Trips -N - Ships

With the bitter winter that the Netherlands is experiencing, I’m not sure just how many maritime museums and ships I will see, but  I do have plans to see a few. The easiest and first one on my list is to get aboard the Amsterdam, a museum ship replica of an East Indiaman that is docked close to the city’s Centraal Station. What sucks is that the National Maritime Museum, one of the best in the world, will be closed for renovation until at least 2010. Anyone got any contacts to get me a sneak peak tour?

Close to Amsterdam in the new province of Flevoland is the Batavia Werf, a shipbuilding musuem that has already built the replica VOC ship Batavia. They are about halfway through the construction of the De 7 Provinciën, a 17th century ship-of-the-line and I’m really looking forward to checking out shipbuilding on this scale.

For my daytrip to Rotterdam that I have planned there is another ship being built in the section known as Delfthaven - where some of the Pilgrims departed on their way to the New World. There the 18th century ship-of-the-line De Delft, is currently being built year-round by a group of about 200 volunteers. Besides getting to take a look at traditional shipbuilding, I will also hopefully get some great view of Rotterdam’s busy harbor - The biggest in Europe and I believe second only to Shanghai.

These are the biggest projects I’m going to visit, but hopefully I’ll have time and money to see more Dutch maritime heritage while I’m there…

With the shipbuilding museum getting into winter mode, I find myself with a lot of free time that I am trying to fill up with writing. Problem is I don’t exactly want to spend all this time focusing on my book idea - it is very tedious and so I try to get as much done as possible during those times of “inspiration”. As many of you probably know - writing isn’t something you can fake, you have to be in the zone. You can judge from this rambling post, that I’m not in the zone this morning.

Besides, the trip to Amsterdam is getting closer and I am still doing research on where to go, eat, visit etc.. I’m pretty much exhausted information on the city and I am going a bit overboard, it’s not like I haven’t been there before. However now that I’m in my 30’s I feel like I am old enough to do many of the things I was too young/poor/immature to do on my previous visits.

I recall walking past a warm cozy Dutch restaurant on a cold day in February of 1996 and thinking it looks so nice and comfy in there (gezellig) but I was with a group of teenagers and as a group we would rather spend what little money we had in coffeeshops or bars. That is exactly what we did. The other day I was thinking that “huh, I’m an adult now - I can finally try out these sit-down restaurants where people other than stoned tourists eat.

With plane tickets and apartment all set to go, there is not much more to get ready except to upgrade our winter gear. I was heartbroken when my trusty daypack of over 10 years had succumed to mold. And so a replacement is on the list of needed gear besides a new waterproof winter jacket, winter boots, and some long underwear.

Amsterdam is not any colder than Gloucester during winter, but that cold wind goes right through you. Besides with with an 8am sunrise and a 5:30 sunset, there is not much the sun can do to warm up this city of stone and water.

One of my favorite memories of my first trip to Holland was the early morning walks downtown. Amazing how quiet the city is at around 7 am in February.

Besides the gear the rest of the planning involves just how many daytrips we want to take and how many restaurants I want to splurge in. I’ve pretty much decided that the IAmsterdam card is not worth the money after reading the posts in the many Amsterdam forums out there. Although if this was my first time in the city and I only had a few days (in warmer weather) then I can see it being pretty convenient. But you have to keep yourself busy in order for the card to be a real money saver.

Well, November is here and so it’s time for things to get into winter mode. The Essex Shipbuilding Museum will now be open on weekends for the public - but groups can still be scheduled during the week. We’ve even been toying with the idea of closing down during the coldest months to 1) save money and 2) allow us to do some organizing and re-arranging. Besides, January is not the best time to be walking around a boatyard. In the meantime we are still getting some glorious fall days down on the Essex marsh and the foliage, although past peak, is still aglow in crisp autumn color.

For me, Fall begins with the first dish of risotto - a Northern Italian classic that I fell in love with during a dinner in Venice on cold October evening. Danielle and I still vividly remember just how intense the mushroom flavor of the rice was. And so each fall I do my best to replicate that risotto al funghi to varying degrees of success. This week I think I made my all-time best with some excellent dried porcini and fresh crimini and shitake. The whole house smelled of mushrooms that night.

Of course, with each winter night that goes by, our big trip to Holland gets closer. With that comes the realization that I need to buy a whole new winter wardrobe if I plan to walk the frozen canals in comfort…

Earlier this month the Essex Shipbuilding Museum held its 2nd annual Steam Muster. I was not with the museum for the first one, so I was pretty excited to be involved with this one. Not knowing much about steam power, I learned a lot talking with the vendors - the “steam heads” and how pervasive this technology was. The wooden boat fans out there may be wondering what Essex has to do with steam power, considering the town is known mostly for sailing vessels. Well Essex produced quite a few steam powered vessels, including a couple paddle-wheelers, passenger ferries, beam trawlers and of course - the Vidette, a collier of 191 feet - an Essex record.

The vendors had all sorts of displays - from steam engine toy kits, to large engines once used in lighthouses, we even had a couple of steam launches that took visitors for quick jaunts along the Essex River.

However I have to say the most popular exhibit for young and old alike had to be the old coal truck. Dating from about 1910 this coal truck was once used in Gloucester to deliver coal to power steam engines. It is entirely original, including the two-cycle gasoline engine and solid rubber tires. Although not steam powered, it is from the age of steam and in many ways was a harbinger of the technology to come.

The Steam Muster was so popular that I expect each year to get bigger and better with even more vendors. I am hoping that next year we will have two attractions that did not make it to this year’s: The Stanley Steamer and an antique steam roller. For those interested in participating as a vendor in next year’s Steam Muster should contact Mr. Ed Howard of Howard’s Flying Dragon Antiques in Essex, MA (978) 768-7282.

At the end of January, my wife and I are heading to Amsterdam for two weeks. Now I’m sure some of you are saying “what are you nuts?” I know Holland isn’t exactly a winter time destination but there are two reasons why we are going. One is that off-season travel is cheaper, you meet more locals, and it is much easier to find a room. The other reason is that my wife is going to fulfill her 12 year old dream and meet the New Kids On The Block - rest assured I will be doing something else during that.

Those who know me will find Amsterdam as not a big surprise - this will be my 5th time visiting. But it’s not all about the Coffeeshops - although I’d be lying if that wasn’t part of the equation. I’ve always had a thing for the Netherlands - windmills, canals, rich maritime history and a little thing they call “Gezellig”. As a 12 year old I was interviewed by Radio Netherlands so I already liked the place before I ever heard the word “Coffeeshop”. Up until recently Danielle and I thought about moving there someday. However Dutch society is changing to a more hard-line stance on many issues and so we may just have to be content with visiting once in a while.

With the worldwide economy crashing around us, we figured this may be the last visit to A-Dam for some time. And we couldn’t have picked a better time, since my all-time favorite Coffeeshop, Homegrown Fantasy will be closing this March. So in a way this trip is a final pilgrimage to the place that introduced me to Dutch cannabis.

The last time I was in Amsterdam in winter it looked like this:

The canals were frozen and kids were playing hockey and the town was full of locals instead of stoner tourists or soccer hooligans. And now that I’m in my thirties I do want to experience more of the city and surrounding area. I plan on finally trying an Indonesian Rijsttafel, exploring a few more Brown Bars, and seeing the Van Gogh museum. Sadly the impressive Maritime museum is closed for renovations. But I do plan on visiting their replica ship called Amsterdam.

In my future posts I will keep you all updated on our planning progress. We’ve already got our air and we are renting an apartment in the Jordaan. Now it’s time to gather lists of things to do, plan daytrips and find some new Coffeeshops and restaurants.