Tuesday – Craft Display and Amsterdam

This morning, an art and crafts display was held in the Reception area; this was an opportunity for the craft tutors to make ourselves known to the passengers and plant the idea in their heads that one thing they might want to do during their long cruise is to engage in some creative pursuits.

I’m pleased to report that the feedback was very encouraging. I finished up with three sheets of paper full of names and cabin numbers, signifying a need to run three art classes, which will run every sea day, starting tomorrow; 1pm, 2:30pm and 4pm. It doesn’t give me a great deal of time between classes, to clear up and prepare for the next group, but it’s going to have to do (and can always be adjusted slightly if I find I absolutely have to). Our display ended at midday, just as we were arriving at the Port of Amsterdam.

It was cold out… perishing in fact! I had an early lunch, finished sorting out a list of my workshops for the enertainments office, introduced myself to the new IT officer, and organised some wi-fi (very important), and then went ashore for a potter around.

Amsterdam is a full of cyclists. Cycle lanes are as important as pavements and roads, and cyclists get very jittery if pedestrians should stray onto them. Straying onto a road could very easily get you killed; straying onto a cycle lane will upset the cyclists and result in death by bicycle-bell and Dutch expletives. If there are, in contrast, however, local bylaws preventing cyclists from straying onto pavements, than all I can say is that they don’t seem to have much notice taken of them. Walking into Amsterdam can be perilous, and you need eyes in the back of your head and in your ears, because cyclists can suddenly come hurtling towards you from any direction, at any time, it seems… even if you’re on the pavement and minding your own business.

I decided to go looking for the Anne Frank House, which is now a museum, and easily within walking distance of the port. Unfortunately, when I got there, a sign at the end of the long queue that stretched around the block, told me that I would be waiting for approximately 45 minutes to get in. In those perishing cold temperatures?….. No way!!! So I ended up meandering; dodging the cyclists and taking a few photos and shooting some video. Amsterdam is a city of cool Dutch dudes with giant reefers, pedestrian crossings that click, old canals, wonky buildings and red curtains, yet even the free wi-fi in the terminal couldn’t hold my attention for long as the cold was giving me a headache. It was a relief to get back on board ship and sit down with a hot cup of tea.

It’s only been a short visit to Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands. One of the main reasons we visit there (which may seem a little odd since the Amazon is in the opposite direction), is to pick up a contigency of Dutch passengers. This evening, the show was comedian, Gerry Graham (from Derby), who was as good as the last time we saw him, last year. The Marco Polo Show Lounge was quite cool though; I heard one lady, sat on one of the bar stools at the back, ask the barman why it was so cold, and couldn’t the heating be turned up a notch? His reply was that the ship is being cooled down ready for the warm destinations we’re heading towards (yeah…. but we’re still in freezing AMSTERDAM!!!).

The clocks go back again tonight, as we head West; back towards the UK, and onward on our journey. There are three sea-days ahead of us (so that’s nine classes, then), before our next port-of call on Saturday; Lisbon.