Car parking, an abandoned backpack and a Zombie Apocalypse – Part 3

After our bizarre Zombie experience I needed coffee!  There was a lovely little cafe in a tradtional Amsterdam house, so in we went; had coffee and settled down.  Until we went to pay.  They didn’t accept cash!  They expected us to pay a 3 Euro bill with our Visa card, can you image?  We get charged $4 dollars for every overseas transaction plus the a percentage!  So an approx $4 bill would have cost us $10.  We refused to use the card and handed over the Euros and he had the cheek to ask for a tip!  But this wasn’t the last strange thing that happened.

We took the ferry back to Amsterdam central station were we could catch our tram back to the hotel.  The tram system is excellent and with a 5 day ticket you can get on and off as many trams as you like for about 4 Euros a day – bargain!  Waiting at the main station for the tram to leave, I glanced down outside the tram at the shelter, to see an abandoned back pack, a very full, almost bulging backpack.  After the morning of weirdness my immediate thought was not good – bomb!  Not an unjustified thought in our modern world.  I could not wait till the tram got moving and we got away from the mystery backpack.  Obviously it didn’t explode, more than likely someone who had been to the Coffee Houses had left it there in their haze!  But I can tell you I sweated a lot for the 1 minute and 22 seconds that the tram sat there.

So that was our very weird day in Amsterdam.  Next… a Porno movie and a red umper lumper man in Berlin.

 

Car parking, an abandoned backpack and a Zombie Apocalypse – Part 2

After the car parking incident  we continued along the old wharf to the next terminal.  Just before it, was an area that was obviously going through an urban renewal process.  There were several new apartment buildings, the foreshore was being made over and a new building was under construction.  And as with many construction sites we were funnelled through a “safe walkway” through portable cyclone mesh fencing away from the actual construction.  It was a long straight path that veered around the back of the new building and passed what looked like a derelict building.  Nothing strange so far but as we walked further down this mesh tunnel we realised there was a man standing on the other side of the fence.

He was standing absolutely still and staring directly at us.  Again a little strange but there are strange people everywhere nothing to be concerned about yet; until we got closer and could see him clearly.  His pose was like that of actors who emerge from some disaster – bomb explosion, nuclear blast, tunnel fire (just think of Bruce Willis movies and you’ll get the idea) his shoulders where hunched and his arms and legs were akimbo, his hair was all over the place, his clothes were dishevelled and torn and there was what appeared to be blood over him!

And he just kept staring.  The first thing that went through my head was bomb explosion victim but there was something surreal about the whole thing.  As the surroundings started to register in my head – construction site, derelict building, mesh fencing – it all became horribly clear, it was a Zombie Apocalypse.  Obviously I have been watching my son’s Xbox games too much or had I?

He freaked both of us out completely, as he didn’t respond in any way, jsut continued to stand dead still, so we scurried away around the corner to come across complete normality; people, cars, bycycles, a cafe and the ferry terminal!  It was then I realised the the derelict building was actually some kind of arts centre and this must have been some kind of performance art piece.  Or was it one of those candid camera things and we are the stupid tourists!

 

Car parking, an abandoned backpack and a Zombie Apocalypse – Part 1

We had a couple of really weird things happen to us on our last trip.  They say things come in threes and they certianly did one day in Amsterdam.  We absolutely fell in love with Amsterdam; its beautiful  brick architecture that radiates out from the old heart displaying each epoch in style yet still resolutely Dutch, the chaotic symphony of pedestrians, cyclists, trams, cars and boats and the incredible practicality of its people.

After 4 days we had walked pretty well all over the city so decided to get out a bit further.  I had read in a Lonely Planet about Amsterdam Noord – the old docklands area that was morphing into an art collective with a funky cafe and some interesting walks.  There are free ferries which take you across the harbour to various points so we decided to go to one end and walk to the next terminal about 6kms away.  As usual the weather was pretty dismal about 18 degrees C and drizzling off and on.  Undeterred we found the art space and cafe, wandered around then headed for the next terminal, weaving our way through some magnificent old ship yard buildings and wharves, onto the newer area towards the next stop.

At one point I was taking photos (as I do) and my husband was a little further ahead (as he usually is) when a car pulled up and out got a couple who spoke Dutch to him.  Of course our grasp of Dutch is limited toBehagen and Danke  (please and thank you) so immediately made that clear –  not a problem as most people do speak some English.  They were looking for somewhere to park their car as they didn’t want to pay for parking near the ferry terminal (about 1km further along).  We explained we were not the best people to ask (being from the other side of the world and all) and we couldn’t help them.  Yet they persisted in asking like we secretly knew but wouldn’t share.  Now you have to image where we are – on a deserted old wharf, surrounded by factories and holding yards and we hadn’t come across any people for about an hour so their persistance was a little strange.  They chatted to each other in Dutch then asked us if we wanted a lift (we are still not sure where to) and when we declined they got a little weird with us – like we had offended them.  They eventually got back in the car then drove off weaving across the road like they were fighting over the steering wheel!

After shaking our heads we continued to the next terminal where the next weird thing happened.