11 AUG 18 Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam at1:15 local time, met a Viking representative at 1:45, and departed at 2 pm on a shuttle bus to the Viking Skadi long ship, which we boarded around 2:40. Our stateroom (No. 116) was on the “Main Deck” (the bottom deck, with only the small windows above water level)

Saturday, 11 Aug 2018, 2:45 PM – Amsterdam: Viking Skadi – our stateroom (No. 116).

2:45 PM – Amsterdam: Viking Skadi – MT by closet in our stateroom (No. 116).

In our room was a “Viking Daily” newsletter, such as we would receive every day, with a schedule of the coming day’s activities and a weather report. It said the weather for 11 August was 56-67° F with chances or rain.

At 3:15, an announcement told us to go to the reception desk, where we got our shore excursion passes (with our group number 13A), boarding passes (to be turned in when we reboarded), and a map of Amsterdam (city center with Old Town).

Amsterdam: map of city center.

Amsterdam: map of city center (Cropped to Old Town).

The 186 passengers were divided into smaller groups with a local guide. In our staterooms, each of us was provided with a QuietVox audio receiver (to hand around our neck) that we had to pair with a red paddle held by the guide. It came with an earpiece, which Don could not use with his hearing aids, and MT said the earpiece hurt her ear; so we both had to hold the small speaker on the receiver up to our ear. The guide’s red paddle said “Viking Bragi” (since that was where we would end up) and the number 13 (for Bragi, to distinguish it from other Viking ships that might be at the same location) followed by a letter (usually A-D but sometimes with A-F). Today, we were in group 13A.

At 3:30, we met our tour guide, whose name ended with -kje, for a short “Welcome Walk” walking tour of the nearby old town (included in our cruise fare). She said the suffix -kje meant little, but she was over 6 ft tall. * (She said Dutch people were tall because only the tall ones survived flooding on the low lands or because they eat a lot of cheese).

* In Dutch, diminutives of nouns are formed by adding one of the suffixes -je, -pje, -kje, or -etje, depending on the letter(s) ending the base noun.

A Viking shuttle bus took a small group of us to the main train station, Amsterdam Centraal, which the guide said was built in the 19th century in the style of a Catholic church, during a period of Catholic resurgence in the predominantly Protestant Netherlands.

4:25 PM – Amsterdam: train station – façade with reliefs of working class people the left end of the station and of upper class passengers on right end.

4:21 PM – Amsterdam: train station – relief of working class people who used the left end of the station.

5:36 PM – Amsterdam: train station – façade with relief of upper class passengers on right end.

4:26 PM – Amsterdam: train station – façade (wider angle) with subway station “Centraal Station.”

From the station, we headed in the direction of the Sint-Nikolaaskerk (St. Nicholas Church), also known as Basilica of St. Nicholas.

4:23 PM – Amsterdam: Basilica of St. Nicholas across Stationsplein (Station Square) and canal from train station; Noord-Zuid Hollandish Koffiehuis in foreground.

The Sint-Nikolaaskerk (St. Nicholas Church), also known as Basiliek van de Heilige Nicolaas (Basilica of St. Nicholas) is Amsterdam’s major Catholic church. It is officially called St. Nicholas Inside the Walls, i.e., the oldest part of the city’s defense works. The architect Adrianus Bleijs (1842-1912) designed the church based on a combination of several revival styles, on which Neo-Baroque and Neo-Renaissance are the most prominent. It was built between 1884 and 1887. In 2012, in the 125th year of its existence, St. Nicholas Church was elevated to the status of a minor basilica.
The Noord-Zuid Hollandish Koffiehuis (North-South Holland Coffee House) was built in 1912 on the Stationsplein square. The coffee house, built in the late Art Nouveau style, had to give way in 1972 for the construction of the Metro station in the square, but it was rebuilt on top of the Metro station in 1980, in slightly modified form.

4:28 PM – Amsterdam: our guide leading toward Victoria Hotel across square from train station to right.

The guide explained that the hotel had to built around an old wooden house dating from 1602, because the owner refused to move.

4:28 PM – Amsterdam: Victoria Hotel with wooden building (red flag and date 1602 above door).

4:30 PM – Amsterdam: looking back at train station from corner of Victoria Hotel.

4:35 PM – Amsterdam: view toward Basilica of St. Nicholas.

The guide warned us that the numerous bicycles on the street do not stop for pedestrians. She also pointed out that the reason for many narrow buildings is that the property was taxed based on the width of the ground floor.

4:36 PM – Amsterdam: view of canal and Oude Kerk (Old Church) tower, with Dam Square at right.

MT 4:32 PM – Amsterdam: view from bridge across canal to buildings on the other (SW) side.

MT 4:33 PM – Amsterdam: other end of bridge with St. Nicholas Church, unidentified large building, and corner of “Pancakes Amsterdam” (far right).

4:36 PM – Amsterdam: view of canal with Oude Kerk (Old Church) tower at left and Dam Square in center.

4:39 PM – Amsterdam: narrow street to south with leaning buildings; building on corner at right is “Pancakes Amsterdam.”

The guide said that our English word pancake comes from Dutch. (Our map said the Anne Frank House was down this street, but the tour did not take us there, apparently because we would not have time to adequately visit it.)

4:41 PM – Amsterdam: “Grand Café De Kroonprins” (Gran Café of the Crown Prince) restaurant with Statue of Liberty atop awning.

4:42 PM – Amsterdam: old wooden house that was a pub for sailors, who paid their bills with parrots and other exotic animals from their voyages. The “XXX” on the flags is for the three dangers (plague, fire, and water).

MT 4:50 PM – Amsterdam: Don in front of Bordello A Parigi (Bordello of Parrots), actually a record store and web shop, across Oudezijds Kolk street from the old pub.

MT 4:51 PM – Amsterdam: houses of the former “H. Vettewinkel en Zonen Verf-Vernis Fabrek” (H. Vettewinkel and Sons Paint and Varnish Factory) on Oude Zijds Kolk canal, which also runs behind the apse of the Basilica of St. Nicholas.

The H. Vettewinkel en Zonen Verf-Vernis Fabrek” (H. Vettewinkel and Sons Paint and Varnish Factory) was founded in 1809. In 1970, it merged into a larger paint company that became the Amsterdam branch of Sigma Coatings. The façade is the only original part of the building that was constructed in Neo-Holland Renaissance style in 1889. Then the factory was completely burned out in 1973, only the waterfront façade on the Oude Zijds Kolk side was spared. Since 2001, the façade has been in the monument register of the National Cultural Heritage Agency.

4:55 PM – Amsterdam: apse end of Basilica of St. Nicholas, from Oude Zudskolk street by canal.

Before reaching the church, the guide said we were close to the Red Light District. At that point, after about 45 minutes, she gave us the option of continuing with her (to some “obscure things”) or continuing on our own; we chose the latter. Don wanted to start with the nearby Basilica of St. Nicholas, but MT wanted Don to see the Red Light District, which the guide had said was behind the basilica. (MT had seen it during a Foreign Study League trip after high school graduation.

MT 4:53 PM – Amsterdam: MT in front of Voyagers Hotel Coffeeshop (our guide had told us that patrons of places called “coffeeshop” in Amsterdam were more likely to be using marijuana or other substances).

4:58 PM – Amsterdam: Old Church tower at end of canal.

4:59 PM – Amsterdam: view back to train station from near Basilica.

5:04 PM – Amsterdam: canal.

Then we headed for Dam Square (nearby on our map), passing the Old Church on the way.

5:08 PM – Amsterdam: Old Church façade and apse.

5:09 PM – Amsterdam: canal with Old Church at left and Basilica of St. Nicholas at far end.

5:09 PM – Amsterdam: side of Basilica of St. Nicholas at end of canal (telephoto 105 mm).

5:10 PM – Amsterdam: Old Church with part of tower (sign above door says “welkom benvenuto” meaning welcome in Dutch and Italian).

MT 5:12 PM – Amsterdam: MT with small car.

5:19 PM – Amsterdam: Beurs van Berlage building on north side of Dam Square.

The Beurs van Berlage (Stock Exchange by Berlage) building was designed as a commodity and stock exchange by the prominent and influential Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and constructed between 1896 and 1903. It was built on a newly created piece of land obtained by covering the city’s oldest harbor basin. Used as a stock exchange until 1998, it is now a conference center and event venue.

The sculptural panel above the main entrance (now a café) by Lambertus Zijl depicts on the left “Paradise” with women picking apples, in the center “the Future,” and at the right “Tainted Civilization” with men lugging a beam. It shows some of the socialist ideas of artists of the time. Beneath it are lines from a poem by Albert Verwey.

The Dam or Damplein (Dam Square) derives its name from its original function, as a dam on the Amstel River (hence also the name of the city, from Amstel dam). Built around 1270, the dam formed the first connection between the settlements on the sides of the river. As the dam was gradually built up, it became wide enough for a town square.

5:19 PM – Amsterdam: Beurs van Berlage - sculptural panel above main entrance.

MT 5:19 PM – Amsterdam: Don with bronze statue of bull in front of Beurs van Berlage in Dam square.

The statue of a bull in front of the Amsterdam stock exchange is by the sculptor Arturo De Modica, who also created a bronze charging bull, the iconic Wall Street Bull, located in New York City.

MT 5:19 PM – Amsterdam: bicycles parked in Dam square.

MT 5:20 PM – Amsterdam: pastries and various kinds of “Hotdog” in shop near Dam square.

MT 5:21 PM – Amsterdam: pizzas and more kinds of “Hotdog” in shop near Dam square.

MT 5:22 PM – Amsterdam: rainbow pride banners over Warmoesstraat street near Dam square.

5:24 PM – Amsterdam: street in Red Light District (building at right is old tax collector’s office.

5:25 PM – Amsterdam: plaque identifies this as “Old taxcollector’s office built in 1638.”

5:25 PM – Amsterdam: plaque identifies this as “Oude Accijnshuis” with long description in Dutch, followed by shorter version in English: “Old taxcollector’s office built in 1638. Merchants had to pay tax on beer, wine, tobacco and grain. Until 1883 there was a bridge on this point to the other side of the Amstel river. Hundreds of meters have been filled up since then.”

Then we went back to the Basilica of St. Nicholas (which was closed).

5:31 PM – Amsterdam: Basilica of St. Nicholas – façade and towers.

The façade of the Basilica of St. Nicholas is crowned by two towers with a rose window in between. The center of this window is formed by a bas relief depicting Christ and the four Evangelists. A sculpture of the patron saint of both the church and the city of Amsterdam was placed in a niche in the upper section of the gable.

5:31 PM – Amsterdam: Basilica of St. Nicholas – statue of St. Nicholas on gable of façade (telephoto 187 mm).

5:32 PM – Amsterdam: view from Basilica of St. Nicholas of canal and Noord-Zuid Hollandish Koffiehuis (at right, with train station behind it).

MT 5:36 PM – Amsterdam: train station – porcelain duck in Delft shop.

Then we headed back to the train station and found the Viking shuttle bus waiting at 5:30. However, the shuttle didn’t leave until 6 pm, and we barely got back to the Viking Skadi in time for the 6:15 Introductory Meeting with the Program Director Jochgum Schuijt (Dutch, he said to just call him Joey) Joey and Hotel Director Heiner Ostrowski (from Cologne) in the ship’s lounge (on the “upper Deck”). The meeting ended shortly after 7 pm, time for dinner in the ship’s restaurant, where we sat with Jim and Grace and Joan and Julian. This was a way to start getting to know other passengers.

The Skadi cast off at 11:30 pm to sail to Kinderdijk.