Amsterdam, 8/8/1993 Bus-Boat Tour of Amsterdam and Visit to the Rijksmuseum

Forest Of Oil Drilling
Platforms Seen

By  Bob Van Leer

(AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND, Aug. 8, 1993) - In the early hours of the morning our cruise ship, Crown Odyssey, docked at Amsterdam. When we woke in the morning the ship was tied up to the dock.

  After breakfast we took a combined bus-boat tour of the city. Amsterdam  is an old city and our guide, Bridget, said the 17th century was the "golden age" of Amsterdam and many of the buildings date to that era. It is a pretty city but the amount of graffiti detracts considerably from the city's appearance.

  The city was founded in 1270 when the Amstel River was dammed and the settlement beside the dam became known as Amsteldamm, abbreviated later to Amsterdam. The treaty of Utrecht in 1579 created a split between the Protestant provinces north of the Rhine and those south. This division is perpetuated to this day as Holland and Belgium.

  Amsterdam today is the commercial and cultural, but not political, capital of Holland. It has a population of 700,000 people and 575,000 bicycles. There is a fairly constant wind which gave rise to the Dutch windmills. A few are still preserved in and around Amsterdam.

BELOW SEA LEVEL
  About half of Holland is below sea level protected by dikes. Constant pumping is required to keep the land dry. Amsterdam has over 200 kilometers of canals both for drainage and transport. Bridget said these were all hand-dug in the 17th century. The canals are fresh water kept at a constant level by a system of locks. The canals are flushed three times a week with water from the Amstel River. The backbone of the canals in the old city is a series of three semi-circular canals connected with others to make a spiderweb system. There are water taxis and commercial passenger boats as well as tourist boats. This amount of canals requires over 1100 bridges.

  We went on a canal tour on a 56 passenger boat. Seating is arranged in booths for four with a small table for serving refreshments. This is slack water and the main boating skill required is being able to maneuver in the narrow canals with considerable other traffic.

  The canals are lined with houseboats. Bridget said there are 7000 in the city of which 1200 are legal. The city would like the rest to go away but is not having much luck although no new ones are permitted. Most dump their sewage directly into the canals. Many have growing plants on them and a few have a separate boat tied alongside that is used for gardening.

  Houses are mostly brick, very narrow, and three-four stories high. They are divided into apartments. Rents range from $100 per month for apartments in old buildings built to provide shelter for workers in the industrial revolution to $250-300 per month in newer buildings.

  An interesting feature on almost all residential buildings is a beam with a hook on it that juts out over the sidewalk at the top of the building. There is no way to maneuver furniture and appliances to the upper floors of these narrow buildings inside the buildings. A block and tackle are hung from the beam and furniture is winched up to the proper floor and then taken in through the front of the building.

  The tour concluded with a tour of the Rijksmuseum. This is reputed to be one of the world's great galleries reflecting the immense contribution to painting made by Dutch and Flemish artists. The museum has a number of paintings by Rembrandt including the featured painting of the museum, "The Night Watch" painted in 1642.

CAPTAIN'S NIGHT
  Tonight was the captain's welcome aboard dinner. The principal difference from last night is I had to put on a coat and tie. Our captain is Emmanuel Tzanis, who is a gregarious sort. The captains I remember from U. S. Navy days tended to be forbidding figures. But they didn't have to entertain tourists. After dinner we went out on deck to look at the scenery. At 5 p.m. our ship got underway. Amsterdam used to be on a bay called the Zuider Zee. This was closed off at the bay entrance to make new land and a canal was dug to give Amsterdam a new outlet to the sea.

We were now in the north sea and off our port side was a small forest of oil drilling plat-forms and a few associated tankers. There were up to eight to ten drilling platforms visible at a time and new ones appeared as others faded from view. Later in the evening we attended the Captain's Gala Showtime, a musical revue. The dancers and orchestra are quite good talent.

  Tomorrow we will sail through the Kiel Canal which saves a long voyage around the north of Denmark. We will dock tomorrow night at Rostock, Germany.
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