Tag Archives: Canals

A Day in Amsterdam

The Netherlands, Travel, , , ,

Sept 21 – Yes, I know we said we were not doing the tourist thing, but we are feeling better today, and Jim found a museum we haven’t visited. So we took the hotel shuttle back to the airport (which is also the train and bus station) and hopped on a train to Amsterdam Centraal.

Amsterdam Centraal Train Station
…which includes a multi-tiered bicycle garage

Yes, there are canals everywhere in Amsterdam, lined with houseboats and water taxis. The Venice of the north.

Our goal is to see Our Lord in the Attic Museum, a Catholic Church built in the upper floors of a house. During the 1600s, all Roman Catholic, Jewish and other houses of worship were confiscated by the ruling Dutch Reformed Protestants. A wealthy Catholic merchant built a church upstairs in his attic so that he, his friends and family could continue to practice their faith. From the outside, it looks like just another house on the street.

The Dutch did not prevent other religions from practicing, they just outlawed the practice in public. The church was used until the mid 1800s, when the Basilica of St. Nicholas was built just down the road. It became a museum in 1883.

The lower floors of the house have been restored to reflect how the merchant’s family lived.

The kitchen
The blue Delft tiles had pictures of little angels
Much of the original porcelain was retrieved from the cesspit under the house
Paintings in the parlor cabinet

Then up the stairs to the church:

The narrow little church upstairs – the columns on either side of the altar look like marble, but are actually painted wood
The organ keyboard and stops
The organ pipes
A close up of God above the altar
The Mary chapel
I like the look on the old father’s face as he listens to his daughters natter over their sewing. There’s St. Nicholas above, putting money through the window to help with their dowries.

After exploring Our Lord in the Attic, it was just a hop and a skip to see the Basilica of St. Nicholas down the street.

A bigger altar
A bigger Mary chapel

Then we were back on the street. What else could we see?

A rubber ducky store
Lots of pastries
A lamp for Lexi!

You may notice that the houses are very narrow – at one point, real estate tax was based on the width of the building, so houses were built narrow and tall :

Narrow houses
Things Karen thinks are funny – wild pissing is not allowed
Best porta potty sign ever!
On the train back to Hoofddorp – tired, happy travelers

Bangkok, Thailand – Farang Scam!

Thailand, Travel, , ,

In Bangkok at 12 o’clock they foam at the mouth and run
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. – Noel Coward

5/7 – After a month in northern Thailand where it’s pretty darn hot, we’re now in southern Thailand where it’s REALLY hot. Bangkok is a big city, known for its canals, (the Venice of the East), Buddhist temples and for scamming Farang (Westerners). Although we’ve been traveling for a while and consider ourselves fairly savvy, we got scammed here on our first day! Here’s our cautionary tale.

As we walked toward the Amulet Market early in the morning (trying to beat the heat, but it was already 85 and climbing) a distinguished looking and well-spoken gentlemen stepped up to advise us that today was a holiday and the markets were closed. Another man in a security uniform confirmed this.  The nice gentleman, who said he was a college professor, went on to tell us that if we needed something to do instead, he would suggest a wonderful boat ride through the canals of Bangkok that could be had for a special price during the holiday (the King’s birthday!) He warned us not to use a tuk-tuk with red or blue numbers, which would overcharge us, but only ones with a white and yellow sign. As he said this, a tuk-tuk with a white and yellow sign pulled up to the curb, and the gentleman told the driver to take us to the dock for 20 baht (60 cents). As you are reading this, you must smell a fish, but he was so smooth and it happened so quickly, we just went along. He wanted no money, didn’t seem to be selling anything, and who could argue with the price of the taxi?

At the dock, the driver got out (another red flag we missed – when does a cab driver ever leave his cab?) and introduced us to another gentleman who walked us down to the water’s edge just as a gondola (just like in Venice!) pulled up. Quick as you can say Bob’s your uncle, we were motoring away on a private gondola, our wallet lighter by 2000 baht (about $60.00). There was no coercion, and we could have refused to get in the boat. We did get a very nice hour-long tour of the canals, but found out when we disembarked that a) it was not the King’s birthday, b) all the markets were indeed open, and c) we paid double what we should have for the boat ride. Poor dumb Farang! Here are our expensive canal pix:image Our gondola

imageimageimageLots of flowers

imagePassing through the lockimage

imageLots of temples

image

imageThe Royal Palace in the distance

Walking back to our hotel, an English couple stopped us and asked if the Royal Palace was closed for the holiday. They had been persuaded by the same gentleman, but had sense enough to walk away. As we passed the spot where we had encountered him earlier, he was speaking earnestly with a French couple. When we approached and told the couple not to listen to him, the security guards ran up and tried to shoo us off – everyone gets a cut of this deal!

Of course when we returned to our room and googled Bangkok Scams, the first one that came up was “the __________ is closed for the holiday.”  Variations are used to sell fake gems, overpriced taxi rides, extract extra money for visas, and who knows what else.  Shame on us for not doing our research before setting out.  A smooth operation –  at least we got to see the canals!