dus). The ice rink is quite large and has both outdoor and indoor sections. The outdoor rink to me is incredible, as it is decorated with strings of pretty lights and packed with people of both amateur and semi-pro level. It has a very homely feel to it; Dutch families bring their kids who can barely walk let alone skate. I could also tell that this was not a tourist spot as everyone pretty much spoke Dutch. That and there were no loud wankers around wearing heineken merch. After a couple of croquettes (kalfsveelskroket) we hit up the ice-rink. Luca is a natural and tells me he was skating in the canals 2 weeks prior. Chris is alright too. I laze on the ice, playing it safe so I do not fall.

We head to the city centre after lunch. Here we walk into one of the infamous coffee shops. To anyone from Australia who ventures into Amsterdam, be aware there is a difference between a “coffee house” and “coffee shop”. The one we went to was, in my opinion, particularly touristy. Neon lights in the shape of marijuana leaves and high Jamaicans decorated the frontier of the shop. The smell of weed was unique and very strong and will be one of the smells that I will remember for the rest of my life. There are two bars in this joint, no pun intended. The first is a normal bar, serving snacks, beers and spirits and the second is the weed bar. Naturally we ignore the first bar and head for the second bar. I was curious as to how the product would be sold, only to find myself talking to a British dude in a floppy hat behind the bar. The products are all laid out carefully under a glass panel and illuminated ontop of a mild green glow. There were many kinds of weed available in multiple forms - loose leaf of varying quality and strength and in muffins. The White Widow was one of the weaker brands of loose leaf available. Chris joked that “it does what it says”. Other brands included Thai Delight, Bhudda Bar, Haze, Nepaleze etc. Luca pointed out that Dutchies were educated about this kind of stuff from a young age - smoking it will render effects in a couple of minutes, eating it will take about 2 hours. Chris bought a space muffin in the middle of the table. The British dude asked what I wanted but I declined - I would need my brains for my research project the next day. He stored it in my back pack to have later. I wondered later if the staff there were constantly high given that they would be subject to hours and hours of second hand smoke and a place that smelt like a shoe. A mate from Sydney told me later that you cannot get high from second hand smoke (hi Lily!)

We head to the Heineken Experience next. The Heineken Museum used to be an active brewery until 1988 when operations moved to Zoeterwoude. In short it was an incredibly flash museum, very different to the Carlton factory I had visited in Melbourne. (But to be fair the Carlton/Fosters factory conducted a more thorough tour and showed you the giant mills, boiler rooms, 3 separate warehouses for the bottling, keg filling, can filling etc. That and we were given a LOT more beer. ) It was not surprising given that the marketing power of Heineken is of mammoth proportions. There were rooms where the walls were constructed out of old Heineken bottles. “4D” cinema, a DJ arena, and a couple of touristy red star shaped bars at the end of the tour where you could grab middies of Heineken. (What is the Dutch equivalent of a middy?) By then we were craving beer so badly. We also noticed that all of the writing in the museum was in English, not Dutch. The museum contained on top of all this, stables at the ground floor which housed 6- 7 horses, surprisingly. The smell was very earthy and intense and hit me like a slap in the face. The horses and kept mainly for historical purposes and for pulling the odd cart on weekends. I think that was the only functioning part of the Museum. Playing true to my tourist status, I purchase a Heineken shirt and a signature Heineken bottle with my supervisors name on it. Which I will not drink for myself.

I had also learnt at the museum how to pour beer, Dutch style! Two fingers of head. But why? Is that not a waste of space that could potentially be amber fluid? No they say, it is to prevent the carbon dioxide rising too quickly out of the beer and thus rendering it flat before you’ve reached your table.

We were given a lift from Luca’s Dad to Luca’s parent’s house for dinner. They were incredibly kind, showing me and Chris around the house and feeding us with honestly the best home-made lasagne I’ve ever had. If you’ve heard the stories about Luca’s mum’s cooking (hello anyone from my lab if you’re reading this) it is so true. The layers and texture of the dish is evidence of days of hard work and I felt so blessed to be in that room. Chris wondered how Luca could stay in shape and still be fit seeing as he is subject to this gorgeous Italian food day in day out. Must be korfball.

Luca’s dad rushes us to the station after dinner, but not without leaving with a few gifts from the family. Again it was so so kind. We say our goodbyes at the train station - Luca headed off to Groningen. We felt so sad to say bye! The sadness was equivalent to how happy we were to see him for the first time in Amsterdam, if that makes sense. If you’re reading this thanks mate for the fantastic two days - you really made a huge difference in our experience of Amsterdam. Chris later said that it made his trip in Europe. And mine too for that matter!

We catch the connecting train to the Stena Line Britannica and prepare ourselves for the sail home. By preparation I mean that Chris stuff his face full of muffin before leaving the train. I had early encouraged him to eat half the muffin instead of the whole muffin, but later found out he ate the whole thing anyway.

He was tripping balls on the boat back to England.
Throughout the boat ride he stared at the ceiling and laughed his arse off. In between bursts of laughter he told me that there were funny patterns in the ceiling and they were changing shape. It was purely bizarre to watch this. I turned on our cabin TV to distract him from the ceiling. It occurs to me now that that in itself is really weird. Iron Man was showing and boy did he take that seriously. His emotions were heightened and when Tony Stark was injured he took it very seriously. While he was distracted by the TV, I made sure I had hidden all my stroopwafel deep inside my luggage so he would not get the munchies and go nuts on them. Sorry laav!

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Op dinsdag 20 maart 2012 19:55 schreef jimjim1983 het volgende:

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de bubbels

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Op dinsdag 20 maart 2012 20:12 schreef Luco het volgende:

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En het vervolg staat ook online:

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Op dinsdag 20 maart 2012 21:29 schreef AMDB het volgende:
Goed geschreven verhaal inderdaad! Al zijn er wel iets te veel cliché's

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Op dinsdag 20 maart 2012 19:55 schreef jimjim1983 het volgende:

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de bubbels