Jetsetting in the 70's
with Ed & Nancy
In the 1970's "jet
age" you had to live fast to get your
money's worth.
Thursday, May 14, 1970 -
Off to Amsterdam
Our flight to Amsterdam
was at 4:15 p.m., so we put our luggage in a
locker at SAS downtown Copenhagen and spent some
time exploring Copenhagen.
We walked down Strøget
again, the street I mentioned earlier, that ran
from the Kongens Nytrou and Rådhuspladsen, the
two main squares in Copenhagen.
We had lunch at Illums
Department Store, where we spent a couple of
hours admiring the modern furniture and beautiful
handicrafts and cut glass. I bought some colorful
table cloths and a couple of other things.
We then took the airport
bus to the airport and boarded flight #SK555 to
Amsterdam.
During the flight we had a
cold plate lunch and enjoyed a lovely view of the
islands and northern tip of Germany.
We arrived in Amsterdam at
%:40 p.m. and went directly to Kanal House where
we had reserved accommodation for three nights.
Kanal House, like most of the tall narrow
buildings along the canals, once belonged to the
wealthy, but now have been converted into hotels.
The huge chandeliers,
carved antique furniture, and large quilt-framed
mirrors in the large dining room and hallways
still remain. The staircase was narrow, steep,
and winding, as this is the way they were
originally built. The buildings lean slightly
forward at the top and jutting out from the eaves
are large poles. This is how furniture is hoisted
up to the rooms, because the stairways are too
narrow, so everything must be taken up through
the windows of these historic buildings.
We met several Americans
living here; this particular house was owned by
an American from Boston, and it turned out that
he was the only one who was not amiable and more
interested in pleasing, but rather took advantage
and was more interested in the money he could
get, than anything else!
One of the sad sights,
only one block away, was the house
where Anne Frank hid for two long years, during
the time that the Germans had occupied Holland.
In the oldest section of
the city known as the Dam,
you will see Queen Juliana's Royal Palace, built
in 1674 as the Town Hall. It is now a dirty
looking building with papers and litter scattered
around, which have obviously been left by hippies.
On the front side of the
Palace is the National Monument of white stone,
now a haven for hippies.
The guide of our tour said that they were hippies
from England, the U.S.A. and other countries; not
from Holland, and, they are not proud of the
sight and mess they make of the monument. Yet
they do nothing to keep them out of the country.
The Dutch are dignified,
decent, and proud; and yet they drive like
maniacs. They don't seem to have any traffic
laws, crossing the street becomes a real
challenge. At one time a motorcycle passed
between Ed and I, just missing Ed's rear and
almost running over my toes.
Many hundreds of bicycles
a parked everywhere, sometimes a dozen around a
telephone pole. There are long stands on the edge
of he sidewalk and literally filled with bikes,
some quite old and rusty. These are bicycles that
anyone can use and when they get to their
destination, they merely leave the bike there for
someone else to use. Our guide, who was a very
plain girls with lots of personality told us that
it was not considered "stealing" but
borrowing a bike. No one really knew where their
original bike was but there were hundreds to
choose from.
The shops are tastefully
done, displaying their wares in a unique way,
using colored wood and large chains with hangers
at the end of a chain. Of course, like
Copenhagen, Amsterdam had many sidewalk cafés
and ice cream parlors. There were many flower
carts (at the airport you can buy flowers in
vending machines.) The people are plainly
dressed, not so much "mod"
except for a few that I am sure were tourists.
Touring
Amsterdam
We had breakfast in the
Chandelier Room; coffee, then sliced meat, thin
sliced cheese, round bread and Danish pastry.
We booked two tours
immediately upon our arrival, as we do in each
city; today our tour was a drive through the old
and the new Amsterdam.
We passed Rembrandt's house,
the Stock Exchange, General Post Office, Queens
Palace, the former Jewish
Quarters and the picturesque canals,
Ryksmuseum where Rembrandt's famed painting Nightwatch
is located.
The
museum also contains a large collection of Dutch
and Flemish paintings from the 15th to the 17th
century. No cameras are allowed inside the
building.
Amsterdam's Amstone
Diamond Center was where we witnessed the
thrilling events which are daily practice for the
goldsmiths who work there. Diamonds are sawn and
polished while you watch. Our hostess put a
beautiful diamond ring on her finger so I could
take a picture of it.
One of the best ways to
see Amsterdam is to take a canal ride in a
glass-roofed launch with a multilingual guide.
Amsterdam is divided by canals into 90 islands
and drawbridges. Our guide pointed out the Royal
Houses, which once belonged to Governors who had
these houses adorned with coat of arms, double
steps, flanked with majestic landerns. Trodden on
by authorities of the gay and prosperous 17th
century metropolis.
The merchant houses are
less pretentious, on the first floor are living
quarters and offices. Almost every house has its
hoisting beam.
The work of the windmills
has been taken over by hydraulic pumps that keeps
the sea in its place. There are over 300 cars and
bicycles fished out of the canals each year, and
as the guide explained, the children are taught
to swim in school, and also are taught English,
French, and German.
After a wild ride to the
airport, we were on our way back to Copenhagen.
At the airport is the world's largest duty free
store in the world. I bought a Dutch doll there.
The airport is large and modern, with automatic
computer boards which change each time a plane
takes off.
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