Lewis and I joined the travelers adventuring in Amsterdam.
Our jet became airborne from Queens County...
...and we soared over the Atlantic Ocean and landed below sea level in the Netherlands. This is the national coat of arms, which is the coat of arms of the monarchy...
For Pride Week, the airport created hospitable commercials.
Schiphol offers a lot: mini museum, meditation center, chaplaincy, lounge with massage chairs,
food markets, organic eateries,
temporary luggage storage, baby-care, hair stylist, showers, 24-hour medical clinic, free Wi-Fi everywhere (the Dutch invented Wi-Fi), public-use computer centers in every Lounge...
... and a “seal and go” center for any carry-on items at the Departures Terminals. Here’s a smattering of the eateries: oven-fresh bread with gluten-free items, freshly-caught seafood, French cuisine at Café Coco, artisanal pasta, tapas, Asian fare, Fair Taste for fair-trade products, Harvest Market for fresh/seasonal offerings, cold-press juices, sushi, oven-cooked pizza, the obligatory fast food chains, homemade Indonesian noodles, and an Automat of vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free dishes. All of this is efficiently done in an airport that is 4 meters below sea level! It's built on a polder of reclaimed land from the sea.
It is also a very safe airport. Koninklijke Marechaussee—the Royal Netherlands Military Police—patrol the airport and its Customs Checkpoints.
Tasked with a praetorian guardianship of palaces, the Marechaussee also act as the gendarmerie for all branches of the military. In addition, the royal gendarmes are responsible for the defense of the realm by guarding national borders.
In some ways, they are like Royal Life Guards.
(I love the spiffy blue berets that each gendarme wears!)
Lewis and I got our City Cards. They are sold by a non-profit organization called "I amsterdam" (which is a cute way of saying "I am Amsterdam"). It collaborates with 1,050 partners throughout the metropolitan area. In 2020, the cards will include 24 hours of free bike rentals. Their website and blog give a plethora of visiting and living tips!
The Netherlands uses the Euro as its currency, yet most of our transactions were paperless.
The airport's I amsterdam store was easy to use, with two attendants and a greeter. They efficiently/politely issued our City Cards within minutes of our arrival.
Communication throughout the Amsterdam region is easy. The Dutch speak fluent English. As pre-teen students, they learn English, French, and German. In 2019, the EF English Proficiency Index gave the Netherlands the highest score out of 100 countries! Nonetheless, Lewis and I believe that it's respectful to speak some of the Netherlandish (Dutch) language. You can open boundaries and immerse yourself better. "Please" and "Thank You" is Alstublieft and Dank Je.
Similar to Copenhagen Cards, the City Cards come in time-allowances from 24 to 120 hours, giving unlimited rides on public transportation and a free admittance to 70+ of the region's museums/attractions. (Amsterdam has the highest concentration of museums per-square-meter in the world, so it is a great deal). The cards activate upon usage, so if you buy a 120-hour card and use it at 1pm, it expires at 1pm, 5 days later. That is much better than NYC's MTA cards, where if you use it at 10pm, it still counts that as an entire day! Before leaving home, Lewis and I went online and bought our 120-hour cards: €115 each. Clearly a bargain! We also bought two 48-hour cards: €80 each. Without City Cards, unlimited 7-day chipcards for the city's trams, buses, ferries, and Metro cost €37. (In NYC, ferries are not included in Metro Cards for subways and buses. Greedily, they cost an entire additional fare).
*Here’s a fascinating comparison of infrastructure:
The distance between Schiphol and Amsterdam’s Centraal Station is 15.5 miles. It takes 30-minutes by car ($39 flat-rate), and only 14-minutes by Sprinter train ($5).
The distance between JFK and midtown Manhattan is also 15 miles. Yet, it takes 55-minutes by car—not including never-ending roadwork—($50 flat-rate), and there are no trains from the airports to the city. To go by train takes over 1.5 HOURS, involving the AirTrain shuttle ($5) to the filthy Long Island Railroad ($20)—which only comes every 30-minutes (so add that to the calculation). The closest subway to JFK Airport is 3 miles away! The closest subway to La Guardia Airport is 4 miles away, and a car ($13) or bus would be needed to take you to it. Since the MTA subway ($2.75) is often-delayed (and diverted/closed on weekends), riding it into Manhattan has the probability of an extra 20-minutes for delays = nearly 2 hours.
As is typical in America, visitors and citizens pay all that extra for so much inconvenience and crappy infrastructure.
Thanks to Tap-and-Go kiosks, boarding trains is effortless. You can use your mobile device or a chip-card.
Trains to Amsterdam depart the airport every 6 minutes, which is great.
The train is bike-friendly to accommodate cyclists through specially-marked doors to bike-holding compartments.
If you arrive at the platform and the train doors are closed—to keep noise/dust out—you merely tap the button (seen below) for them to open. Notice how spotless the train is! Consider that those trains are the busiest—carrying people from the airport nonstop—and yet they are clean.
*To compare Amsterdam's trains to the hideous commuter trains in NYC, please click this link:
*Here’s a fascinating comparison of infrastructure:
The distance between Schiphol and Amsterdam’s Centraal Station is 15.5 miles. It takes 30-minutes by car ($39 flat-rate), and only 14-minutes by Sprinter train ($5).
The distance between JFK and midtown Manhattan is also 15 miles. Yet, it takes 55-minutes by car—not including never-ending roadwork—($50 flat-rate), and there are no trains from the airports to the city. To go by train takes over 1.5 HOURS, involving the AirTrain shuttle ($5) to the filthy Long Island Railroad ($20)—which only comes every 30-minutes (so add that to the calculation). The closest subway to JFK Airport is 3 miles away! The closest subway to La Guardia Airport is 4 miles away, and a car ($13) or bus would be needed to take you to it. Since the MTA subway ($2.75) is often-delayed (and diverted/closed on weekends), riding it into Manhattan has the probability of an extra 20-minutes for delays = nearly 2 hours.
As is typical in America, visitors and citizens pay all that extra for so much inconvenience and crappy infrastructure.
Thanks to Tap-and-Go kiosks, boarding trains is effortless. You can use your mobile device or a chip-card.
Trains to Amsterdam depart the airport every 6 minutes, which is great.
The train is bike-friendly to accommodate cyclists through specially-marked doors to bike-holding compartments.
If you arrive at the platform and the train doors are closed—to keep noise/dust out—you merely tap the button (seen below) for them to open. Notice how spotless the train is! Consider that those trains are the busiest—carrying people from the airport nonstop—and yet they are clean.
We respected how passengers kept their feet off the (clean) seats because that's often a rude problem with slovenly Americans.
Just like Japan and England, trains have First Class sections ($6 more), yet the regular seats were perfect... with covered trash bins under the windowsill tables. That is very helpful.
Railroads began in 1839, going from Amsterdam to Haarlem. They were immediately endorsed by King Willem I, who understood his realm’s commercial potency. Known as the Merchant Monarch, he issued a royal decree to create The Netherlands Trading Society, an international financing network. (In 1825, it opened a branch in Shanghai, followed by Singapore in 1858, and Hong Kong in 1906. In 1926, it became the central bank for Saudi Arabia, overseeing its first oil transactions).
Lewis and I were astounded to learn that all electric trains are powered by wind energy! That's amazing. In 2007, the nation was one of the first to build offshore wind turbine farms.
Our train crossed a railway drawbridge...
and quickly-and-quietly arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station.
It is the hub for the city's Metro, trams, buses, ferries, Sprinter trains, InterCity trains, and high-speed international trains. It is an immaculate way to enter the metropolis.
The kingdom got its first electrified railway in 1908, and all routes quickly adapted via smoke abatement to avoid noxious coal/diesel fuel. (Compare that to how NYC's tightfisted railroads resisted until the 1923 Kaufman Act and 1924 Death Avenue Bill, but then they still sued to prove that the laws were unconstitutional against their profits).
As you can see on the old map, visitors historically entered the port-city from that area of the water. Putting the train station on the waterfront continued that tradition.
Due to its history and hydraulic ingenuity, the whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (That is similar to what we saw in Paris: the properties along the Seine River are another UNSECO Site). It is part of the Centrum District, one of seven districts (boroughs) that contain the city's 26 neighborhoods.
The 1882 Gothic/Renaissance Revival station was designed by Pierre Cuypers, a Dutch graduate of Belgium's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. (It was after the Kingdom of Belgium won independence from the Netherlands in 1830). Behind the station's richly-decorated façade, glass enclosures cover 15 tracks. Exiting at street-level puts you on Prins Hendrikkade, which means Prince Hendrik Street. It was named in honor of King Willem II's son: the mercantile-enthused prince, nicknamed Henry the Navigator.
Outdoor escalators efficiently take you to the underground Metro. It's wonderful to see conveniences like that.
Opposite from the clocktower is a wind vane.
The waterside station has excellent views of the IJ, where the manmade North Sea Canal joins the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. The city's northern district is reached by ferries, Metro, and a vehicular tunnel. Seen below, the IJ Tunnel is an engineering masterpiece, going under the NEMO Science Museum.
Ingeniously, the tunnel entrance creates stylish views that can be appreciated from all angles!
None of the 6 tunnels in NYC allow lovely vistas like that.
In the station, signage is easy to notice, as are the red caps worn by train staff, who are very helpful.
The city supports a plethora of canal boats and river cruises. Examples are seen below. City Cards include a free 75-minute River Tour boat ride! They normally cost €33.50. They're much better than in New York or Chicago.
You can also buy tickets for dinner cruises.
You can also reserve smaller boats for all types of occasions.
That is on our "To Do" list!
Inside the train station, Lewis and I were mesmerized by its beautiful ceilings, smart arrangement, and stylishness.
Orderliness and cleanliness abound.
Even in the bustling train station, eateries have candle votives and fresh flowers. We value such thoughtfulness.
Look at how clean the stairs are! Not even a scrap of gum!
We admired the fanciful Ticket Counter, in proximity to the Currency Exchange that we used.
Like the carpet says, a piano is provided for people to "share their talents".
It connects to a drive-through pavilion on the street, for the monarch’s carriage/car, whenever the Royals travel by rail.
Look at how clean the stairs are! Not even a scrap of gum!
We admired the fanciful Ticket Counter, in proximity to the Currency Exchange that we used.
Like the carpet says, a piano is provided for people to "share their talents".
It connects to a drive-through pavilion on the street, for the monarch’s carriage/car, whenever the Royals travel by rail.
For everyone else, the Main Hall is quite impressive, too.
In addition to 17 eateries, the station has a candlelit grand restaurant...
coffeeshop...
authentic Japanese restaurant with tatami seating...
and an affordable/convenient "grab & go" Automat—something that is extinct in other countries.
It has an excellent/affordable supermarket: Albert Heijn.
It also contains a police station (politiebureau).
Some commuters leave their bicycles at the station and then get aboard trains, while others commute to the station and then ride their bikes to their jobs in Amsterdam.
Why? I'll tell you. In the 1960s, Netherlanders realized that automobiles were choking their cities, as seen below.
Initially, they were bamboozled by American industries and an American planner named David Jokinen. In the 1960s, he proposed wrecking things to look like typical American cities: filling the canals to make 6-lane highways, demolishing historic neighborhoods to make parking lots, erecting skyscrapers, and building elevated monorails (like Disneyland). Public protests in the 1970s stopped those ideas... and the government listened—which was the most significant part. Clearly, the Dutch were smarter, and their cities outclass North America's. They made policies that emphasized a bicycle culture and "green" state-of-the-art mass transit. The results were quick and beautiful. Compared to the image above, here is that same scene, now.
This year, Amsterdam won the best rating—out of 114 cities—for Commuting & Commuter Wellbeing from the international financier, Moneybarn: low commuter stress, short wait-times in traffic, low pollution, low costs for public transportation, and plentiful cycle paths. Commuting cyclists also get a tax credit of €0.19 per kilometer.
Trams, buses, and taxis gather at the station's outdoor plaza. Figure-eight routes keep traffic moving seamlessly.
We took the Metro: excellent and sophisticated. The sleek station is artistic and well-lit. It wasn't steaming-hot like NYC's. It was actually relaxing.
Overpaid NYC claims that it can't keep water, trash, or rats off of its subway tracks, as seen here...
yet Amsterdam is already 13-feet below sea-level—making their Metro even deeper—and supports 90 million riders per year, yet it keeps its tracks dry, trash-free, and tidy! (Applause)!
yet Amsterdam is already 13-feet below sea-level—making their Metro even deeper—and supports 90 million riders per year, yet it keeps its tracks dry, trash-free, and tidy! (Applause)!
Watch this video to compare that to the "reoccurring flooding" in the subways of NYC: America's wealthiest and most-expensive-to-live-in city...
Amsterdam recently dug tunnels for a whole new line! Route #52 runs north/south. How did a city that is below sea level build an entire new subway route faster than wealth-guzzling Manhattan dug a small tunnel between two stations on the Upper East Side—which took 50 years? Also better than NYC, nearly all stations have elevators and are handicap accessible.
The signs are in Dutch and English. Notice all of the digital screens in the wall—along the platform—to easily display the arrival times of upcoming trains. It demonstrates wonderful planning and respect for passengers.
Compare that helpful technology to the lack of it in NYC. There, overpaying passengers are only given one sign, and they must trek to the middle of the station to read it. Stupid and uncaring.
See this video for how to "Tap-and-Go" into the Metro stations. Instead of turnstiles, they use electric gates. You also "Tap-and-Go" when you get off. (The video was made later at Vijzelgracht Station).
Train doors have buttons that can be pressed to open them from inside and outside. This quick videos show you how.
Trains arrive "on time" and frequently, so they are less crowded (unlike NYC's often-late-thus-crammed subway, as seen below).
It was such a relief to experience a QUIET ride. The NYC subway trains are disgustingly loud to be in. Turn the sound on for this quick video of a typical ride.
An automated voice uses Dutch and then English to remind you to be mindful of the gap. The manually-operated Metro for our route moved so smoothly that I would've sworn it was entirely automated.
Lewis observed that the display screens changed at each station, describing any possible transfers... and also giving an image of the area.
"Wall art" reminded riders that the station was built in the 1960s at the cost of demolishing historic buildings—which caused a riotous protest.
In January, Amsterdam will receive 40 new all-electric buses; Schiphol Airport already maintains a fleet of 35. By 2025, the city wants its entire fleet to be electric/emission-free, and its transit authority, the GVB (Gemeente Vervoerbedrijf) will cover its buildings and transit stations with solar panels. The GVB operates the city's Metro, tram, bus, and ferry services.
225 electric versions of London's black cabs are in Amsterdam: the London company's first international sale! They are the best taxicabs in the world. Those efficiently-roomy taxis hold six passengers, have electric charging stations for passengers, and offer a ramp and sunroof. Wow.
However, we opted for the best option! Crossing the bicycle lane, we stood on a platform for the next tram, which took us to our hotel. Unlike many cities, Amsterdam smartly kept its tram system—since 1875—and expanded it. The city's first route linked our hotel's neighborhood (Plantage) with Leidseplein. The route is still used.
With digital timetables at all platforms, trams arrive several minutes apart. Sometimes, you can see them coming in succession. They are all clean, which would be a miracle for a city in America.
National Geographic named Amsterdam’s tram system as one of world’s best and most beautiful!
Trams also use "Tap-and-Go". Nearly all public transportation is cashless. Some doors are for entering, and others are for exiting; it keeps things flowing smoothly.
To exit, press the green button, which releases the green gates, and then you tap-and-go before you step off.
Trams have drivers, as well as Customer Service Desk agents. The desk agents sell tickets, answer questions, give directions, and give advice. Such service is immeasurably useful!
Equally helpful were the numerous screens, showing each upcoming station (halte) and possible transfers.
Seats have small tables, built into the walls. So thoughtful.
200 trams serve 16 routes and carry 114 million riders per year. Most were built in 2002, but 58 are from 1990. As a truly first-world city, Amsterdam will replace those 58 in December with state-of-the-art trams... and add five to keep up with growing needs. They are safe (with anti-collision systems), reliable, low-maintenance, energy-efficient, and comfortable. In NYC, main-line passengers still ride on dirty trains from the 1970s.
It makes New Yorkers wonder what they pay fares/taxes for?
Unimpeded, we always got to places swiftly on trams. Buses and trams have built-in sensors that alert traffic lights to give them priority over cars. Tram tracks seamlessly cut through traffic roundabouts.
Lewis and I think that roundabouts are cleverly wonderful.
Near our hotel, it was fun to watch our tram pause at the Hortusbrug Drawbridge (bridge #239). Everyone patiently waited: passengers, pedestrians, bikers, and drivers. Drawbridges exist throughout the city.
We stayed at The Lancaster Hotel, in the Plantage (Plantation of gardens) neighborhood.
Plantage occupies its own island that includes Wertheim Park (the oldest in the city), the Artis Royal Zoo, and the Hortus Botanical Gardens (one of the oldest in the world: 1682), which has 4,000 plant species and a tasty Orangery Cafe. The zoo and garden were free with our City Cards.
Next year, the kingdom celebrates 75 years of freedom, since its Nazi invasion/occupation during World War II.
In 1945, Canadian troops drove their tanks through Plantage, after liberating the Netherlands from Nazi overlords.
In fact, marvelous acts of wartime humanity occurred near our hotel—across from the tram stop that we used daily. Walter Süskind worked at a theatre called Hollandsche Schouwburg, seen below.
It was where Jews needed to report before deportation, while their children were corralled into a nearby Daycare Center. To save children’s lives, whenever he could, Süskind removed their names from the records. Henriëtte Pimentel, who operated the Daycare, arranged for non-Jewish families to take care of them. To hide them, she snuck them out the back door and pushed them over a hedge into a Teacher’s College. The college’s director, Johan van Hulst, protected them until designated times. Hidden in laundry bags, they were smuggled away by tram and train. Süskind and Pimentel were discovered, arrested, and died at Nazi hands. Van Hulst was not suspected and got the last of his “saved children” to safety! 600 children were rescued!!! Later, he began a long parliamentary career in the Senate. It is such an amazing tale of bravery and unity!
Seen above, the National Holocaust Museum is diagonally across the street from there.
Seen above, the National Holocaust Museum is diagonally across the street from there.
Amsterdam's pavement is dotted with 655 stolpersteine (stumbling stones to "stumble upon" while strolling). They are square brass plaques in the pavement that memorialize victims of Nazi oppression. In 1992, they were first installed in Cologne, Germany, and the notion spread across Europe.
*To see when we encountered more of them during our trip to Germany, please use this link:
*To see real photographs from WWII that show people's strength, please use this link: https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2019/02/captivating-world-war-two-photographs.html
Plantage is a gorgeous tree-lined neighborhood: quaint, historic, colorful, active with people, quiet at night, and within walking-distance to everything. We loved it.
Keeping things peaceful, across the street is the Royal Zoo's Library, and next to the hotel is a park. The hotel loans yoga mats to use in your room or the park.
Our 4-star hotel has a restaurant named The Birdhouse. It produces its own rooftop honey for cocktails and teatimes.
Every last Sunday of the month features live jazz.
They serve Bird beer from an organic Amsterdam brewery, 7 kilometers away. Every purchase of a liter prompts Bird to plant a tree! That makes them unique amongst the dozens of brewers in the city.
Some of the city's older buildings have curvy steep staircases. Here are examples...
We got accustomed to the ones in our hotel (seen below), yet the hotel has an elevator, if you prefer.
We got accustomed to the ones in our hotel (seen below), yet the hotel has an elevator, if you prefer.
Holland is not the name of the Netherlands. The popular provinces of North Holland and South Holland are part of the Netherlands. If you have any complaints, you can contact the King’s Commissioner for the province. Commissioners are not elected by the residents of their provinces; they are appointed by the Crown for a renewable term of 6 years.
Turn the sound on for this video of the belfry at Oude Kerk (Old Church). Begun in 1213 in the Oudezijde (Old Silk) area, it is the city's oldest building. To mark the passage of time, it has a carillon of 47 bells, made by François Hemony in 1658. They provide concerts every Tuesday and Saturday at 4PM.
Being a musical city, Amsterdam has 10 carillons!
Onwards to our first day of exploration!
Onwards to our first day of exploration!
I love that the airport has a library and that the trains have a button to push if you’d like to enter. Definitely keeps the AC in and saves them electricity. I also couldn’t believe how clean the tracks were!
ReplyDeleteThe neighborhood streets look beautiful!