FINALLY!!! Finally! Finally! Finally!

After a month of being homeless, I am happy to report I have found a place to live!

The place is quite nice, except for awful green carpet. It's a large 3 bedroom apartment (my room is the smallest) with a big kitchen and living area. It sits on the edge of Rembrandt Park. Literally, the park begins at the back of the building. We are on the 12th floor with a North & East facing corner unit. The living area and balcony face East, so they get the sun until 1pm. My room faces North and from it I can see the sunsets. On the other side of the building (West side) is the road to our building and immediately after is the A10 highway. So from my room you can see and hear the freeway. With the window closed, it's not too loud, and it's a constant noise so I don't think it will bother me at all.

The view from the living room and balcony is quite incredible. Because Amsterdam is flat we can see right across the whole city, with the park laid out right in front of us.

My two room-mates are Marc - a Dutch lawyer around 34 and Agnes - a Latvian auditor around 24. They both seem really nice and easy going.

The room has a single bed, but they said I can buy a double bed if I want. I went out to buy bedding and a duvet today, and will see about buying a bed tomorrow.












This map shows the location of the apartment, with the shaded part showing the scope of our view! In fact, it's not totally accurate as we can see the power lines on the Eastern most part of the city from here.


So yesterday was Queen's Day and it was quite a party! The evening before I went out with some people from the expatriates group I meet up with. They had arranged the private hiring of an open boat for the evening. It ended up being quite the adventure as the owner was not licensed to take out groups, so if we were boarded by the police we were to tell them we are all friends of his. The fact that didn't have a license should have been a bit of a warning. On a few occasions we actually got lost and ended up going down dead-end canals. We had a good time all the same.

The evening before Queen's Day wasn't nearly as hectic on the water (or land) as we had thought. It was a great experience to see Amsterdam from the water though, especially at night. Unfortunately many of my pictures didn't turn out.

This is our boat before we left. Everyone brought drinks and snacks, preparing for our 3 hours (which turned into 4) on the water.






















This is another boat who followed us under a bridge. Here you can see how low some of the bridges are. On many occasions we had to duck in order to clear the bridges.


The actual Queen's Day (April 30) was like nothing I have seen before. The whole city stops and parties for the day. Imagine the group of people that gathers for the Symphony of Fire fireworks on each of the 4 nights... now imagine all 4 nights worth of people at the same time... that is what Amsterdam was like. However, they were spread out throughout the whole city as there was stuff going on on every single street.

I walked down so many small residential streets and people were spilling out of their homes. Doors and windows were opened with people sitting out in front of their homes selling odds and ends and baked goods. If you can think of it, someone, somewhere was probably trying to sell it.

Depending on what you wanted to see, hear or do, depended on what part of town you headed to. Vondel Park turned into a kids party with everything in the park geared towards children. That included kids themselves setting up along the pathways performing, setting up games of skill or selling things.

Everywhere you went there was music. It was a constant. People opened their windows and aimed their speakers into the streets. DJs and small stages were set up on bridges, in squares or on a small lane simply because they wanted to.

I heard some great music, ate some fantastic food and enjoyed the vibe in the city. One thing was very noticeable; the mood was jovial and upbeat. There weren't angry people fighting or trying to cause trouble. When you have so many people in such a constricted space, there is a chance for things to go badly, but that wasn't the case.

The amount of traffic on the water was staggering. So many of these long party boats had DJs on board broadcasting music. In fact certain roads were as loud as a nightclub! But if that isn't your thing, turn the corner and you might find a small stage with a rock band and people dancing in the street.



Here is a boat that had a DJ and a drummer on board! This party was on a scale I couldn't fathom before.








All over Amsterdam are these awful outside urinals. This picture does it justice. There is room for 4 guys (1 on each side) and their backs are expose, leaving very little in the way of privacy. You see these all the time, but there were way more of them set up for this event.






























































Before the party






During

A nice day around Amsterdam

Please disregard the date stamp on this entry, I am actually posting it on Tuesday April 29th (I started to upload the pictures on Monday evening). Also please disregard the strange formatting, the way I arrange the text and pictures and the way it ends up when I publish the posts are completely different.

So first off, the housing situation: I still don't have a place. In my last post I spoke of the 3 apartments I had viewed and the one I really wanted. I have been thinking a lot about that place and to be honest, it is out of my price range. It is also in an awkward corner of the city, fairly out of the way and not too easy to get to on public transit.

Last night I viewed another apartment, one that is totally in my price range, in a great location and a really spacious place. I will find out if I have it or not by next Monday. I have another appointment for this Friday at another promising house.

Yesterday (Monday) was a really fun day. The hostel rents bikes, so I decided to head out for the day on a set of wheels to see parts of the city I hadn't explored yet. This also gave me the opportunity to cover way more ground. I took my camera along and took hundreds of pictures. So this entry is going to be predominantly pictures, with captions and explanations where needed.

Amsterdam is an old city, but is also an evolving city, growing to meet the population demands. For the most part, I have only taken pictures of the old centre of the city. On my ride I went through many new neighbourhoods, highlighting some of the interesting modern architecture the Dutch have become renown for. Rotterdam's has become an international centre for architecture, with many foreign students traveling there to study housing and urban development. In 2005 the New York Times wrote: Rotterdam is increasingly to architecture what Paris is to fashion or Los Angeles to entertainment.

So here is a selection of modern architecture Amsterdam boasts:




























































































































































Some people are more interested in living inside art, which explains the paint job on this houseboat.




Other people would rather float around in a boat shaped like a wooden clog.





This picture might look somewhat familiar as we have (or had) a similar crane parked at the South foot of the Cambie Street bridge for the past couple of years. This is the staging area for the new (4th) subway line being tunneled under Amsterdam. The work doesn't seem to be nearly as intrusive here as it does in Vancouver. Then again, ours is on schedule. This new line is now slated to open in 2015 - 4 years late and 6 times the original budget!

I came across something a little... different. This was the third time I had seen it, but the first time I was armed with my camera. To describe this without pictures would be futile. It is as it appears; a bar on a bike. It can be rented for the day, seats 17 people who are all pedaling to power the thing. It requires a (sober) driver and bartender, and the rest of the people can be drunk-as-piss, as long as they keep pedaling and don't fall off their barstools:

http://www.bierfiets.nl/engels



















My hostel is in the South East corner of the city. The quickest way to get to the centre is to head North, then West. It was in that direction that I came across all the new developments and took the majority of those pictures showcasing the modern architecture.

I came across a great lookout where you have fantastic views of Centraal Station: one of the main railway hubs for the Netherlands and used, on average, by 150,000 people a day.











This is also where a large majority of construction is going on for the new North-South subway line. They have combined it with a redevelopment of the station.








Centraal Station is also where you get on the free ferries to head to the Northern parts of the city. The small canals are easily crossed by bridges, but this is the River Ij and is one of the busiest waterways in the city. Three tunnels, 1 bridge and 3 ferries allow passage to the other side.

Here you can see two of the small ferries. Cars are not permitted onboard (the whole length of the boat is about 3 cars in length). Bicycles, mopeds and pedestrians fill them up for the 8-15 minute crossing (depending on where you are going).

This is one of the entrances from the River Ij into the central canal system. So many of the bridges (if not the mass majority of them) have the ability to open for ships. Many of the tourism canal cruise boats are very low so as to fit underneath them. For the most part larger boats are required to pass at night to minimize the inconvenience to the hustle and bustle of the cars, trams, cyclists and pedestrians.

On the left side of the canal is a green building, which is where one of the harbour masters communicates with the boat pilots and manages the opening bridges.

While I was standing here I saw a boat approach and am still fascinated by watching these massive bridge structures opening and closing with such ease.























Now inside the canal network, it dawned on me this same boat would require more bridges to open, regardless where he was going. So I decided to follow him. He floated a couple hundred metres up the river and took the first left, coming to stop in front of another bridge. This one (like the majority of the bridges inside the network) is unmanned.

A man from the green building at the first bridge came walking along the river toward us. The pilot of the boat sat on his deck enjoying a cigarette, waiting for the harbour master to arrive.

On the right side of the bridge is a locked console, which the master uses to control the bridge. Once the boat has passed, he walks (or hops on his bike) and returns to his post, waiting for the next boat that needs to enter.











I went to the other side of the bridge to watch the boat come through, waiting to see which way he would go next; straight or take the canal to the right. He docked almost immediately, which drew my attention to a gorgeous garden I might not have noticed otherwise.

I worked my way through the maze of lanes, around canals and over bridges until I was able to work my way across to the small island that boasted this little mecca.

While admiring it, an older lady rode up on her bike with the same purpose in mind. We had a nice chat and she explained to me this is a community garden built and maintained by the people in the apartment building next to it. Every year they have a huge party where they all plant the bulbs and prepare the garden for the season. It's a labour of love, and a wonderful urban escape from the city. According to the lady, it is the only such garden she is aware of in Amsterdam.




























While leaving the garden I crossing this tiny bridge. If you look closely it says "Brug no. 320". This is the first bridge I have seen numbered, but it inspired me to do a little research. How many bridges are there in Amsterdam? There are 1,281 bridges spanning the 165 canals.






With so much water in the city, it is not surprising the police have a water detachment. All over the city you see the small police stations, but this was the first one I came across for their marine equipment.







Next I headed to Vondelpark, a favourite location of mine. Here are two of the multiple entrances where the city gives way for the massive park.































As the park is surrounded (on all sides) by the city, the homes that border the park are very expensive estates. On the South side of the park are canals and lakes that separate the park from the city, meaning those homes are sitting on a lovely piece of water with the park as a backdrop. Here are some of those homes:





































The neighbourhood to the South of the park is a pricey place to live, looking like the equivalent to our Kerrisdale. Here are some of the homes in this part of town:


































Heading back toward the hostel I passed by the botanical gardens. I have never gone inside, but the view of the building and neighbouring canal is as beautiful as anything inside:


































Modern street art in the centre of the city.




















Tomorrow (April 30th) is Koninginnenacht; the day the Queen's birthday is celebrated (it's actually the previous Queen's birthday). This is a city-wide party (in all cities in Holland) that will probably be the largest party I will ever see/take part in.

This is a picture of Museumplein (where the Rijks and Van Gogh museums are) and it's one of the dozens of locations around the city where official parties will be taking place. The unofficial parties will be happening in every available bar, cafe, home, street, nook and cranny not being occupied by official parties.

There won't be any rapid transit in the centre of the city past 8pm tonight as the streets within the city will be full of people. It would be dangerous to run trams and busses, so they don't. The centre of the city is around 2 square kilometres and for tonight and tomorrow, it will be people as far as the eye can see.

I am joining my expat group tonight for a party on a boat! They have arranged the hiring of a boat where we will be a mobile party. Apparently this is a great way to celebrate as we will have more mobility on the canals than most people would have on the land. Although that being said, with the number of boats (and like minded people) I am sure the canals will be crowded tonight. I will take my camera with me as I am sure this will be an amazing experience and a real spectacle. That reminds me, I have to go shopping for some orange clothes! That's right, orange is the national colour and the best way to avoid standing out as an outsider is to dress in orange.