HISWA Yacht Valley Tour; A Cruise In Amsterdam

HISWA Yacht Valley Tour ​

Canal Cruising in Amsterdam​

As part of this year's HISWA Yacht Valley Tour, I was provided with a ticket to ride one of Amsterdam's Canal Boats. This is a photo-tour with brief ad-libs because I'm busy in the background putting together coverage of the actual tour. Will try to go live next week. Until then, enjoy this virtual cruise through Amsterdam...

On our first night, we stayed downtown at the Wyndham Apollo. From the dining area, we had a three-canal view of boating... Amsterdam style.

Went all the way to Amsterdam and ended up at the all-American, Hard Rock Cafe. Go figure!

Across the bridge from the 'Rock, we boarded the waterborne equivalent of a Greyhound bus. An aqua-atrium of sorts, it has an all-glass roof so tourists are insulated from all the fun.

Getting underway, the architecture and history is amazing. Amsterdam has a labyrinth of canals, connecting and intersecting like city streets.

Not a flybridge friendly place...

In a city deluged in dories, this looked like a Cigarette by AMS standards ...

Houseboats line seawalls everywhere...

Round-bilge hulls rule the water here...

Not sure who the tourist on the transom is here, but in the background is the Anne Frank Museum. Be sure to get here early, because the line wraps around the block to see this every day.

"Terugkomen is niet hetzelfde als blijven" means... "To come back is not the same as to stay".

One of the foil-based vessels my counterparts were developing in the cold-war...?

The Movenpick was my residence in AMS. Highly recommend it! It comes with a cruise ship...

The tour guide said this building was owned by Shell Oil, or someone related, and was built to look like an offshore oil rig. I don't find oil rigs very attractive as of late...

The AMS skyline features something missing in a lot of cities over the past few years... the cranes of construction!

This building with a bow is home to Nemo, a science and technology center...

NEMO also berths a replica 17th century VOC ship named - appropriately - "Amsterdam"...

Close-up of the stern-art...

Remember when access to the crow's nest required climbing a net?

Sea Palace Chinese Restaurant stands in stark contrast to Amsterdam's rejuvenating skyline...