22 April 2016 (Friday) was an arduous day. The original plan was:
Day 2 AMSTERDAM - VOLENDAM - EDAM
After breakfast, enjoy a scenic morning cruise through the historic harbor and canals of Amsterdam....Return to the ship for lunch while you cruise the Ijsselmeer towards Volendam. Enjoy a late afternoon tour of Volendam Harbor and see the fishing fleet and fish auction building. Continue by motor coach to Edam, a picturesque town with a rich historic past. You will have a walking tour of the Old Quarter’s beautiful houses, canals, bridges and churches, including one of the largest in Holland, the Grote Kerk (Great Church). (B,L,D)
WE DID NOT DOCK IN VOLENDAM, we did not see the fishing fleet or the fish auction building and while we saw the Grote Kerk in Edam, we did not get time to go into it. Since this was my first Ama cruise I did not realize that I could have done this on my own
We had a canal tour of Amsterdam (one of the goals of the trip) at 9 so we got up to get down to breakfast a little before 8. They have breakfast and lunch set up for partly buffet and I just cannot do the buffet - not only do I not have a place to put the food I take, but there isn't room for the scooter. So I ordered
poached eggs on toast
Bob did the buffet and got scrambled eggs, bacon and grapefruit
Now we had to get back to the docks next to the Movenpick hotel to take the canal boat. The slow walkers were to have a van to take them over. I didn't think the scooter would work that well on the canal boat, so I just took my cane.
Problem - we had moved so we were not right at the dock where we boarded last night. So I had to walk across another boat, and then down the length of the boat before I got to the main dock to walk to get the van. I almost couldn't do it. The van driver put me in the front seat (which I do like) because he said it would be easier for me (which I doubt). He tried to belt me in with the belt from the middle seat, but it wouldn't work. While he was doing something else, I found the proper belt and attached it. They let us off on the other side of the canal from where the boats were and we had to climb down some very narrow pointed steps, and then walk the full length of that dock to get to the boat.
Top of the steps and line walking to canal boat
looking under the bridge we had to cross
The tour was an hour. Bob got better photos than I did because he could move around better and I was away from the window.
Museo Nemo
Church of St. Nicholas
no parking sign for boats
Bobs photo of me
Museum of Bags and Purses
Drawbridge
One of the interesting things we saw was this house front which I took a photo of, but I don't remember that they explained it to us. From the photo, I thought at first it was St. George slaying the dragon. I didn't know what the elephant signified. But I found out that the man was really St. Michael (St George is usually portrayed on horseback) and he was slaying a dragon representing the devil. The elephant head was the symbol of the bakers which owned the house. The bakers made 'Kolkse Koeken', which was a spicy pastry made in a bakery at the Nieuwezijds Kolk which went by the name 'De Witte Olifant' (in English, the White Elephant). Owners of the bakery were Pieter van Scorel and his son Cornelis and this was their house. The family had made an enormous fortune by trading on the stock exchange with the money they earned from the sale of hard tack or ship's biscuit to the large fleets of the Dutch East and West Indies Trading Companies. On the side they sold other breads and those lovely Kolkse Koeken. The Elephant was regarded as a particularly apt symbol for pastry bakers and their spicy wares. Elephants were associated with the exotic regions from which the fleets of those trading companies brought back spices.
I was disappointed in the canal tour. I had hoped that Bob would be able to see more of Amsterdam. The hop-on-hop-off canal tour that I did with my granddaughter in 2009 was better in two ways - it was out in the open so I could take photos with no reflections, and it was more extensive - plus the recorded tour was better. Didn't repeat itself so much. I wish I could have opted out of the canal boat cruise of Amsterdam and taken the hop-on-hop-off tour boat on our own. [Since then I have done the canal boat cruise with Ama in Amsterdam and it was a much better cruise and it was better than the hop on hop off canal boat cruise.]
They docked us closer to where the vans picked us up this time, and we drove back to the AmaViola (our ship), and I sat on my cane and waited for Bob to walk back to the boat and get my scooter for me. Otherwise I might still be there on the dock.
Day 2 AMSTERDAM - VOLENDAM - EDAM
After breakfast, enjoy a scenic morning cruise through the historic harbor and canals of Amsterdam....Return to the ship for lunch while you cruise the Ijsselmeer towards Volendam. Enjoy a late afternoon tour of Volendam Harbor and see the fishing fleet and fish auction building. Continue by motor coach to Edam, a picturesque town with a rich historic past. You will have a walking tour of the Old Quarter’s beautiful houses, canals, bridges and churches, including one of the largest in Holland, the Grote Kerk (Great Church). (B,L,D)
WE DID NOT DOCK IN VOLENDAM, we did not see the fishing fleet or the fish auction building and while we saw the Grote Kerk in Edam, we did not get time to go into it. Since this was my first Ama cruise I did not realize that I could have done this on my own
We had a canal tour of Amsterdam (one of the goals of the trip) at 9 so we got up to get down to breakfast a little before 8. They have breakfast and lunch set up for partly buffet and I just cannot do the buffet - not only do I not have a place to put the food I take, but there isn't room for the scooter. So I ordered
poached eggs on toast
Bob did the buffet and got scrambled eggs, bacon and grapefruit
Now we had to get back to the docks next to the Movenpick hotel to take the canal boat. The slow walkers were to have a van to take them over. I didn't think the scooter would work that well on the canal boat, so I just took my cane.
Problem - we had moved so we were not right at the dock where we boarded last night. So I had to walk across another boat, and then down the length of the boat before I got to the main dock to walk to get the van. I almost couldn't do it. The van driver put me in the front seat (which I do like) because he said it would be easier for me (which I doubt). He tried to belt me in with the belt from the middle seat, but it wouldn't work. While he was doing something else, I found the proper belt and attached it. They let us off on the other side of the canal from where the boats were and we had to climb down some very narrow pointed steps, and then walk the full length of that dock to get to the boat.
Top of the steps and line walking to canal boat
looking under the bridge we had to cross
The tour was an hour. Bob got better photos than I did because he could move around better and I was away from the window.
Museo Nemo
Church of St. Nicholas
no parking sign for boats
Bobs photo of me
Museum of Bags and Purses
Drawbridge
One of the interesting things we saw was this house front which I took a photo of, but I don't remember that they explained it to us. From the photo, I thought at first it was St. George slaying the dragon. I didn't know what the elephant signified. But I found out that the man was really St. Michael (St George is usually portrayed on horseback) and he was slaying a dragon representing the devil. The elephant head was the symbol of the bakers which owned the house. The bakers made 'Kolkse Koeken', which was a spicy pastry made in a bakery at the Nieuwezijds Kolk which went by the name 'De Witte Olifant' (in English, the White Elephant). Owners of the bakery were Pieter van Scorel and his son Cornelis and this was their house. The family had made an enormous fortune by trading on the stock exchange with the money they earned from the sale of hard tack or ship's biscuit to the large fleets of the Dutch East and West Indies Trading Companies. On the side they sold other breads and those lovely Kolkse Koeken. The Elephant was regarded as a particularly apt symbol for pastry bakers and their spicy wares. Elephants were associated with the exotic regions from which the fleets of those trading companies brought back spices.
I was disappointed in the canal tour. I had hoped that Bob would be able to see more of Amsterdam. The hop-on-hop-off canal tour that I did with my granddaughter in 2009 was better in two ways - it was out in the open so I could take photos with no reflections, and it was more extensive - plus the recorded tour was better. Didn't repeat itself so much. I wish I could have opted out of the canal boat cruise of Amsterdam and taken the hop-on-hop-off tour boat on our own. [Since then I have done the canal boat cruise with Ama in Amsterdam and it was a much better cruise and it was better than the hop on hop off canal boat cruise.]
They docked us closer to where the vans picked us up this time, and we drove back to the AmaViola (our ship), and I sat on my cane and waited for Bob to walk back to the boat and get my scooter for me. Otherwise I might still be there on the dock.
- Next entry in the series 'Go to Amsterdam First (1950, 1965, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2022)': Cruising to Hoorn (and back) on the IJsselmeer - 2016
- Previous entry in the series 'Go to Amsterdam First (1950, 1965, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2022)': Meeting the AmaViola Captain - 2016
