Bikes, Bikes Everywhere in Amsterdam

I have had my friend Bob and his friend Dui staying with me for a while. They were here for a week, and then went to Rome for a week. Bob came back here and Dui went on to Morocco. Bob had another week here with me so we decided to take a quick trip to Amsterdam. He has some friends that live right in the historical part of town, so I only had to pay for the airfare. Seemed like a great opportunity.

When you first step onto the streets of Amsterdam you are struck by the incredible number of bikes. Thousands are lined up near the train station. All are very simple one gear or 3 gear bikes. I haven’t seen this many bikes since Beijing. There are really very few cars especially in the old historic part of the city. Built mostly in the 1600’s these mostly brick buildings have a unique architectural style. They are built very narrow, about 4 stories high with tall roofs and lots of detail. The stairwells are too narrow to bring furniture up so each building has a large hook built into the roof so people can hoist their furniture through the windows. Some of the buildings actually tilt forward a couple of degrees to accommodate furniture being moved it. They are all out of square because of all the canals that surround them have caused the structures to settle unevenly. Thank goodness there are no earthquakes there. The whole place would be leveled in about 10 seconds.

More Canals than Venice
When this port city was first laid out, the city planners decided to dig long canals to aid in the trade and mercantile industry that it would become famous for. Even though the streets are quite narrow, the canals running through make the city very open and the water gives it a wonderful tranquil feeling. There are far more canals in Amsterdam than Venice. It certainly is a very livable city. We rented bikes for the time we were there and were able to get everywhere on them. We even rode to the outskirts of town following the Amstel River, which the town is named after. There are still a few windmills standing after 300 years.

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit Amsterdam is to make a pilgrimage to the Van Gough museum. It is the largest collection of his works. What surprised me the most about the exhibit is how many of his works I have already seen from the traveling exhibits of his work over the years. It was still wonderful to see them all collected thanks to his brother Theo’s wife who still believed in Van Gough even after his death.

One night we went to the famous red light district. It is just kind of bizarre. Women dancing in tiny windows waiting for their customers to choose them like chocolate in a candy box. I personally found it more interesting to see the young guys as they reacted and were enticed by what was going on. Much bravado goes on about which one they would pick. The whole area had kind of a frat house feel to it. Some do get picked because the curtains are drawn in some of the windows, but mostly it is young girls of every size and shape in clothes that revealed about as much as what you would see on any beach. Actually the system seems to work better than having the prostitutes wander the streets. They are kept in just one area of town and if you want to see them, you go visit. It is probably much less violence and better city oversight.

Holland has a reputation for being cold and overcast much of the year. Fortunately for us the weather could not have been nicer. It was shirtsleeve weather in the daytime and just a light jacket at night. When the sun comes out, so does everyone else. The parks were packed with sun worshippers getting in their dose of vitamin E. Everyone speaks English as well as Dutch of course. You should not ask people if they speak English. They would take it as an insult that you thought they were not well educated. Bob’s friend that we stayed with is originally from Portland and teaches English to high school students. He has lived there for years and loves it there. I asked him if the students prefer an American accent or a British accent. He said most prefer an American accent. It is because of all the music and movies that are imported. I guess one thing America does well is export it’s pop culture. Well that and fast food restaurants.

Back in Barcelona

It is good to be back in Barcelona after spending the last 6 months in the U.S. Everything looks the same and yet different. Stepping on to my boat once again felt like home. I really missed living on the water. Looks like everything survived just fine without me. That is pretty remarkable since while I was gone, Barcelona had two of the biggest storms in the last 30 years. I have heard from other people that were here during the destruction this storm caused. The big yacht that is moored next to me tore the cleats right out of the dock. They had to throw lines around the piers to keep the boat from crashing into things. The captain told me that I tied my boat up so good it barely moved. That is a nice compliment to hear from a guy that has spent his life at sea. He also told me that there was such destruction going on that everyone was looking for any extra lines they could find to tie their boats up better. Not all boats fared so well. One boat sank and out where the really huge yachts are, the pier totally broke apart and sunk. One of the big yachts headed out to weather the storm in the open sea. They figured there would be fewer things to bang in to. Around the marina there are covered areas for shade. The wind was so strong that it blew one of the heavy metal roofs off of the structure and it sheared two sailboat masts in half. I saw my friend Roland from C dock a couple days later. He told me he was keeping an eye on my boat and it looked like it fared better than most. A couple of days later they had a little welcome back party for me. His wife Mar fixed a bunch of Catalin dishes and some of the people around the marina joined us. We enjoyed catching up on things since I was gone. One of the fun things about living in a marina is people are from all over the place. There were people from Belgium Scotland, England, New Zealand, France and yeah, Spain.

Because of the width of my boat, yachts that are much bigger than me surround me. The one next to me is quite huge. I have gotten friends with Marsella who for the first couple of weeks back was by herself. We traded DVD’s and she gave me a huge bowl of shrimp. She had a famous Spanish pop singer and her boyfriend staying on the boat. Marcella planned a big dinner for them, but they changed their minds and went into town to eat. A couple of days later, I gave her back the bowl filled with chocolate yum yum’s I made for her. After about a week, the captain returned from England. He had been recertifying. Then a couple of days later, the rest of the crew returned. The boat has about 5 people on it most of the time, cleaning, cooking and maintaining the boat. That thing must cost a fortune to maintain. They told me it has a 25,000 liter fuel tank. The irony of it all is the crew enjoys the boat way more than the owner who is only on the boat a couple of weeks a year.