Zenrat's Flying Circus

[TheChronicOne]

LOL @ comments......  didn't take long, did it!! 

[zenrat]

Do what you want.  I'm on holiday and don't give a monkey's.


Greetings from Amsterdam.
Showered, cleaned my teeth and put on clean clothes and now I feel semi human again (Jetlag notwithstanding).

Hotel is a converted Royal Dutch Navy BOQ.

About to go for a walk and then investigate tea and the old sailing ship moored next door.
It sure is nice to see the sun again.
And, sitting here on the bed I can see trains.  Perfect.

Flew both legs from Melbourne on Etihad 777-300s.  I'm always slightly nervous flying long distances over water with only two engines but it made it.
Lovely smooth landings both times and the food was actually pretty good.
Only complaint was that the seat cushions on the first leg were overdue for replacement and offered no bum support at all leading to more aches and pains than usual.

Lots of brightly coloured airliners you'd love to build Brad C.  Including a bright yellow DHL one and heaps of blue KLM stuff here at Schiphol.
In comparison Etihad's scheme is boring and their planes always seem to look grubby.

[TheChronicOne]

Oooh yeah, I do like the DHL stuff. On the long term list of things to build, along with Burlington Air Express.


Etihad... was it the weird blocky yellow grey black blocky stuff? lol


Now, if *I* were in Amsterdam. . .. . . . .

[PR19_Kit]

Now, if *I* were in Amsterdam. . .. . . . .

Is it coffee shops or cafe's to be on the lookout for....

Canals, or there's a good chance of getting VERY wet! 

[NARSES2]

Now, if *I* were in Amsterdam. . .. . . . .

Is it coffee shops or cafe's to be on the lookout for....

Canals, or there's a good chance of getting VERY wet! 

Same applies to a lot of Holland especially after a few beers 

I like Amsterdam, used to stay a lot when I was visiting our Dutch plant at Ijmuiden

[zenrat]

Bicycles.  That's what you have to be on the lookout for.
Mrs z got a lecture from a very condescending Dutch Gentleman because she stood still to let him cycle round her instead of getting out of his way.

I on the other hand was nearly run over by an electric vehicle which crept up silently behind me.

Other than that a fun day wandering around the city.  I didn't stumble across any model shops and didn't google them either as there is no room in my luggage until I have off loaded presents in the UK.
We did go into the Tulip museum which was mildly interesting and kept Mrs z happy (important).  Of note was the video of specialised tulip farming tractors which I suspect was specifically intended to entertain husbands.
It's coffee shops you would be looking for Brad C.  There seem to be more of them than there were 15 years ago when I last visited.  In fact there seems to be a whole lot more of the tacky cheap outlets designed to separate tourists from their money.  You get them in all destination cities and they are tailored to the locality.  In Honolulu it's Elvis, Surfing and Luau tat, in Melbourne it's plastic boomerangs and fake indigenous art and in Amsterdam it's flouro bongs and "it looked good after a smoke" hats.
I think this is why I always preferred Rotterdam.  It still has coffee shops where you can relax with a quiet smoke but they are (or were anyway) much more subtle (and harder to find if you were not a local).

Last night, after posting we ate here in the hotel and I reacquainted myself with IMO the best thing to come out of this part of Europe - Frite sauce on the chips.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Tomorrow we pick up a car and head to Belgium.  Driving on the wrong side of the road is going to be, ummmm, an experience.

Brad C - they were an overall pearlescent white with gold lettering.  Would look classy if they were kept clean.

[63cpe]

Hey Fred,

Maybe we meet? I live in the Netherlands and drive daily from a place due east of Amsterdam (Almere) to a place due west of Amsterdam (work in Haarlem).

Any thoughts?

David (aka 63cpe)

[TheChronicOne]

^^   


One of the "tips and tricks" I've heard about travelling, to avoid the tourist traps and psuedo-local-food is to be half and hour or hours travel time away from the "hotspots."  Then you get the real deal thrift stores, anitques shop,and eateries. 



Coffee shops...         Ah... one of these days it'll all happen in Oklahoma. 

[zenrat]

That's probably right.  Where we are staying is about 1/2 hour walk from the red light/coffee shop district and it's great round here.

I've nothing against cannabis (IMO alcohol is worse) but english speaking tourists get here and hit it so hard they make dopes (sic) of themselves.  And yes, I have done it myself and i'm not proud of that fact.

[scooter]

I've nothing against cannabis (IMO alcohol is worse) but english speaking tourists get here and hit it so hard they make dopes (sic) of themselves.

As a lapsed atheist EMT, I've always hated dealing with drunks.  Especially since New Jersey has the Alcohol Treatment Rehabilitation Act (ATRA), wherein the local cops call in the meatwagon to bring the boozer into the ER to dry out from a public intoxication charge.

[PR19_Kit]

  I didn't stumble across any model shops and didn't google them either as there is no room in my luggage until I have off loaded presents in the UK.

If you're driving out of Amsterdam toward Belgium tomorrow you drive within 1/2 mile of one of the BIGGEST model shops there is on the planet! 

That's the Luchtvaaart Hobby Shop on the southeast corner of Schiphol Airport and it's not to be missed. It's so big they have a full size DC3 cockpit INSIDE the shop and their stocklist is IMMENSE! I'm sure they'd be happy to post any purchases back home for you. 

https://www.aviationmegastore.com/

[NARSES2]

Tomorrow we pick up a car and head to Belgium.  Driving on the wrong side of the road is going to be, ummmm, an experience.

I've always gone under the assumption it was they who were in error ? 

[
That's the Luchtvaaart Hobby Shop on the southeast corner of Schiphol Airport and it's not to be missed. It's so big they have a full size DC3 cockpit INSIDE the shop and their stocklist is IMMENSE! I'm sure they'd be happy to post any purchases back home for you. 

I used to pop in quite often when I was on one of my regular jaunts to Ijmuiden Works. Even managed to get some "accurate" Dutch AF WWII paints that they had had especially made for them by Xtracolour  It was a fantastic place, haven't been for years.

[PR19_Kit]

That's the Luchtvaaart Hobby Shop on the southeast corner of Schiphol Airport and it's not to be missed. It's so big they have a full size DC3 cockpit INSIDE the shop and their stocklist is IMMENSE! I'm sure they'd be happy to post any purchases back home for you. 

I used to pop in quite often when I was on one of my regular jaunts to Ijmuiden Works. Even managed to get some "accurate" Dutch AF WWII paints that they had had especially made for them by Xtracolour  It was a fantastic place, haven't been for years.

I did the same every time I was in Holland. It was truly amazing how many road works there were at the time, and the diversions ALWAYS led past that corner of Schiphol, very strange............. 

They still send me their weekly news email to this day.

[NARSES2]

I did the same every time I was in Holland. It was truly amazing how many road works there were at the time, and the diversions ALWAYS led past that corner of Schiphol, very strange............. 

One of my Dutch colleagues would invariably run me from the works to the airport and in the end whoever it was would always ask "via the model shop Chris ? Mind you Petra would always ask "via the toy shop ?" 

[zenrat]

I also get the Aviation Megastore newsletter.  I chose not to visit it as I suspected it would have been a frustrating experience (I WANT EVERYTHING!) and the trip is costing enough already.

Anyway, we have been in Bouillon for two nights.
Stayed in the same Hotel (Relais Godefroy) we stayed in last time we were there in 1996.  The host is still miserable and this time the room was like an oven with only one small window we could open for ventilation.  Also no wifi.
Clambered all over the castle yesterday though which was great (although my bald head shows the marks of the low ceilings) and over beer and frites at the Hotel de la Paste I explained to Mrs z how Guderian's panzers crossed the Semois there in 1940.

Tonight we are in Vichy after a whole day driving.  Since I last drove in France (2003) they have started using fixed speed cameras.  Don't ask me how I know this.

Tomorrow it's on to The Dordogne to meet up with friends for what I expect will be two nights of heavy drinking (or as heavy as we can manage at our ages).