Amsterdam – The Gray Route

Flattening the brook

Of canal boats and works of art

May 15th 2019

Screaming child, stung by a bee by Hendrik de Keyser ca. 1615 at the Rijksmuseum

We could still use the canal boat tickets we bought yesterday, so we made use of the opportunity to cruise over the canals to visit the Rijksmuseum on the opposite side of the city. The Rijksmuseum is a real tourist attraction. And since we were totally immersing ourselves in being tourists, of course we had to go there. It was very crowded at the museum due to a special Rembrandt exhibition. Patiently we stepped in the ticket line to await our turn. While waiting we tried to book tickets online, sometimes that helps to speed up your entrance. Unfortunately this time it didn’t really work because you had to book a time slot for the special Rembrandt exhibition before you could purchase a ticket. The time slots were fully booked for the next two weeks and you couldn’t get a ticket without reserving a time slot. Bit of a conundrum. But luckily the line progressed quite fast so it didn’t took that long to wait. To our disappointment the cashier told us when it was our turn we have stood in line needlessly, because we have a museum card. “But” she said “I can console you that you haven’t waited in vain, because if you want to I can give you entrance tickets to visit the special Rembrandt exhibition this afternoon. We have a few left.” With that stroke of luck we entered the museum.

The Rijksmuseum has Rembrandt’s ‘Night watch’ on display, their most famous show piece. Visitors come from all over the world come to see this painting, to such an extent that people literally are running towards the painting, pushing visitors aside to get a better view and ignoring all the other fabulous and famous works in the same space like Vermeer’s ‘Milkmaid’ for instance. An embarrassing sight to see. There is always an enormous crowd in front of the painting, almost worshipping it, whereas the rest of the space is relatively empty. As if all the other works don’t matter.

To be honest, we liked ‘The milkmaid’ better in real life than the ‘Night watch’. We were happily surprised by the works of Hendrik de Keyser, an artist we hadn’t heard of before. He wasn’t just an artist, but the city architect as well. The Zuiderkerk as well as the Westerkerk in Amsterdam are his design. No architecture of de Keyser in the Rijksmuseum, just art. We especially liked a painting of a violin player and a small sculpture of a child’s head stung by a bee.

The special Rembrandt exhibition was a bit disappointing. The exhibition space was packed, and we don’t mean packed with works. It had been crowded at the ‘Night watch’, but that was nothing in comparison to this exhibition. It was so full of people you could hardly even see the works. And the works on display being mostly tiny sketches, drawings and etchings didn’t make it easier to see them. Now Rembrandt’s drawings are truly beautiful, but this is not the way to appreciate them. We quickly left the exhibition space filled with mostly anti-social elderly people who were ruthlessly shoving people aside.

The beautiful Susanna is being harassed by the two elderly men, Rembrandt ca. 1650

The Rijksmuseum nowadays also has a more contemporary department, which was a relief after all the religious medieval art and self-glorification of the 17th century. We really enjoyed ‘The Flattening of the brook’s surface’ a short movie by Ger van Elk who is trying to flatten the surface of a brook whilst paddling with a rubber boat.

After our visit we walked back through the city, ate grilled chicken wings in sunshine and took the ferry back to the marina. Maybe Amsterdam starts to grow on us.

Floating through history

Sight-seeing Amsterdam by canal boat

May 14th 2019

The map with different canal boat routes

Today we went to visit the inner city of Amsterdam on the other side of the canal by ferry. A really nice thing about the city of Amsterdam is that they have connected both sides of the city, otherwise separated by the IJ canal with free ferries. They debark every day, at least once per hour.

Because the ferry to the Central train Station wasn’t due for half an hour, we went with another ferry to ‘Pontkade’ first. That is straight on the opposite side of the canal from the marina, exactly where we passed the last bridge during the night a few days ago. It was different to see it all by daylight. In the night the stretch of water looks infinitely big, but in bright daylight it’s just a short distance. We took the next ferry back, and then the ferry to the Central train station.

After the trip with the ferry we wandered into the city, wondering where we should go. And there we did something we would never have done before. We bought tickets for a sight seeing tour by canal boat. Normally if we went to Amsterdam, we went there with a purpose, to visit someone, or do something specific, but never as a wandering tourist. And a tour by canal boat is actually pretty neat. You see the whole city on an agreeable pace and you’re explained interesting facts about the architecture and history. We chose a tour that allows you to hop on and off two different boat routes trough the city within 24 hours. And since it was already 2 o’clock we can do it again tomorrow!

The nice thing of such a tour is that you start to notice the lay-out of the city. The Herengracht, which is the inner ring, has the biggest houses. These were built for the rich merchants of the Golden Age. The next ring, the Keizersgracht was for the slightly less affluent, and the outer ring were actually warehouses for goods to be shipped to Haarlem or Leiden. While floating slowly through the city you can clearly see the differences between them, like the growth rings of a tree. It’s like floating through history. Plus we wouldn’t be able to do such a tour with our own boat, due to all the low fixed bridges.

We spent the rest of the day traversing the city in the canal boats and had a great day.

Fast food suppliers

Feeding geese and dinner with friends

May 13th 2019

The geese are eagerly awaiting their dinner

Today we tried to get some work done. But of course there is always time to watch the geese and their little chicks. Apparently they have discovered us as potential fast food suppliers as well.

In the evening our friend whom we bumped into yesterday came around for dinner. We’ve spend an enjoyable evening in which we discussed future sailing plans and she told us about her adventures she had in the last two months. She had to be rescued by the coastguard twice, once for a fire in the engine compartment, and once for a severe leaking prop shaft. She has had quite an eventful journey so far…

Stuck in Amsterdam

Dreading dirty toilets and dentists

May 9th 2019

We felt a bit off and groggy today. Yesterday clearly had quite an impact on us. Even Captain Fluffy is exhausted.

Amsterdam marina is one of the sister marinas to Stellendam, so a lot of things are familiar. The logo looks the same, the docks are the same, and the sanitary building looks the same. But all the familiarity made us feel as if we’re back to where we’ve started. Yesterday’s euphoria is gone.

And to be honest, Amsterdam marina is a bit of a disappointment. Of all the marinas we’ve stayed at so far, this is hands down the most expensive, the dirtiest and the worst. You pay €2,50 per meter per day, which in our case sums up to €23,50 per day. On the positive side, everything is inclusive, like tourist tax, WiFi, electricity, showers and water. But on the downside, we’re moored at the visitors dock, a long pontoon without finger docks. The passing barges and cargo traffic cause waves that roll into the marina and smash into the visitors’ dock, causing the boat to roll like we’re at anchor in a gale. The dock also isn’t secured, allowing everyone to just walk up to your boat. An unpleasant thought, because we’re in a really crowded, very urban city. In Leiden there was no fence as well, and the marina was situated in the inner city, but Leiden is like a small village in comparison to Amsterdam. Plus it was less than half the price for the slip, the sanitary building was good, and above all very clean. Something that can’t be said about this marina. The toilets and showers are dirty here, even dirtier than in Stellendam. It’s curious, all the other marinas we have been to so far had clean toilets and showers. But here? Why are people in the most expensive marina in The Netherlands incapable of cleaning up after themselves? And really, how on earth do people manage to shit on top of the toilet seat? And then don’t have the decency to clean up the mess? Or why doesn’t the most expensive marina in the Netherlands spend more money on cleaning staff? On top of that there was no welcoming reception at the marina office, they were uninterested and unhelpful. And you have to keep in mind that we have been a member of this marina group for almost three years.

There is something else that is bothering us. We want to go on. But we have a dentist appointment the coming week. Therefore we want to be in a city with a fast train connection to The Hague. And thus we’re stuck here. We’ve stayed for longer periods at other places, but that was because we wanted to, not because we had to. And that makes all the difference.

Trying to shake off the sombre feelings, we went for a short walk to explore the surroundings of the marina. We are in the northern part of Amsterdam, an area that is called the MDSM wharf, which due to gentrification is now a so-called ‘breeding place’ for the creative class. Despite all the rebranding, the hipster restaurants and office buildings, there wasn’t much to do here on this side of the IJ canal. Still not cheered up we went back to the boat.

Maybe tomorrow looks better.

Our first nightly passage

Passing through Amsterdam in the dark

May 8th 2019

Anchorage Braassemermeer to Amsterdam: 18 nautical miles

We were rudely awakened this morning by a clashing sound, followed by the anchor alarm going off. Apparently we were dragging, so we jumped out of bed to check on the anchor. We had indeed been dragging, but fortunately not much. But the wind direction had shifted and a quick check on the weather forecast told us that the wind would turn 180 degrees and increase to wind force 5 when a thunderstorm would pass over. Yesterday when we checked the weather forecast the wind would continue to blow from the east, and although rain was predicted, nothing was said about thunder and lightning. Well, you know what they say, nothing as unpredictable as the weather. No wonder our anchor was dragging. It probably didn’t have any grip in the slushy peat bottom.

What shall we do now? Reset the anchor or continue to Amsterdam? The next stage would lead us to the Nieuwe Meer lock, the start of the nightly passage. But then we would have to leave within 15 minutes otherwise we would miss the bridge opening over the A9 motorway near Schiphol at 12.30 hours. We had planned to stay here for 2 or 3 days so we weren’t expecting to be faced with this decision right now. Choices, choices. And we had to decide quickly, because we were still dragging. And all that on an empty stomach and without a drop of coffee.

We made the decision to hoist the anchor and continue to Amsterdam. We quickly put on our sail gear -in the meantime it had already started to rain- pulled the anchor out of the sludge and continued to Amsterdam.

We past another big stretch of water, the Westeinderplassen. Initially we wanted to anchor there as well, but the whole lake is even more shallow than the Braassemermeer. And we didn’t feel like repeating yesterday’s close encounter with the ground again. But definitely a beautiful place to go to if you have a boat with less draft. This lake and the Braassemermeer, where we were yesterday, all used to be peat bogs. After they had dug out the peat these lakes with their tiny islands and small drainage canals were left. You can moor between the high reeds or at the tiny islands. But alas, not for us. Onward we went through the drizzling rain.

Suddenly the depth meter jumped from 2,5 to 1,4 meter! A submerged bump in the waterway! The boat lurched back and then catapulted forward like we were being launched over a ramp. These are truly the days of insufficient depths…

We made it in time for the bridge opening at the Schipholbruggen. These bridges only open 3 times a day due to the busy traffic, so you really don’t want to miss an opening. We even had 20 minutes to spare so we tied up to the waiting dock and made a cup of tea. After the bridges we entered the Nieuwe Meer. The idea to anchor here for a day or two before the night passage through Amsterdam, was cut short. According to the signs we weren’t allowed to anchor here anywhere. That meant we had to do the passage tonight, something we hadn’t anticipated. But as it seemed, nothing went according to plan the last few days. So we tied ourselves to the waiting dock, and tried to catch some sleep before the passage.

Waiting for the bridges and lock to open at 23.56h

When we arrived at the waiting dock we had hailed the control center to state our intention to pass trough Amsterdam with the night convoy. We were given the instruction to listen to channel 69 for further instructions from 23.00h onwards, because the passage would start at 23.56h. Thus after a late dinner we waited for the instructions. But the channel stayed silent, so we hailed them again. Finally a response. The bridge opening would be at 23.55, so we had to be ready in front of the bridge at 23.50 because they had to open 2 motorway bridges and 3 train bridges in one go, which we had to pass within a few minutes. They would hail us for further information.

So we untied at 23.48 and drifted towards the bridge. Silence. Nothing to be heard on the VHF. Finally at 12.10 the bridge started to open and we could pass on to the lock that lies directly behind the 5 bridges.

In the lock we had a few minutes to fully appreciate that we had started our nightly adventure. We were rather nervous since we had never done a night passage before, let alone one through a city notorious for bicycles littering the canal floors, with 15 bridges and one lock.

It was almost new moon, and when we left the lock it was pitch dark. Later on when we entered the inner city it became a lot brighter with all the street lighting, neon signs and illuminated windows. Slowly our nervosity subsided. It was actually all rather exiting. We were very much focused not to hit anything in the dark like the aforementioned submerged bicycles and to time our arrival at the bridges, but all in all we were able to enjoy the passage. Turned out the whole convoy was just us, and the bridges were operated remotely, so all alone we went through the dark canals of Amsterdam.

The 14th bridge was another rail bridge. We were supposed to hear the exact time of passage over the VHF, but there was only silence. After 15 minutes we hailed them, and were told that an opening would be arranged shortly. Shortly in Amsterdam apparently means something else than in the rest of the world, because we had to wait for another 20 minutes before the bridge opened.

One last bridge and then we entered the IJ canal, a broad water channel connecting the North Sea with the IJsselmeer. The marina where we were heading was on the other side of the canal, slightly to the left. Leaving all the bright city lights behind us, it became pitch dark again. There was a near miss with a lock pilar in the dark, and we had to maneuver around big wooden dolphins (sort of docking blocks sticking out the water). Normally they have white caps, but these didn’t, rendering them virtually invisible in the dark.

The IJ canal luckily wasn’t busy at all. We saw one other vessel in the distance, so we could safely cross to the other side and enter the marina.

It wasn’t long before we were safely moored in Amsterdam marina. But it took a while before we could sleep with all the excitement of completing our first night passage.