I resolved to get up early, have breakfast - fresh fruit, yoghurt, Coco Pops, green tea with lemon and and a small croissant - and then attempt to walk to the conference hotel without the aid of a map. The event registration was at 1330hrs so I had the time to get some exercise. I walked through the Rembrandt park until I emerged on the streets and then followed a canal, which in turn seemed to follow the flight path of aircraft into Schipol Airport. Every minute or so a plane would fly over, undercarriage down, approaching the runway.
 |
| The walk started at Rembrandt Park |
I passed a number of nice looking houseboats and began to wish that I was living in one, enjoying a much more chilled out existence than I'm living in the UK at the moment where there's a knife crime epidemic, rising homelessness and inequality and, of course, Brexit. Good old Tories.
The houseboats gave way to modern, often ugly, office buildings, which continued all the way to the Novotel where I will be spending all day Wednesday and Thursday before flying back to the UK.
Having reached the Novotel and checked things out for the conference, I decided to head towards the 'centrum'. It would add another hour or so of walking to what had already been a punishing walk. Not that I was feeling it. When I reached the American Hotel - somebody once told me it was Gestapo headquarters during the Second World War, but I don't know for sure - I went straight to the restaurant, ordered a Heineken 00 and a club sandwich and relaxed. The food was of a reasonable standard, although somehow I was expecting it to be slightly better than it was. I don't know about you, but I can't stand it when I order sandwiches and they arrive with a pile of crisps (or potato chips as they call them in the USA). Not that my disgust for crisps stopped me eating every single one of them. I polished them off with aplomb and even considered dessert, but eventually decided to head back to my hotel, this time in a train. I walked all the way - or almost all the way - to Amsterdam's Centraal Station where I intended to pick up a train to Postjesweg.
 |
| Cycle lane early on the walk... |
I followed signs to the station, but found a metro stop and bought myself a two-day ticket. The nearest station to the Novotel is the Rai stop. There's a big exhibition centre in Amsterdam called the Rai Centre. It's been there for years and I've never, ever, been inside it. I hope I never have to. Prior to reaching the Metro station I found an American bookshop and spent an inordinate amount of time picking up books by Chomsky, Joyce, Mailer, you name it, but didn't buy anything. Ideally, I wanted something on 'psycho geography', but there was nothing. The first train took me as far as Zuid where I changed to the M50, or M51, it didn't matter, to Postjesweg. There was a short wait. The train was packed, but I managed to get a seat and spent the time looking out of the window to see if I could spot some of the landmarks of my outward trip. It was a bit like fast rewind on a tape recorder.
When I got off the train I needed to ask directions for the hotel. I don't like asking for directions, who does? But I eventually did ask and soon I found myself back in Rembrandt Park as daylight faded, for what amounted to a short walk. I was tired, but I had work to do before moseying on up to the 17th floor for dinner. There were no tables, but only space around the bar, which I accepted and struck up a conversation with a retired Finnish gentleman who used to be a civil engineer. He was on holiday with his wife who must have gone to bed. Him and I talked about many things, including Brexit. I ordered a bell pepper soup followed by a mushroom risotto and a couple more of those Heineken 00 beers. I passed on dessert, said goodbye to my new Finnish friend and now I'm back in the room looking out at the darkness and longing to hit the sack.
 |
| Crossing a canal... |
Walking is good and in total yesterday I walked 18 kilometres. It's liberating to view the city from a different perspective and not just from a taxi rear window. I expanded my knowledge of Amsterdam's geography and didn't feel dictated to by 'the man'. Walking is little subversive too as I found I wasn't subjected to advertising billboards as I might have been on the train or bus. The establishment wants us 'in our place', it wants us to consume the goods of the capitalist system and spend our money on proscribed routes from A to B. They certainly don't want us to be using our own initiative, finding short cuts (or long cuts) where 'they' might not be in control. I was intrigued to discover, whilst watching a lecture on YouTube given by Will Self to Google employees back in 2007, that the wide boulevards of Paris were so designed not only to aid troop movements, but to oppress the masses should the need arise, so it's good to know the back alleys, the short cuts, the different routes in and out of the metropolis. Not that I have any intention of rising up and bringing down the Government, I'll leave that to Brexit. I voted remain, by the way, just in case I haven't said so before on this blog.
 |
| Houseboats - a pleasant place to live, I thought... |
 |
| Signs proved useful occasionally... |
 |
| There were bikes everywhere... |
 |
| A well-earned beer at the American Hotel |
No comments:
Post a Comment