Our plan for the day was a walking tour into Amsterdam taking us from the ship to where we would board a canal boat.  We had a rainy and overcast day so our pictures weren’t nearly as lovely as those we saw during our port talk!

We passed a Chinese restaurant that was built with the same blueprint as one in Shanghai.  On opening night, the restaurant started to sink because Dutch people are larger than Chinese people.  Then had to re-work the restaurant structurally.

Amsterdam has 165 miles of canals forming 90 islands that are connected by 1500 bridges. 

That is more than Venice!

There are 11.5 million wooden posts placed in sand and peat that support Amsterdam.  Eighty percent of the posts are original because they have never been exposed to air.

An average home has 10 posts where the royal residence is supported by 13,000 posts.

Houses are taxed by width so most were built tall and narrow.

There are 2500 house boats along the canals.

Most people in Amsterdam speak Dutch, English and a third language. Amsterdam is the most expensive city in the world, overtaking Zurich.

We were told that 26 percent of the Netherlands is below sea level.  The country  measures 3.5 hours by 2 hours.  That seemed an interesting way to report its size.  It is about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

This is one of the locks along the canal system to control water levels.

This is how houses were once identified.

Zeedijk is the street that is a boundary of the red light district.  The city council is beginning to put limits on tourism trying to avoid excess numbers in general and especially excess party-goers in the red light district.

In this photo you can see how the buildings tilt forward.  Many buildings were tilted slightly forward on purpose so items could be hoisted to upper rooms rather than trying to manage narrow crooked stairs.

We stopped at the Pancake House to have pankoeken, a Dutch pancake.

Then it was time to board our canal boat for our cruise.

This building is the Science Museum, nicknamed Titanic by residents.

The people are outside the Anne Frank house. The Anne Frank museum is a few doors away.  We did not have the time in port to visit, but doing so could be a reason to visit Amsterdam again.

There are 800,000 people in Amsterdam and 1.25 million bikes. 

There are 10-12,000 bikes retrieved from the canal annually and recycled.  Some of them are said to be retribution for a broken heart.  Heartbroken,  throw your ex’s bike into the canal. (I saw this picture on Twitter.)

There are two underground bicycle garages on either side of the transportation station, each with room for 30,000 bicycles! 

Driving an electric scooter now requires a helmet so there was a big transition to electric bikes avoiding the helmets.  Pedestrians can’t hear the e-bikes and they go fast so there is a big problem with bike vs. pedestrian accidents.

A parking permit in the city costs about 550 euros per year, but there is a two to three year wait.   I would not want to park any car next to the canal without any curbing!

We have taken Hop On Hop Off bus tours at times, but didn’t imagine you could do the same on a canal boat.

These are called the Dancing Houses.  They are tilted because of movement in the ground layer. 

This is a replica of the ship Amsterdam which sank during its maiden voyage in 1749.  The rudder broke in the North Sea.  The crew made it to safety in England.  The Dutch East India Trading company was once a powerful naval entity. However, the life was difficult.  The Dutch lost 700 ships in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Churches in Amsterdam usually have three crosses, one each for protection against plague, fire and flood.

We were on the canal during the Amsterdam Light Festival. 

We saw a variety of sculptures, some lit even in daylight, along the canal.

This is the Montelbaanstoren Tower, built in 1516.  It was once a part of the walls protecting the city and the harbor.

We went back to the ship and I decided, somewhat reluctantly, to do laundry.  Laundry facilities (including soap) are free on Viking Ocean ships.  That was convenient because our cold weather gear took so much room in our suitcases that we didn’t really have a large selection of regular clothes.  

We saw wind turbines from our balcony window.  Nine European countries are participating in building wind-farms in the North Sea.

We met Jo and Flynn at what became our regular spot behind the piano. 

On any given night the pianist or the string duo played while we had before dinner drinks.  The screen at the top of the stairs showed a rotating series of paintings by Edvard Munch, 1863-1944. A Norwegian expressionist painter, he became famous world wide. He painted over 2000 pieces and, if you don’t know any other, you probably would recognize “The Scream.”

This painting is called Landscape from Hitsven.

After dinner, we enjoyed our first Viking entertainment featuring the band. 

The captain introduced his officers and senior staff.

The cruise director introduced our five enrichment lecturers. They will present on things you would expect like the Vikings and Northern Lights but also on Formula 1 Race cars and Aliens.

It was a good day in Amsterdam and evening on Viking Venus.  We had no idea what was to come within just a few hours.

We were in Amsterdam on January 13, 2024.

Next up:  The North Sea makes memories