Wandering Canuck

the middle branch of the Rhine, named the Neder Rijn here, full to the brim

the tower of the church in Rhenen. count the stories to get an idea of the height!

After leaving Amsterdam (Weesp), and touring along the Vecht, we arrived near Utrecht. The city has a major canal (the Amserdam-Rijn Kanaal) and the river Lek (really the middle branch of the Rhine) on the west and south sides, respectively. Access by small canal is possible, but my air draft makes that difficult, so we turned off to Nieuweigen instead, spending two nights there getting supplies, and doing more boat tasks. The weather (finally) is real summer, and that is nice. The boat opens up well to allow cross breezes, and that makes it possible to cool off quickly in any sort of breeze.

We then set off upstream on the Lek towards Arnhem. A very stiff current and high water made progress slower than anticipated, so we stopped at Rhenen in a riverside mooring. Many pleasure boats, and jet-skis (Sunday afternoon), and the occasional large barge made for lots of activity. Rhenen is on a hill (a VERY rare things so far in the Netherlands) and the massive church tower (under restoration) is a distinctive landmark. It has a (working) carillon (like many towns) and the bells rang out tunes each half hour. Made the evening even more memorable. Another great day.

I wish I had the skills for this

you are squeezing me!

to have a library like this…

boats here come in all styles!

A few more Amsterdam pictures…

We spent a second day in Amsterdam, particularly to see the Rijksmuseum, and to do a canal trip.

The canal trip was good: we good a great commentator, and were in a very low air-draft boat, so went through canals my boat would never make it through. The traffic elsewhere reinforced my decision to leave my boat outside the city, and travel in by train.

How many bridges can you see?

not a lot of alternatives but boat to visit these places!

The Rijksmuseum was a festival of visual art, which is something I don’t appreciate as much as I wish I did. I did enjoy especially the model ships of all ages, and the glorious age of sail from a Dutch perspective.

We also wandered about again, and found a few special buildings. There are many I have observed, whose foundations have failed in various ways, leaving sagging floors or leaning buildings.

‘character’ buildings

Today, we moved on along the Vecht River, and are moored for the night in a small village Loenen. As we left Weesp, we had to pay a toll for the bridges, and this is done into a wooden shoe on a pole. Pat’s responsibilities aboard include this task!

paying bruggeld in the traditional way

a Dutch thatched cottage

After spending the night in Uithoorn in a very expensive municipal mooring, and with brisk winds, we moved quite a way along the Amstel River towards Amsterdam, then turned off onto the Weesper Trekvaart, crossing the Amsterdam-Rijn Kanal, to arrive, with VERY blustery winds, in Weesp for a great mooring, mostly protected from the winds, and certainly peaceful. A series of thundershowers rocked us to sleep.

commuter parking lot in Weesp

This morning was wonderful, with clear skies, sunshine and very gentle breezes: just perfect for a day of exploring so we set of to Amsterdam by train (I am intimidated to take the boat there, with traffic, no guaranteed mooring and if I phone to reserve- very expensive!)

Amsterdam was full of tour groups, and yet no obnoxiously so. We wandered about over the older center part of the city, with its rings of canals, many of which have low clearance and would have made navigation very difficult.

making history

We saw lots of buildings with fascinating varieties of roof-lines, and the signature Dutch gable ends. The ship museum was closed, and as we wandered around, it was obvious that things were happening. The building closed for a political meeting of the European Council, and there was a large police presence. There was also a demonstration by farmers, with the cows on a barge, and lots of honking tractors parading around.

A highlight of the day was as we were getting ready for our supper, this busker was heard with the mellow tones of his playing wafting up from the canal. We wandered over to find him playing the barrel organ with the large wheel controlling the speed of the organ, using his other hand to play either a post horn or a fluegel horn, using his elbow to steer the boat, and his eyes to make contact with the crowd. It was magic. He played for about 10 minutes, then, using a wooden shoe suspended from a long fishing pole, collected donations from the crowd. A very entertaining end to our day in Amsterdam.

the narrowest house in Amsterdam- as wide as a narrowboat!