rembrandt

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #9 – Ayla & Renske 15-16/10/25

Today, 15/10/25 (Day 14) I have my usual huge breakfast at my hotel & headed off to Amsterdam Centraal to take a train to Naarden Burrum train station (€6) to meet up with a very close friend, Ayla who I met years ago at my new hometown of Yamba at my cousin’s then Yamba Backpackers. Ayla sent me an app 9292 which was so easy to book my rail eticket & see the rail timetable. A breeze. They send you the eticket 40mins before your departure. I caught the 9.40am train which provided the required 10am arrival for Ayla to drive & pick me up there & to show me her hometown region. Seeing her was such a thrill & she hadn’t changed a bit. Still gorgeous & vibrant. After such a wonderful greeting she drove into Naarden & did a quick walk around this quaint village & stumbled across a WW1 cannon. Photo opportunity of course. The first photo is in 2022 on her revisit to my Yamba.

At Naarden there is an ancient canal setup from 17th century, called Bastion Katten which is a quirky maze of levee walls & water in very odd shapes. It is very difficult to understand this construction & for what purpose it was intended for other than it was a water designed fortress with 15 cannons. The buildings were constructed between 1873-75. https://www.vestingnaarden.nl/Bastion_Katten.html

Following on, we travelled to Monnickendam & by chance along the way we entered a dairy farm of jersey cows that specialised in all types of cheeses. It is called Henri Willig Cheese & what a great little tasting & shop they have there. It is the original farm where Henri was born. He took it over in 1974 from his parents. If you planned correctly, you could see them do the milking too however, the cows were happily out on the farm grazing. Around 150,000 visitors per year come here & now with their other farms have 1mil attend/ year. They also have 24 stores in 8 cities. They certainly know how to do this business correctly.

Ayla & I tasted almost every cheese on the wide range of samplers. Eventually, we both loved the Old Gold cheese & Date ‘chutney’, so I insisted on buying that for her to enjoy as a memory of our catchup. I had a strong feeling she was thrilled & I could see her opening it straight away when she gets home. The Date Chutney I found was her real weakness. LOL! She took a photo of us & then me, in the giant clog shoes. Everything was so spontaneous with Ayla when she sees things. How can you refuse Ayla?

The next stop Ayla planned was to see the dyke at Volendam just up the road, but confusion reigned. The road signage was weirdly partly blanked off but the gps said keep going, so we followed the bus in front of us. Things became hysterical, where we found ourselves travelling through the roadworks under construction. For those 10mins it was priceless, so much laughter & what tha?? Finally, we came to where we supposed to turn off but barricades prevented that. Ayla pulled over when she saw a worker at the barricade. Using her Dutch language & no doubt her great smile, I could make out the story & laughter & what can we do comment? The worker then looked around & said do a quick circle & he will move the barricade & we can go down that street. Obviously, he was doing us a big favour. With more laughter, we found a parking spot & went into the info store where they guided us up the street to the dyke & food places.

Volendam is a beautiful seaside spot with fishing boats & the like. Ayla ordered some traditional finger food of various types with sauces & a soft wine & me a lager beer. It was just enough food intake & we sat & talked for a bit. Ayla also had spotted a traditional pancake treat, so we decided to share that with fruit & cream & again, that was certainly enough. Very tasty, but of course sweet. Time was getting away & Ayla had mother duties & things to be done at home so we both agreed to find the nearest train station for me to head back. Traffic was starting to build & with our talking & a small screen gps we missed the required turn off, so we had to venture back (more laughter). We didn’t find Dieman Station but somehow stumbled on Weeps Station, so that was fine being on the same line.

For me, saying good-bye was very hard, for Ayla is a very close friend that has done life the hard way & continues to move forward juggling all that she encompasses. I truly wish her dreams to come true, for that is a wonderful future I do see for her. Hugging & waving lessened the pain & I’ll check later if she arrived home safely. Today I managed 16,840 steps = 13.1klms so another big day of walking. Ayla continues to contact me to see how my trip was going & sent me photos of the cheese & chutney demolition. Such a wonderful human .. so kind & thoughtful.

16/10/25 Day 15 I met up with another gorgeous lady, Renske who I also met at my cousin’s backpackers many years ago. After my hearty breakfast I hit the road back up to Amsterdam Centraal to meet up with my close friend, Renske who lives way out of the city for our scheduled 10am catchup. I have since learnt, the quickest way to Amsterdam Centraal was to follow the tram lines. Der!!! With this method I maintained my consistency in being early, plus standing outside the front doors in front of the huge signage stating to myself “She can’t miss me!”. I thought it was smart of me to send her the photo of my blue wind jacket I wore when Ayla took my photo (minus the big Dutch clogs). I did stand out in the crowd. After a while & without any warning Renske had come up from behind & had the greatest smile, hello & welcoming hug. She had exited the station at the side. . Renske had not changed a bit since we last saw each other back in Yamba with her husband. She is still gorgeous & fit & enjoying life, although slightly hectic work life. We were both thrilled to see each other. 2nd photo is the Theater Tuschinski Pathe, a very unique building. 3rd photo is the foyer area of Amsterdam Centraal.

Our first decision agreed upon was to walk a bit & find one of Renske’s favourite coffee shops, Zettle _ Coffee & Cake where we both eyed off the Carrot Cake (apparently, both our weaknesses). With Renske having her own Auditing Consultancy & Process company, she deferred her day to come & see me. So blessed she gave up her time & work commitments, just for this old bloke. She must get home too later & do some mum & house stuff as well as pack for her family trip away tomorrow, so time is valuable.

After 2 straight coffees, we still chatted like it was yesterday & then it was time for more walking. We headed off to the left of Amsterdam Centraal area & then it struck me, with all the walking I had done I hadn’t walked this section before. Renske had a laugh at that & the took control of the navigation & I was very happy she did so. Saw some great neighbourhoods, canals & museums & then down to the ‘Green Ship’ area. With time now pressing, I made sure Renske could leave at a good time if we went straight to Amsterdam Centraal. Where did the time go?

Again, saying good-bye was very hard but with the hope she will bring her whole family over to Australia & call into Yamba again, possibly next year. Fingers crossed. We had quite a few memorable hours together today, so it’s never about the quantity, but the quality.

Waving good-bye, now from a distance I retraced our steps back towards that neighbourhood, particularly to find the Rijksmuseum Art Museum (Rembrandt, Van Gogh & others) for Renske said it was amazing what is in there. Eventually, I found the huge museum & paid the €25 entrance fee. In the foyer, you can go to the museum shop, cafeteria & then head into the museum. It was here I found the layout map in English .. but I have to say I should have thrown it in the bin. Totally stupid set out. Very small room #s high on the wall & then no signage telling you what is ahead of you. Yes, saw some amazing things, like Rembrandts renowned paintings & others that came a close 2nd. Some paintings were the width of the entire wall & as high, like 20 or so m2.

I saw some great paintings, silverware, ancient woodwork, 1/24 scale Dutch ship with its 74 cannons fitted, coloured glass windows that define the true masters of this craft long ago. An artillery collection of swords, guns, etc that a 13yr old boy started collecting after the revolution.

I picked out the famous Van Gogh self-portrait to view .. but after quite a few hours, couldn’t find it in this art maze of a building. Hence, why I call it a pathetic layout of a museum So many floors & focussed on making it a maze of walls. In the end I called it quits, for I had to fit in a canal cruise yet & that was up near Amsterdam Centraal. Walking back, I saw Rembrandt Square where there is a large statue of him.

The best one, but not the cheapest canal cruise was Lovers Canal Cruises (no it is a perception with that name). It cost €17.50 for 1 hour. The cheapest I found, but not now in service was €14.50. The boat was full & I found the last seat available & of course I was sitting backwards which made the landmarks seen after the commentary & going into the next sight. Anyway, it was good to sit down for an hour at least. The worst was that I could not take one photo due to my sitting central on the aisle & backwards. After the cruise, I decided to head back to the hotel as it’s been a big day & was getting dark. Arrived at 7.30pm & noticed I had done 28,180 steps = 22.06klms of walking, Yikes!!! & still my blogs to do.

I’ll end my 9th Blog here & many thanks for reading them. My next blogs will be leaving Amsterdam for Paris. Please stay safe, happy & healthy.

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #8 – Amsterdam 13 & 14/10/25

If you read my last blog (#7), you would see the journey, I had in getting to my Eden Hotel in Amsterdam. With that said, I slept very well, my room was excellent for a king single bed unit with ensuite with the hottest water for a shower I’ve come across. 13/10/25 (Day 12) With my room cost the buffet breakfast was included & WOW! .. it is a full breakfast. For the insane City Tax incurred (€128) when checking in the hotel it should be a 5star to justify that expense.

Amsterdam is a city of about 1Mil people; it is full of bikes, trams & tram lines, cycleways, roads in every direction, canals you can’t get your head around for direction, etc. You quickly learn where & when to walk & use your 360° vision. For a bustling city you can get around quite easily & just about everything goes within reason. Not too much policing, but they are about everywhere. Certain road & tram etiquette is required but people walk like ants in a colony. Another thing that hit me was the frequent strong smell of weed. It is legal here on the streets & in pubs, etc.

My first task was to pack my day bag ready for a bicycle tour & to head to the required meeting place up near Amsterdam Centraal, about a 22min walk away. Today & by the looks of the week it is going to be a very cloudy day, with misty rain. I walked past Magna Plaza which is a high-end shopping centre under renovations so there’s very little inside. I eventually found the bike shop but of course I was 25mins early & they were shocked to see me well ahead of time. I explained my diligence in being early in everything I attend. I went up the street & found a great little café (Caffe Vergnano 1882) where I was able to unwind very quickly & even did a review on it while I was there.

Again, I was right on time for my bike, but we had some very late commers, so we had to start the introduction & safety criteria again. So frustrating & it’s starting to rain. Must remember to not follow parallel with the tram lines, for you will come undone very quickly & violently. Baylon was our guide, but he was over cautious & it was harder to ride much slower. He showed us several historical buildings and their facade effects of shutters, gantries, etc even after major restorations. A couple from Scotland were my adopted partners, for they seriously needed watching over. I opted to ride last so I could keep an eye on the couple plus allow Baylon to easily see my bright blue wind jacket. As time went on, the group surged ahead of us at one major road crossing on a bend leaving the wife & myself behind. I could read her mind where she was going to take a direct short cut to catch up to her husband & I sped up a bit to catch her right arm & yell stop!!! She didn’t hear the tram coming up from behind her & she was just about to ride in front of it. The tram missed her by 600mm max. Catching her emotions, she was extremely thankful I saved her from the thought of a tram run over. Now the group was just about out of sight with no visual of what had happened. With a bit of collective confidence, we crossed the tram lines & took up the street & made good time. She could not wait to tell her husband of that near-miss. Very lucky & still Baylon was none the wiser.

We stopped in the huge natural forest park Baylon calls Amsterdam’s NY Central Park (Vondelpark) due to the same landscape designer used here. The lady (wife) shouted me a coffee for sticking with her & before long we were back on our bikes. We did get to see Ann Frank’s house externally & to see inside it is booked out for months. Not far from Ann Frank’s house is Westerkerk, a protestant church (1620 – 1631) which is Rembrandt’s burial place. Amsterdam is basically built on an extensive pine tree forest of some 13million or so trees due to the area being swamp land. Amsterdam Centraal Station is built on about 9,000 trees & fill. A lot of older buildings are early 1904 – 1940s (war period) & some are leaning in on a corner, but no-one worries about this. There are lots of houses (3 storeys high) that have a gantry out from the attic with a pulley wheel for getting stock & furniture up from the street. Houses were even built intentionally leaning out from the 1st floor to help with the lifting process so they wouldn’t hit the frontage or glass windows. You can see this in my photos. Very unnerving for me.

Going to another nearby & smaller park we stopped to see the Turkey & US Embassies next door to each other & diagonally opposite is the Concert Hall in all its grandeur. After that we cycled back to the bike shop & within a few minutes everyone had gone, all without any commentary or safe travels, etc. Really weird. I did see the Scottish couple some 80m up the street & managed to get them to wave back. Oh well, Go Figure? Anyway, I hit the pavement again to see more of Amsterdam. The canal boats, Victoria Hotel & St Nicholas Basilica built in the same years as Amsterdam Centraal. I didn’t manage a visit inside .. seems to have the big doors closed all the time.

I had to do a Dutch pancake thing before I run out of days, so I found this great cozy pancake café (lots of them but not everyone is cute & welcoming) called Milky Pancakes & they were so accommodating & really enjoyed my time there. The banana & hazelnut topping on the pancake was yummo!!!! After that, I had to do some serious walking to wear down that pancake & walked into the large plaza with the Royal Palace & the central sculpture where they have a dedication ceremony on 4th May each year & then Liberty Day on the 5th, so it’s a huge giving thanks & then celebration time.

14/10/25 (Day 13) Along the canals there are many permanent canal homes (old boats & barges) that have strict city & maritime controls on them. They eventuated when housing was extremely rare straight after WW2 & most have remained in that way of living. After that canal I went down to another canal to see the now famous ‘Skinny Bridge’ which was used in a James Bond film a few years back. Walking over it you can see how it works to raise the wooden platform for the bigger boats. Very ingenious & many more types can be found.

In the photo of the little black house next to the canal was the home of Rembrandt when he was painting. It is now a little café & looks very good for its age even though it is tilting slightly. Moving on you can see the green ship like structure. That is the NEMO Science Museum. I walked up along its ramped roof to take better view pictures but a bit expensive to go into it. I did take a photo of the insane engineered water clock in the foyer that was designed & completed by a physicist. The architect of the ‘green ship’ never designed it as a ship structure but something about light & dark .. (too much weed, I think) but so many Amsterdam citizens call it the ‘Green Ship’. Looking back down the ramp, you can see the Naval Museum with an old bounty ship moored there. This building also stored all sorts of ammunition & arms there for the defending of Amsterdam & now is a museum.

I checked out a souvenir shop (so many to see) & in broad daylight at a small child’s eye level was the rude section & my photo only took the less dirty section, so it can be full on here. I don’t believe any prudes live in Amsterdam. Also, walking past certain shops, bars especially I often get a full lung of weed smoke. Cough. Also, people all around are smoking the stuff, so you can’t avoid it plus the smell. Explains why I was painless, sort of happier when I arrived back at the hotel each day. LOL!!!

My first full day here took in 10,915 steps = 8.52klms on 13/10 & 15,009 steps = 11.63klms on 14/10, so not bad. Tomorrow, 15/10/25 (Day 14) I take a short train trip to Naarden Burrum train station to meet up with a very close friend, Ayla who had to postpone from Tuesday (14/10) which was totally fine & understandable. So blessed she could still make it for this old man.

I’ll end my 8th Blog here & many thanks for reading them. My next blogs will be more of Amsterdam & catching up with 2 of my much-loved backpacker friends I met years ago at my new hometown of Yamba at my cousin’s then Yamba Backpackers as well. Please stay safe, happy & healthy.