Our dog is Dutch

Märzen got her Dutch pet passport today. Although her rabies vaccination was good for three years, we thought the EU required yearly vaccinations because they require a vaccination within a year of entering the EU. So we made an appointment with the closest vet we could find in the Dutch online yellow pages, just two stops away on the bus and within easy walking distance, except that Märzen doesn’t really like to walk.

The vet is a nice woman named Annette, who has two dachshunds of her own. That was an unexpected bonus. It turns out that, although the EU recognizes rabies vaccinations as good for three years if that’s the kind you get, they don’t actually recognize the Fort Dodge vaccine that Märzen got in San Francisco. The ID chip scanner also didn’t recognize her chip, and they vaccinate here against some diseases that aren’t a problem in the western U.S. As a result, Märzen got a new chip and two shots along with her passport, and her mom spent all her cash.

The vet was amazed at the amount of paper in Märzen’s medical record because they computerize everything here and record the essentials in the passport. That’s very handy. Now if only they took Visa.

Canal tour in our own dinghy

We had one day of nice weather last week (before today) and celebrated by visiting the Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s Central Park. We really enjoyed wandering the paths in the sunshine. When we arrived in early afternoon, it wasn’t crowded, but before we left, school had let out and it was quite the happening place. It reminded me of Golden Gate Park on a sunny weekend afternoon.

Later that day another sailboat came to the marina. They didn’t fit in the slip that the harbor master had planned on, so we had them raft up with us. It was fun to have neighbors for a few days. Maria and Lex are about our age and live in 's Hertogenbosch, in the south of the Netherlands. They were on their way home from a five-month summer voyage in the Baltic. We all got along very well, and we enjoyed getting together every evening they were here to have a few drinks and visit. They’ve invited us to visit them in 's Hertogenbosch for a regatta later this winter and for Carnaval in late February. Carnaval is the Dutch version of mardi gras, and it’s really celebrated in the south, which is predominately Catholic. 's Hertogenbosch is supposed to be one of the best places for Carnaval, and we’re looking forward to the adventure.

Despite the rain that has fallen almost every day we've been here, the canal has been busy with canal boats filled with Dutch people having fun. Today after John reset a stanchion, we finally put the dinghy in the water and went for our own tour on the canals. We had a canal map with the routes (truly a map, not a chart), but at one point we got lost anyway. It’s difficult to see the names of the canals from the water because they’re posted on the sides of buildings. Often on the water the view is blocked. Then when I could see a name, it wasn’t on the map. I figured we would run into a canal off of the one we were on eventually, but it dead-ended due to bridge construction before that happened. We ended up retracing our route back to where we had turned off. Finally we found recognizable territory and made our way home.

If the weather is still good tomorrow (and it’s supposed to be), we’ll go out again. This time we’ll bring the map I use to get us around town. It has all of the streets on it. We’ll also bring a leash for Märzen, and a blanket. Today she needed to stop, and I didn’t have her leash, so I had to follow her closely lest she escape. Fortunately, it isn’t too difficult to get ashore, and we were somewhere without a lot of street activity.

Developing a routine

Cruising can’t be exciting all the time. Even when you’re someplace exotic, if you stay put, life develops a routine. And that’s what’s happening with us. We’ve found a chandlery in addition to grocery stores and markets, and we’re figuring out the most efficient combinations of buses and trams to take to get where we need to go if we don’t walk. Day-to-day life consists of small trips to the store, checking the Internet for election news, and working on boat projects.

Our shower space is now a shower all the time as we’ve moved all the things that we were storing there to other locations. We definitely had more provisions than we needed for the Atlantic crossing, but now we don’t have to buy as much at the store. John has found a place in the lazarette for the transformer where it is safely out of the rain, and we’ve gotten the bike out but haven’t used it because of the rain. (Did I mention that it rains here?) Sjoerd, the harbor master, has loaned John a bike, so we can go riding together when we get a dry day.

A major project for John has been fixing the furnace. (That’s why we’ve already found a chandlery.) It’s working now, though, and should be fine for the rest of the winter. Now we’re tracking down the leaks. Found one right over the table in the salon, but now there’s another in the galley.

We haven’t seen our old friends this week, but we did go to a DemsFun gathering of Democrats Abroad NL, met some new people, and said hello again to those we met on Obama night. The elections are really capturing most of our attention these days. There are links to some of the blogs we follow on the Links page of our website if you’re interested. That’s part of the reason that we haven’t added new photos to the website. It takes time to read all that stuff! Also, the weather hasn’t been very conducive to picture-taking.

First week in review

Our first week in our new marina has been full of exploring and visiting with old friends. We’ve had a wonderful time and have been too busy doing things to have time for updating the blog.

Wednesday Marike took us to the Museum Jan van der Togt in Amstelveen to see the Anton Heyboer exhibit there. Heyboer, who died in 2005, was a famous Dutch artist and personality and Marike’s husband. It was really special to have Marike to show us Anton’s work, and the museum director, Jan Verschoor, made us feel very welcome. Jan is a sculptor himself, and we were invited into his personal apartment with some other people, where we got to see art that isn’t on display in the museum proper. The photo is of Marike and me in front of a Heyboer painting that the museum purchased.

Thursday night we went to the Democrats Abroad Netherlands all-night gathering to watch Barak Obama’s acceptance speech. It was fun to meet some other Americans, and we found out, among other things, where we can buy corn tortillas. The guys who gave us the tip had actually been pressing their own tortillas from polenta before they located the mother lode to supply both corn tortillas and masa. Also, our gathering was covered by Dutch television, and we were shown on the news the next day. Although we were interviewed, that portion was cut, and we only show up clearly at the end. Here’s a link to a clip from the show called EénVandaag, but it’s in Dutch.

Friday afternoon Marike came by and spent the afternoon. It’s so good to get acquainted with her again. She gave me a carnelian necklace and bracelet for my birthday and brought lots of books about Anton Heyboer so that I can learn more about her life these past 30+ years.

Saturday the sun came out, and it was a beautiful summer day. Esmeralda and her boyfriend, Mark, came to see us, and we had wine and hapjes (snacks or nibbles) in the cockpit. She looks great (as you can see), and Mark is very nice. We’re looking forward to seeing more of them. Esmeralda brought me the latest Kathy Reichs paperback, Bones to Ashes, which is much appreciated especially since Reichs is one of my favorite authors.

Saturday evening Anouk came to visit and we went out for a yummy Chinese dinner. It turns out that the best Indonesian restaurants are closer to where Anouk lives in Amstelveen, so one of these days we’ll join Anouk and her family for rijstafel in her neighborhood. As you can see in the photo, Anouk looks great too. She's still tan from her summer in Spain.

Unfortunately, birthday greetings from my sister also brought the news that my dad is in the hospital. Reports are that he’s doing well, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Getting settled

All the staff at Marina Westerdok and the owner, Nauticadam, are great. They’re all making us feel very welcome here as we pester them with questions while we settle in.

The harbor master, Sjoerd, is a very nice, and very busy, young man. We had a chance to get better acquainted with him yesterday afternoon. It turned out that the boat that was in our slip was his, but someone else had put it there, and he didn’t know. And it wasn’t scrap lumber (that was just my impression), but rather nice teak boards. In his spare time, Sjoerd and a friend are restoring the boat, which is pre-WWI vintage. Anyway, it’s all sorted out now. No worries.

The general manager of Nauticadam, Jorrit (or Troy for rolled-r-challenged Americans), is another nice young man. Troy lived in San Francisco for a number of years at 15^th and Guerrero, and we’ve hit it off quite well. (In fact, we left the old neighborhood before Troy did.) I didn’t quite catch the name of the third member of the management team, but I think it was Shara. Anyway, she has been helpful in identifying markets for shopping for various things. Everyone has been wonderful, and I’m really liking it here.

The photo of the Brouwersgracht street sign is in honor of our friends from Indigo, Greg and Kathy, who used to live on the Brouwersgracht (assuming that I’m remembering correctly). This is only a few blocks from Marina Westerdok.

Marina Westerdok

This morning we joined the queue of boats leaving Sixhaven Marina, and then crossed the river IJ, called to have two bridges opened for us, and finally arrived at Marina Westerdok to find a black scow with scrap lumber in it tied up at our spot. What’s more, the harbor master is off sailing in the IJsselmeer. We had already used all of our prepaid phone minutes talking with Anouk yesterday evening, so we couldn’t call the harbor master ourselves, but the skipper of a tour boat helped us out and called him. She told us that we were just supposed to tie up somewhere for now. Not pleased with that answer, we rafted up with the boat in front of our slip so I could hop off and get more minutes to call the harbor master myself. He told me the same thing, but he sounded very calm. I told him what we’d done, and he said it was fine and he’ll be back this evening.

The really good news is that there’s an open wi-fi hotspot in the area, so we’re temporarily connecting to it. It’s kind of nice to have a quiet day to catch up with things. We can’t really leave the boat the way it is. Already we’ve moved from the boat that we were rafted with in order to let some neighbors leave the dock. We were blocking the channel for them. (And they too called the harbor master.) Now we’re tied to the dock outside of the boat that’s in our spot, so if the owner comes to move the boat, we’ll have to let him out. The neighbors were very nice and friendly, so already we’re getting acquainted, and I think we’ll like it here very much.

The photo is the view off our stern. The bridge is for the trains, but they’re quiet, electric trains, so it isn’t like Tacoma except for the weather. On the map, look under the B on the grid and you’ll see the “We are here” label. (You clicked on the map to get the big picture, right?) We’re definitely within easy walking distance of the sights and activities.

Amsterdam, yes, Internet, not so much

We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday and found a spot at Sixhaven Marina. The marina deserves a story of its own, and that will follow, but I wanted to be sure that those of you who were awaiting notice that we'd landed would get it sooner rather than later.

Critical things to do have been finding our permanent marina for the winter and getting a phone. We accomplished those yesterday and also talked with Esmeralda. Since we haven't been able to get Internet on the boat, I didn't have any way to contact Marike, and we don't have Anouk's phone number. Marike was resourceful and saw our position report, so she showed up at the marina this morning as we were leaving to find an Internet cafe and contact her. It was so great to see her, and it definitely made my day.

We're moving to our new marina tomorrow but may not have Internet right away. It is promised one way or another, though, so please be patient, and we'll be back online with blog entries, individual emails, and photo pages on the website. Meanwhile, the best way to be sure to hear from us is to email us or post a comment.