Well, this weekend I’m alone in Amsterdam. I’m having some hotel problems. Before I elaborate, I’ll give some background info first. My trip here was arranged with short notice. So short that my company had trouble finding a hotel that could accommodate me for my entire stay. As a result I am staying in the fabulous-ly shabby Y Boulevard.

The Y Boulevard was a hostel that was recently purchased. The new owner has converted it into a hotel, almost. There are some details that have yet to be addressed. For example several of the balusters are missing from the handrail on the side staircase (the one that happens to lead to my room). When I put my hand on it the first night I noticed that without balusters the railing is not very sturdy. I decided to take my hand off and lean against the wall instead. In the room there is no clock, iron, or phone. To make sure I get up on time I use the alarm clock function on the TV. I wake up to Dutch cartoons every morning. I am now aware, however, that the hotel does give wakeup calls. “Knock, Knock, Mrs. Johnson, its 6:30 this is your wake up call” (the walls are thin).

So Thursday night at about 9:30 the radiator in my room starts to make a loud screeching noise. After about 15 minutes, I decide to go down to the front desk (I can’t call – no phone). On my way I notice a man banging on the radiator in the “restaurant” (which is directly below my room). I tell him that mine is making the same noise. So he came to my room and banged on my for a while, Then went upstairs a banged on that one for a while, after about 30 more minutes he managed to get them to stop. The guy then came up with a glass of orange juice as compensation for the disruption to my evening. I didn’t really want it, but I drank it anyway. Later I came to the conclusion that he probably fixed it by closing a valve because my room was freezing in the morning.

Friday night the same noise again. At 1:00am this time. After 10 minutes I put on clothing and I went down to complain. It stopped after 10 more minutes. No orange juice this time and it was cold the next morning.

Saturday Evening, I return to a room that is hot and steamy, much like a sauna. The carpet is soaked (it splashed with every step), the chair by the window is soaked, half my clothing is soaked. I complain to the front desk, and they called a repair man and start sopping up the carpet. In the meantime, they give me a large beer to go with my take out Chinese (from Ralph’s Asian Wonderfood), send my clothing to be cleaned and offer me a free meal for Sunday. After the radiator is fixed, they explain that they can’t change my room, because they are completely booked (including room with about 20 bunks still remaining from the hostel days), so they put down towels down to cover the still damp carpet. Today when I return the carpet should have been cleaned and my clothing should be ready, and I should have a free meal. We’ll see how that goes.

Outside of the hotel, I’ve done a lot this weekend. Yesterday I went to the NEMO (Science museum). It’s a Renzo Piano building that sticks out into the water, is shaped like the bow of a boat, and sits on top of a tunnel entrance. The museum was neat, they had an exhibit about building structures. There were models of building frames to which you could add diagonal bracing and a core, and test for deflection from wind loading. Lateral systems 101! There were also bubble machines very similar to ones my dad and his friend made for the children’s corner at the Baum Craft show many years ago. And lot’s of other neat stuff that I won’t bore you with…

After NEMO, I went to the SMCS, which is the temporary location of the Stedelijk Museum during renovations. It’s in an old post office building near the train station. It’s similar to Moma Queens for you New Yorkers. I finished my day at a coffee shop that doesn’t have free wifi, but as the barista put it, “sometimes you can get a signal from the person living up stairs.” There were 7 people in the café with laptops.

Today I went to the Concert Brouw. If you have a ticket to the Sunday morning concert you can pay 4€ extra for a tour before the performance. I didn’t understand most of the tour because it was in Dutch, but I had a tour friend that translated the most interesting bits for me. The tour guide seemed boring anyway. The highlights included going above the Hall where all the winches and equipment are for the rigging. You could look through the holes in the floor to the concert hall. We also went down to the performers’ area in the basement where the orchestra was preparing for the concert. As we entered the cafeteria there was some witty banter between the performers, the tour guide and some of my fellow tour mates. I didn’t understand the actual words, but I understood the wittiness. Okay maybe I just acted like I understood the wittiness.

When I bought my ticket to the concert they told me it was an obstructed view. What they meant was, “you’ll be sitting in the cello section”. I was in the front row staring at the shoes of a cellist. There were cellists to the left and cellists to the right. I could make out a viola or two behind the cellos and could see the conductor’s arms when they were above his head, but that’s about it. From the lengthy applause, I was able to determine that the rest of the audience heard an excellent performance of a horn concerto. I however heard a marvelous cello solo with horn accompaniment. During the standing ovation I found myself face to face with a cellist. I said to her “You were very good. I couldn’t really hear anyone else, but you were excellent.” She laughed and said “dank u.”

I decided that you can’t come to Holland and not go to see a windmill, so after the concert I went off to track down the only remaining windmill in Amsterdam. Now I find myself back at the coffee house without free wifi, posting to the blog.

I’ve posted pictures from this weekend.

And pictures from a farm/petting zoo near my office.