Posts In The “Destinations” Category
In addition to being a wonderful place to live and complete some boat projects, City Marina IJDok also was convenient for visitors. This gave us an opportunity to catch up with some old friends, meet in person some that we’d only corresponded with, and make new acquaintances with locals or those travelling to the area….
Besides being a great place to call home, City Marina IJDok in Amsterdam also was convenient to complete a number of boat projects including replacing the Jabsco 34600-0010 bilge pump with Whale Gulper 320 High Capacity bilge pump, installing a new steering pump, and adding shorepower soft start. Some of the gear and supplies we…
City Marina IJDok was an exceptional winter home for us. We were lucky to get a spot in the small marina in downtown Amsterdam that is an easy walk to the train station and countless restaurants and attractions. In addition to exploring the city and enjoying the Amsterdam Light Festival and the city’s extensive New…
In our last couple of weeks in Amsterdam, we visited The Hague, completed a few boat projects, finalized our preparations for our summer cruise to the Baltic and hosted a few visitors. We’d initially planned to depart Amsterdam for the Baltic Sea on March 1st, but extended our stay until the 15th to give us…
James has long had an interest in the famous Dutch graphics artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, whose work features mathematical objects and optical illusions. As a teenager he had a poster of Escher’s Dragon on his wall and as an adult very much enjoyed reading Douglas Hofstadter’s Godel, Escher, Bach that explores the common themes between…
In February we took advantage of unseasonably warm, calm and sunny weather for Amsterdam to make day trips to NDSM Wharf, Zaanse Schans, and Rotterdam. We also started stocking up for the summer trip to the Baltic; completed several boat maintance items and projects, such as replacing our unsatisfactory Jabsco 34600-0010 bilge pump; and did…
Unlike historic Amsterdam, most of Rotterdam’s buildings were constructed after World War II German bombers destroyed the central core. The city was rebuilt in a very modern style and although the traditional buildings visible through much of the Netherlands are beautiful, Rotterdam’s contemporary and unusual architecture is quite appealing. Rotterdam also is full of statues…
Zaanse Schans, north of Amsterdam, is one of the oldest industrial areas in the world and was particularly important in the 18th and 19th centuries. Over 1,000 windmills were built in the area to help produce linseed oil, paint, snuff, mustard, paper and other products. Today many of Zaanse Schans’ remaining windmills are operating and…
The NDSM wharf district in Amsterdam Noord was once home of the NDSM (Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij) shipyard until the 1980s. The area is in the process of revitalization, with a particular emphasis on companies in the creative sector, and is full of distinctive architecture and artwork. We took taking advantage of a warm…
Our third month in Amsterdam, January, was a busy one. We visited local museums such as Anne Frank House and the Rijksmuseum, took in the Amsterdam Light Festival by tender, attended an Amsterdam Tigers ice hockey game, made day trips to Haarlem and Delft, hosted several visitors, completed a number of boat projects such as…
In late January, we left a cold and snowy Amsterdam to make another return trip to Seattle. While there we spent time at the Seattle Boat Show and attended our first Nordhavn Owner’s gathering since leaving Seattle in 2012. During the evening, PAE president Dan Streech presented us with two special pennants: one for having…
The city of Delft in South Holland is known as the home of Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer and as the major 17th-century producer of Delftware, a Dutch ceramic product styled after Chinese porcelain. Much of the city dates from that period and is remarkably well-preserved, making it a popular day-trip destination in the…
Teyler’s Museum of Wonder in Haarlem, opened in 1784, is the oldest museum in the Netherlands. It was funded to foster an interest in arts and sciences both through research and sharing discoveries with the public. Much of the museum has been preserved intact and entering feels a bit like stepping back into the 18th…
The Amsterdam Tigers are a semi-professional ice hockey team that play in Jaap Edenhal arena, a short train ride southeast of the city center. The complex is named after the famous Dutch speed skater Jaap Eden and includes the largest skating rink in the Netherlands, with a 1312ft (400m) lane. We hadn’t seen a live…
“The Medium is the Message“, the famous quote by Canadian scientist Marshall McLuhan, is the theme of the 7th edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival. The displays are mostly along the interior canals and designed to be viewed from the water as well as the shore. We’d seen several of the displays while walking through…
The Rijksmuseum art and history museum was founded in 1800 in the Hague and moved to the current Amsterdam location in 1885. It’s the largest and most visited museum in the Netherlands and annually sees over 2 million visitors. We spent much of our time there viewing the museum’s treasures, including Golden Age masterpieces by…
Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis for 25 months in a secret annex behind a 17th-century Amsterdam canal house. They eventually were captured and only Anne’s father survived the concentration camps, but her story lives on through the diary she kept that has been translated to over 60 languages. At the excellent…
After a whirlwind trip to the UAE and the US in late November, we spent December closer to Dirona in Amsterdam. Over a relaxing holiday season, we explored the city, completed some projects, and met with old friends and new, ending the month and year with a fabulous city-wide New Year’s celebration. Below are trip…