Another fine day, although the weather at Connelles was not all that relevant as we move today to Amsterdam. The need to move a little early and be into Rouen to catch at 0912 hours train to Paris. Today is a day which will please us both when we reach our destination: let me explain.

I feel that I have detailed enough about the paucity of petrol stations: being used to many of these being available, “back home”. Driving around I have found myself keenly canvassing the location of these for future use. Perhaps it is a deliberate policy not to have many, as the French certainly seem to have been educated and / or actively green policies. Why mention this ? Well, we need to have a full tank when we drop our car off at Rouen and finding a petrol station between here and there has caused me mental anguish for some days. Not to the level that it has preoccupied me however, it has been seated in the left-hand side of my cerebellum and revisited a number of times. I was expecting to pay another €50 making it €100 ($AUD165) for the week !!

Our trip into Rouen was then centred around getting adequate fuel and returning it “full”. This was somewhat achieved at the nearby village of Pont Saint-Pierre. An unmanned station that required the use of the credit card. Perhaps we are behind in Australia, but over here, it is expected you use your “carte” for everything: I guess it won’t be long before you will be able to pay the €1 you pay to use public toilets !! Although only marginally away from the more direct pathway back to Rouen, our GPS took us off in another direction. While it appeared to know where to go, I was convinced it was taking us off somewhere else. Fred’s diligence in monitoring this journey, was challenged by me rather bluntly on a number of occasions. Not only because of our need to arrive in time, but the extensive roadworks near the Rouen Gare with all of the deviations we noted a week prior, had me concerned that we would not find or way back to the drop-off point all that easily. The latter proved to be correct.

We arrived at the Gare OK, but at the wrong point of a very large car-park. Confusion reigned to the point that my concentration waned and in doing so, caused me to reverse into a pole. “Warragamba” (that’s short for damn !!). I wasn’t game to get out and look. I looked at Fred. feeling completely useless: a very empty feeling. I can recall this very well. Fortunately no damage, as the car had an impact bar: our contact speed with the pole was minimal at best.

Great, our big day started off well !!

To get our car back, we needed a little of geographic sense and consideration: this we managed to do. All good, stage one complete. Onto our train for the anticipated complications of transferring from Paris Saint-Lazare to Paris Du Nord. This was generally achieved without too issues, as we had done a little homework prior. Achieved but not without an almost disaster.

Our internal Paris transfer needed two changes: the latter from a transit station onto to Paris Du Nord. The train was “packed” to the level that even sardines would have gone out on strike !! It was in this situation that we are convinced that Fred was almost “pick-pocketed”. I am not sure about me, I have my suspicions though. A couple of coloured fellas assisted us to get our bags onto the train and endeavoured to at least engage Fred into looking at the station board in order to distract her. Her quick reactions avoided being robbed. She felt hands over her bag and also discovered that one of her pockets was slightly opened. these fellas hopped off at the next station. An escape of massive proportions. We both felt rather insecure for the remainder of the day.

Reaching Amsterdam by train from there was easy: but certainly a relief. We decided to exit our train at Schipol Airport. Wow, what a massive complex: from here we were able to secure a shuttle bus transfer to our hotel (Hampton by Hilton) in the suburb of Hoofddorf. This location was to subsequently suit us rather well, with the station nearby assisting our mobility. It was about a 25 minute train trip into Amsterdam Centraal. 

We both hit the sack pretty early that night: we both needed it. After a Grolsch (Dutch beer) and a pizza at a nearby Pizza restaurant. Breakfast next morning and then off into the centre of Amsterdam only to be put off by the crowds and the need to have precooked most things. Our attempts to get into Anne Frank’s house (she wasn’t even home !!) and the Van Gogh Museum were thwarted: booked out and for some days, even weeks !!

It was Easter, but from what we hear, there is need to get online and prebook everything and pay by “carte”. Fortunately we were able to get into the Ruijk Museum to see the Rembrandt collection. This was after we had queued just to get some information !! A very warm day, along with a scant knowledge of a foreign city was starting to test us a little.

We were fine, as we again tested our “wandering skills” by negotiating the city’s tram system. To this point, we had been on about 4 different routes and feeling a little self-assured about this, at least. Popping in the see the Rembrandt collection, restored our faith however. 

The Ruijk Museum in which the collection is housed, is a massive structure and in a location called the “museum plain”. Most of the major museums are centred here around a massive park where many people were out to take advantage of the sunshine. apparently, it snowed here last week !!

The museum is split into 2 main parts: a general section where artworks etc are housed by a number of artists along with many other sculptures from many hundreds of years. Some going back to 1175 !!  The majority of the collection was of the Renaissance period (17th century) however.

The other part (which you had to rebook once inside), was the extensive Rembrandt collection. All housed in darkened rooms, I was somewhat fascinated by how close you could get to the etchings and artworks. You were allowed to walk up completely to them. In other museums and exhibitions there is usually a barrier. 

From what we understand, Rembrandt operated in the 17th Century and was the master of light and dark. Perhaps Monet (who followed him about 150 years later), may have taken some inspiration from him ? Not being an art critic of any note, I could see this contrasting trend in his artwork. Rembrandt’s galleries were arranged in themes: biblical, “life” etc. The explanations etc that accompanied the works, was also very enlightening. We spent many hours here in the museum. I left a rather happy-chappy.

From here we were able to negotiate the very efficient tram network in search of the place where (apparently) traffic congestion occurs. Something to do with red-lights !! I thought this would be odd, as up to now, for a major city, there appeared to be very little cars etc; millions of bikes and almost the same number of canals. Bikes are the ones you need to watch out for being a pedestrian.

Fred indicated that perhaps the red-light district maybe best seen in the evening, so we caught the metro to the northern part of Amsterdam (Nooderpark), underground and across the “IJ” the large canal which splits Amsterdam. Not much to see here as we walked back to the ferry terminal which was going to be our 4th form of transport. It was interesting to note, that seagulls sitting on the water, all faced up wind. Fred seemed rather impressed with this self observation.

Catching the “IJ” ferry across the Ijseelmeer to the Centraal interchange (no typo here, the Dutch seem to have a lot of words with double “a”), was short. You use this for free: with ferries every few minutes. Everybody just piles on, pedestrians and the ever present multitude of bike riders. Across the harbour, where dedicated barges allow bike riders to store their bikes for free. 

The Dutch seem to be the most prolific cycle users. Why not, given the expensive fuel and the almost perfectly flat environment (of which the majority of the Netherlands is below sea-level !!). Further, with so many canals and narrow streets (especially in Amsterdam), cars are almost “not invited”. 

Back to the centre of the city to Rokin where we had a traditional Dutch meal in the “Traditional Dutch Restaurant”, run by an Egyptian !! Fred’s Schnitzel and my sauerkraut with Dutch sausage were just great. All finished off with “Grandma’s Coup” (a common Dutch dessert): ice-cream.

We had earlier secured tickets for the must see canal cruise: having been advised to do so so as to get dusk and early evening. So we made the short walk back to catch the canal boat: now approximately 8:30 pm. The sun doesn’t set until about 9:15 pm. The canal boat (of which there are heaps), slowly moves around a selection of the some 100 canals, all of which average about 3 metres in depth over the 100 kilometres network. Some 1000 bridges to avoid !! Speaking of avoiding, some 100 cars annually, end up in the canals. The many fences along the canals tending not to stop this very regular occurrence.

The canal system is somewhat like half a bike wheel (how convenient). Semi-circular canals radiate from the centre, which are intersected with lines of canals radiating from the “hub”. Each circular canal, signifying a growth spurt of the city. water everywhere !!

The boats are long and slender and move around rather slowly and among the many other vessels. I guess if it floats, you would find it on the canal system. Both the water and land transport systems seem to work. We had noticed though, that there appeared to be 2 economies working in Amsterdam. One for the locals and the other for the tourists. Each having a different price structure. This was particularly noticeable with transport.

For example, the canal cruises could be bought for €12 if you knew where to look. However in all of the tourist brochures and in the many tourist ticket offices around the city, the same ride costs €18. A similar situation with the “day tickets” to ride the city transport. In tourist areas the latter sell for €19 for the day, however if you purchase these on the trams, you get an almost equivalent for €8 !!

Our canal ride concluded and so we moved to the nearby “red light district” which was infested with people. Ladies standing in shop fronts enticing people to come and visit them. Some even having the bedroom evident where this “visitation” could be implemented. Outside some of these places of “business”, males stood and peered, some opened the door to speak to the lady (obviously to get some directions to the next pub) while many of us, being pushed along by their wives.  

I offered to buy Fred a coffee or even purchase the much advertised “high energy smoothies”: somewhere she could sit down while i just looked around. A means for her to recover from the long day we have had !! She wanted to move on whereas I was concerned about her welfare. I was prepared to wait and allow her recovery to unfold over a substantial time. I would find somewhere comfortable for her to sit and wait and more importantly, recover. She opted to move on. This we did, returning to the Centraal to catch our sprinter train back to Hoofddorf. Again this decision was profound: superficially not appearing to be bothered but deep down affected greatly. 

A very long day indeed. But what amazed us, was the number of bikes, the facilities to encourage use of these (free parking at central locations, dedicated cycle tracks everywhere, even a traffic light system which accommodates cycle flow), the ever present canals (there was even one around our hotel), and the flat nature of the country. Not a hill to be seen: true.

From what we have seen of the city, the outer areas are quite deliberately planned. Many canals allow the separation from roads, places of industry and residential areas. The area in which we are staying, seems extremely liveable. Very wide streets to allow traffic of all forms to move quickly.