Today is a slow start day since we do not have any plans to deal with until later this morning. Also breakfast is served from 8 to 11 rather than the normal 7 to 10. This means we spent the morning looking over our plans for the next phase of our journey we need to plan the travel to Berlin which is where we are heading on Tuesday. Wes is feeling much better so we have decided that we will continue our trip rather than plan to head homeward.
So we spent time studying the train schedules to learn that if we take the train from Amsterdam Zuid station we can take a direct line. From Amsterdam Central we would have to change trains enroute. Next we had to figure how to get to that station using the metro, which turns out to be easy. Ok, now we had to figure out where we will be staying and making sure it is close to the railway station or metro. Done! We are almost done, we now have to get new 72 hour metro passes for Amsterdam (really recommend this for anyone staying here since it is so much cheaper and more convenient than carrying change). Finally we have the chores done and we are ready to start our day of touring.
I had wanted to do a bike tour yesterday but was not able to get on the ride so the ticket agent said she would book me on today’s ride. That leaves at 1:30 so we make our lunches and head downtown to check out that it was organized. We have also decided that we would book on a bus tour of the country side for Monday which is an all day excursion. When we arrived at the ticket sales office we learned that the agent did not book me on today’s bike ride and it was likely sold out. I was told to wait while they called and see if they could get me on.
After about 30 minutes of waiting and about 15 minutes before the bike ride was to go, I was informed they could fit me in on a tour. So we booked the tour for Monday and paid for the bike tour. Wes had considered the bike tour with me but since it is a 3 hour ride and he was not sure how his energy level would be on such a ride, he opted to head over to the botanical gardens.
The botanical gardens were not worth the effort to go see according to Wes. This is obviously the wrong time of year since there were very few plants in bloom and he was disappointed. He did not stay long but did admit that he found the best part was to sit on a bench and watch a duck in a pond for awhile. (He says that it was boring duck really.) He completed his day by doing some shopping and returning to the hotel for a nap.
I headed out on the tour with 8 other tourists and the guide. Two of our group were from Italy, 6 Austrian women, who were traveling together, me and our guide. Fortunately English was a common language so our guide only had to speak the one language. The bikes we were given to ride were from Yellow Bikes and yep, they were yellow. The one speed pedal bike (with a front handbrake and a back push on the pedals to brake) was very interesting to ride. The comfort seats were nice to sit on but it was hard to remember not to try to back pedal at times to adjust balance or comfort while coasting.
The experience of biking in Amsterdam is wonderful. With the biking lanes set up on almost all streets and the lights set for bikes it is like driving a car. Now if the pedestrians, motor scooters, motor bikes and the occasional car would stay off the bike lane the ride would be a breeze. Cross roads were interesting too since the rules of the road apply – now who has the right away again? Add to the confusion of road rules, people’s bodies and intersections we were a group of 10 with the leader out front and nine of us not knowing where we were going and in some cases where we were. So we had to always keep the one bike in front of us and hope the one behind was keeping up. Our leader did a great job of checking over her shoulder often and stopping to regroup when needed. To make life easier for her I had offered to be the last bike at all times so all she needed to do was to spot me to know everyone was between us. This is called the tail light position on biking (did not know that), so in Amsterdam I became a tail light.
Biking in Amsterdam is not difficult. The steepest hills to be climbed are the arches over the canals so no more than a 1 meter elevation gain. This is good since with a one speed bike that is built to be sturdy rather than light, you would not want to be going up Kenna Cartwright.
Our guide did stop at key areas and talk about the significance of that area. A few things that I learned was the height of the West Church which is approximately 80 meters high. What was interesting is that there is a city ordinance that prohibits any buildings to be built in the downtown area to be taller than this ensuring that this building remains the tallest in downtown Amsterdam.
We also went through a large park in central Amsterdam which is used the local residence as a place to go and suntan on sunny days. This is, as we are told, because the beach is about 20 minutes train ride from town and residence feel this is too far to go to sunbath. Of course with the cold water they would not plan to go swimming, so grass is just as good as sand for sunbathing.
We also were shown the ‘smallest’ canal house in Amsterdam. This house is just over 1 meter wide which means the front door is the entire width. Houses were originally taxed based on the street frontage so narrow houses were a way to keep taxes down. In this case, the main size of the house starts back a bit from the front and expands behind one of the buildings beside it to become a large sized home.
Another interesting fact was that some of the canal houses looked like they were leaning, which is how they were built. This provides a little (very little) more space on the floors above the first floor. If you look at the pictures you might see what I am talking about. Another interesting fact was the use of ceramic tiles on the front of the buildings which was used to identify those who lived in the house.
One of the buildings we looked at was the city hall (I think it was) and it resembled the Amsterdam Central railway station which was explained. Apparently both buildings were designed by the same person.
We rode through many small lanes and streets on our tour and had a chance to see both the rich houses and the poor houses (which have now become in high demand so have a huge value) where the workers lived. In many areas we passed the original warehouses with the beam at the roofline for hooking up the crane to lift the cargo up.
Also whenever we see a house with two doors at the front there is an explanation. The smaller door on the left is the servant’s door with stairs downstairs while the larger door on the right is the front door of the house.
We finished the bike trek and dropped off the bikes in time for a beer. Then it was time for me to go over to the Amsterdam Central Railway to get our reservations for the train to Berlin on Tuesday. After waiting in line for my turn I learned two things – one we did not need a reservation and the ticket agent was not happy with the eurail ticket. First, she was not happy that it was in a plastic sleeve so I had to explain about the need to protect it from slowly falling apart. Then she wanted to know what happened to the folder that the ticket came in and I explained how it had fallen apart and yes I still had it but not with me. Then she wanted to know why I did not have all the trains listed on the non-existent folder and was not happy when I explained that I had been told that with the Global ticket we did not need to itemize all the trains we had taken. That was for the flexible ticket which had restrictions on usage. We did not have any restrictions.
Then she wanted to know why the ticket had not been filled out correctly with a agent stamp on it, so I had to explain how we had it authorized in Greece and the agent there was not sure what to do and got a supervisor to help. Regardless it was dealt with by them more than two months ago. I explained that we had no idea what was expected to be done to get it authorized. She opened up the plastic sleeve and stamped it. Then she wanted my passport since apparently my passport number was to be written on the ticket. I did not have Wes’ so that was a bit of a problem but I agreed to write it on when I got back to the hotel. Finally she checked out the date on the ticket and was not happy to realize that the end date was off by one day. I promised not to use it on the 21st of June but she changed it and told me that her changing the date could result in invalidating the ticket. Great I thought. All we need the ticket for is our trip to Berlin, then to Hamburg, and finally to Brussels. Now I am worried someone will refuse to accept the ticket – and all because the agent in Greece did not know how to do his job and we did not know what he was expected to do. Oh, as I am leaving she tells me that we should avoid Hamburg since that is where people are dying right now with the e-coli breakout. Great, now we are free to plan our last week in continental Europe without any stress.
By the time I got back to the hotel I was very tired and very ready for a relaxing evening. All I wanted was to sit down and veg but we did have to go out for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment