Neil's got a new bier glass.

There's nothing like having an excuse to use this photo again - from my day trip to Amsterdam 2 years ago; 

Because amongst all the bad news (and this morning I'm back at hospital and Friday it's another dose of Chemo) I bought myself another beer glass.

or at least I bought four cans of Amstel and got the glass free - I couldn't resist;

And Amstel brings back so many memories..........

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me : neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Jazz, Amstel Gold and life in Amsterdam.

As the clock ticked away on my 12 hours in Amsterdam, I headed along the Hoogstraats (old and new) to Jodenbreestraat where I bought myself a vintage Italian tie.

I think this spot opposite The Rembrandthuis is my favourite view of Amsterdam. The old pub is actually a crooked house. Then I went to the fleamarket at Waterlooplein and then on to De Dokwerker.

By now I actually was tired, luckily I finally found a cake shop. I must admit it was a bit of a struggle. I had been led to believe that Amsterdam was famous for its Patisserie – I think I was misled.

However this is where I ended up;

 

It’s The Goa, and very relaxing it was too. Nice restrained design, eastern influenced in browns and black. Very modern but not too elitist. Comfy chairs and all kinds of refreshments including;

 

Yes, a small range of cakes! I have no idea what the labels were about, no matter – by now I was hungry.

I had a nice rest in The Goa, watched the world go by, recovered a little and found myself endlessly fascinated by the leaves on the trees on the opposite side of the road. The music was House but not too extreme, the clients more mature than usual and the atmosphere very definitely urban.

I enjoyed it……quite a lot.

I then hit the Nieuwmarkt on the edge of the redlight district, had a look at the market, went into Albert Heijn supermarkt and then off to an urgent appointment at The Cotton Club;

 

This was for a few hours of Jazz, an injection in the toilets and a quantity of Amstel Gold from the bar. This is a Saturday afternoon institution in A-Dam, quite a tough pub at times but some great music.

Ruth Geerse was singing a selection from the ‘Great American songbook’ and a few compositions of her own, backed up by her disciplined band;

 

Then in the evening I headed down to The Zeedijk or Chinatown, even if a lot of it is now Indonesian or Vietnamese.

I call it ‘Eat as much as you like Zeedijk’, because you can well, you can eat as much as you like.

Here’s my favourite restaurant;

 

And this, I’m afraid is what was only the second plate of my ‘Eat as much as you like in an hour’, Chinese food.

 

It was delicious, even if a party of Chinese people stormed in and ate all the Dim Sum in about 20 seconds. I am afraid I am no innocent myself in the world of 'eat as much as you like'.

As I left, I was barely able to walk. Hmmm scrummy.

I walked and walked and walked. I went all around the canals; The Singel and the Three, it was a charming evening.

I’d hoped to have a short while in The Jazz Café Alto, but I was far too early. Here it is;

 

It has some wonderful memories for me – always a good night at The Café Alto.

Still there were other diversions;

 

Finally at 11-00pm, with blisters on my feet and tired beyond belief, I staggered back to catch the coach.

I still had some cake with me and for a moment I thought it might be a nice gesture if I kept some to give to those sweet dogs you see at Border Control. But then, of course, I couldn’t because there was some chocolate and that would cause them harm.

Oh well, I just had to finish it off myself.

Thanks Amsterdam, old friend, for a magical 12 hours. I have other photos and stories, I'll save them for when I'm tired or bored.

Click on a picture to get a slideshow.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Artists and Ateliers in Amsterdam.

So now I headed down into the Jordaan which was once a mixture workers slums and small workshops. These days it’s expensive houses and little shops and galleries. The canals are smaller than the great canals and tree lined . In the sunshine it makes your heart sing.

Unknown to me it was a special day when the art and craft studios of the Jordaan were open to the public.

 

I followed some arrows which led me to a courtyard and some more arrows up a metal staircase, then down a corridor and up another set of stairs, along and into;

 

This is the studio of Hans Hellingwerf, beside the beautiful Lauriergracht canal. Painter of charming still lifes and landscapes which are all very abstract, he also had some rather nice nudes as well.

 

www.hanshellingwerf.nl will find him but nothing would ever be quite as good as watching the sun on the last day of May flowing in through the windows and lighting up his paintings.

I still needed cake but wasn’t finding it. I found plenty more art though;

 

This exhibition was on the outskirts of town and too far away for me. I’ve missed it before – but the results were out on the streets. As a port, tattooing is part of the culture – different ports would have had different designs, for sailors to buy as souvenirs. Here's some graffiti that has something of the tattoo about it;

 

On my way across to the university I met ‘The Free Architect’;

 

He will design a house for you for nothing – in the hope he might win some paid commissions as a result. Ambitously he has on display his design for a slightly wobbly skyscraper, which I rather liked.

 

And this tile, is a Dutch tradition, to commemorate the owner or the business of the house. This one is not old, some are hundreds of years old, they last as long as the house does.

Still no cake – this needs desperate measures.
Click on any picture for a better picture and a slideshow.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)  

From Winkel to Winkel in old Amsterdam.

So, I caught my coach at Brentford at 1245 am Friday (it was late), caught the ferry as the dawn broke over the white cliffs of Dover and got off at 1140 Saturday (Dutch time) at the Centraal Station, Amsterdam.

Whose the tough guy?

Because A-dam was once a port, the station doesn't just have a clock it also has a second clock face to tell the merchants the wind direction.

From there the obvious road to take is the Damrak – but I hate it. It’s lined with tourist shops, sex shops and worst of all; the sound of the Damrak is the sound of trolley cases being wheeled by tourists arriving or leaving.

There are three choices; the Damrak, the Nieuwendijk (boring clothes shops) or (my choice) the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal which looks like it is stuck in the 1960’s. But it leads me to the 4 great canals and The Jordaan, the old working class quarter which is where I want to go.

You have to understand that Amsterdam is in a state of truce in a war that has lasted 50 years. This road is a major Tramway and it’s modern and ugly. If the City had had its way much of medieval Amsterdam would look like this.

After the war, the city immediately levelled most of the old Jewish quarter, as if they were ashamed of their collaboration with the Nazis.

In the 1960’s, the next big plan was to level the red light district, China Town  and most of the Oude Zijde (Old Side) to make way for a new metro and modern commercial developments. It took a real war to stop it – ‘The Provos’ mobilised street demonstrations, street riots with Molotov Cocktails, bombs and even the occasional gun battle. Their enemies were the police and the city council, led by the same chiefs who had collaborated in the war.

It was serious stuff but in the end the good guys won. Only now is that Metro finally being built and it’s at a deep level which has saved the historic centre. The coffee shops were another concession.

Me, I’m on a quest; I’ve heard that Amsterdam is well known for its cakes – I’m looking for a good patisserie.

To find one I’m going to have to search through lots of Winkels, it’ll be hard work.

A ‘Winkel’ is a shop. So a ‘Snoepwinkel’ (isn’t that a great word?) is a sweet shop. I didn’t find any of those. It's a city full of little winkels.

 

This is a fabric shop of rainbow colours with it’s proud owner– for people making patchwork quilts.

If you want high ‘fashion’ you would probably head for the ‘Nine little Streets’ but there's fashion all over Amsterdam;

 

And how about these shoes?

 

No price tags here – too expensive. I’ve no idea where your feet go but what a sculpture?

Fancy Dior?

Or maybe some vintage sunglasses:

I just couldn’t find a cake shop anywhere.

So I found myself on Prinsengracht and went into The Cheese Museum, which is really a shop with free samples.

 

I had a few samples (a lot), but if you want cheese, best pop into Albert Heijn behind the royal palace – cheese at supermarket prices.

I took a walk along the canals named after various flowers, an area I really love and then headed for The Kitsch Kitchen which brought Mexican design to Dutch Kitchens.

This is an institution in A-Dam,  hysterically bright colours and daft kitchen utensils. It’s the Lucille Ball of design – Ditzyland. What Amsterdam is to puritan Holland, Kitsch Kitchen is to A-Dam.

In fact, it’s been there 20 years and as you can see they were celebrating in style. It was all no good to me – I needed cake and badly.

Did I find it here?

Great name for a shop, guys but not really me.

Or here?

No, I think 'Knuffels' is a duck shop. No cakes there.

Did I ever find any cake? You’ll have to wait till tomorrow to find out. Meanwhile for better pictures click on any photo.

Neil Harris

 

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contct: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
 

Death and Ghosts in Amsterdam.

In 12 hours I had a whole lot of fun in Amsterdam but then you probably know me by now; I always look out for some friendly ghosts to pay my respects to as well.

When you are in the city it’s hard to avoid death – it’s a medieval city and it has a lot of ghosts.

Luckily, I managed to avoid this guy – he had someone else in view. He's standing in Dam Square just in front of the royal palace and on the site of the first 'dam' and settlement on the river Amstel - where the city was born.

The three crosses on the reapers cloak are taken from the city flag. They stand for Fire, Flood and Plague, the city’s three greatest fears.

 

Some fears are more modern. I don’t recognise the face on this graffiti but my guess is that it’s satirical. Amsterdam has its fair share of gangsters anyway, while at weekends the red light district attracts every pimp and gangster from northern Europe.

 

This is a display of Mexican ‘Day of the Dead’ material at ‘The Kitsch Kitchen’ (more about that later).

This is what I was really looking for and where I go whenever I’m in the city; ‘De Dokwerker’;

There aren’t many statues of working people anywhere in the world and even fewer to commemorate a General Strike. The clue is in the date – 25 February 1941. It’s an amazing statue; powerful and strong.

 

In 1941, as the Nazi occupiers began the first pogroms and deportations of the Jews – the dockers, tramworkers, market porters, seamstresses and diamond cutters of the city (perhaps half a million of them) began a general strike in protest.

Mercilessly crushed, this selfless protest lasted only a day; the mainly communist leadership were murdered or sent to the camps but it began the process that led to the formation of the Dutch resistance.

Their courage lives on forever in J.D. Meyerplein, just past the fleamarket at Waterlooplein and opposite The Jewish Historical Museum. It is the scene of a major Labour Movement march and wreath laying ceremony every year.

The first time I was in the city I was very moved by my visit to The Resistance Museum where I read all about this remarkable workers action and which led to me seeking out the statue.

The next morning I was surprised to find that the city was silent and calm – no hum of the trams, no bells or hooters - everybody walking. It was a different city. Then I realised what had happened; the tramworkers were on strike again. Suddenly I was taken back in time – back to 1941 as everybody trudged over the cobblestones.

So some very good ghosts in Amsterdam.

 

Click on a picture for a slideshow.

Tomorrow some real fun……

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact; neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Sweet A-Dam.

Oooops!

I did it again…

A

Magic Bus!

Got my ticket, I’m off again! Roadtrip!

Where am I going at midnight on Friday?

It’s wet.

It’s windy (a bit).

It’s cool.

It’s naughty.

They like liquorice but they like it salty.

It’s nice.

You can buy Belgian beer there (Kwak!).

You can eat Chinese and Indonesian.

There’s cool jazz….mmmmmh!

The Police carry machine guns.

They like chips but they don’t call them French Fries.

There are a lot of Diamond geezers.

Pancakes, Neuwe Haring, Amstel Gold, Ajax, art, windmills, cumin, canals, Rembrandt, flea markets, The Zeedijk (eat as much as you like - Zeedijk), Van Gogh, Apple Torte (oh yeah), bicycles, The Nine Little streets, The Pipe, Clogs, Edam, Harlemmerstraat, Centraal Station, IJ, Old Jodenbreestraat, Neuwe Jodenbreestraat, Jordan, Dam, Trams, Damrak, snoepewinkel, gennefer, Leliegracht, did I mention Amstel Gold?

 AMSTERDAM

Oh Jaaaa!

Overnight by coach both ways, a day in Amsterdam, all for £39-00p.

And then there’s the little matter of finding somewhere really exciting to do an injection….I wonder where that will be?

I am so excited, to see a dear old friend again.

Sweet A-Dam.

Oh Jaaaa!

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

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