Day 2 – Amsterdam and Volendam

9/12/2006 – Day 2 – Amsterdam and Volendam

After breakfast we head out to meet for our boat tour of Amsterdam.  Out in the canals we almost immediately see more buildings that are tilting towards the neighboring building.  You can clearly see the building in the center leaning to the right. 

There are many boats here in many different styles and colors.  I would never have thought I’d see a boat painted in the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream motif.  Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream is base in Vermont in the U. S.  Hey, Peace, Love and Ice Cream.

Riding along one of the canals gives you a good feel for the number of boats in the city.  Many like this canal are stem to stern with houseboats.  Check out the boom on the first one on in line on the left.

We see many more houses facing the canals.  Look at the tops of the houses; everyone is different from any other in the row.  At least none of these looks to be leaning on its neighbor.  Also, look how close the cars have parked to the canal.  Another couple of inches and the car is swimming with the bicycles.

Riding around in the boat we see many sights.  The canals range from short to long with some wider than others.  Some only have a few while others have many bridges over them.  We can see from the boat that this canal has at least has at least five bridges and we have already gone under a couple already.  

After our boat cruise, we are on the bus and stop at Coster Diamonds to see how diamonds are cut.  Here is one of the cutters shaping a solitary diamond cut.  The wheel has diamond dust that helps to shave and shape each facet.  Tedious work.

This is a replica of the British Crown.  Coster Diamonds did the restoration a few years ago.

Traveling through the city our next stop is at the Rijksmuseum.  There are many paintings from the Dutch masters.  Here is one of those paintings.

There are many paintings and it is difficult to determine which one to take a picture.  I am taking pictures of as many as I can, but I was shaking so much many are blurry.  I do get several good pictures of the paintings at the museum.

We finally make our way to “The Night Watch”.  The painting is huge.  It is about 12 feet by 14 ½ feet.  Considering that the painting was competed in 1642 I wonder how the painter remembered what everyone was wearing or what they looked like.  Did everyone come ack when it was their turn to paint?  How long did it take to complete the painting?

Besides paintings, there were a number of busts, like this one. 

There were scrimshaw pieces and pottery, some looking like it came from China or Japan.  I could not tell if this was a cup, vase, or whatever, but this piece looks to be made of gold and scrimshaw. 

After finishing our tour of the museum, we are heading to Volendam, out near the coast of the North Sea.  On the way we stop at a working windmill.  We went inside and saw the workings with descriptions of how the system works to bring water into the higher elevated canals. 

In Volendam we visited a number of working businesses.  This company made cheeses with the wax coverings.  Wow!  I wanted one, but they said they were not ready yet, too bad.

We also visited a wooded clog manufacturer.  Here a shoe die is used to carve out a shoe from a block of wood.

This is the result of all of the carving work.  These are hanging from the ceiling ready for someone to pick them out. 

To get a full view of the coastal town I hurried along to shore so I can see more of the town.  As you can see the coast curves a little and there is some fog that hasn’t burned off yet.

Here is one of the brightly painted houses in town.  I thought the color of the wall with the butterflies over the window was interesting.

While we are walking down one of the streets and I cannot help but take a picture.  As you can see, the cars have to park up on one of the sidewalks or other traffic could not get by.  You can see Carmen just walking in front of me.
Working our way to the waterfront and near the dock, we can see what appears as a replicated three-mast sailing ship.  Look at the size of the poop deck; it is about half the size of the ship.

As we head to a restaurant to get something to eat for diner, I get a picture of Carmen walking down the pedestrian street.  Like most tourist destinations, you can buy souvenirs at any of the shops along the boulevard. 

By the time we get back to Amsterdam and the hotel it is dark.  Carmen and I go for a short walk to see some of the canals lit up at night. 

Looking down this canal you can see the tower in the distance, just beyond the bridge. 

Boats, boathouses, houses, businesses, and something going on that has strobe lights spread out like a Hollywood premiere.  Maybe we are missing a party, but we are leaving early tomorrow so not tonight.