Phil's Places - Netherlands & Halifax

September 2001 - Netherlands & Halifax

Happened upon a last minute, very cheap airfare to Amsterdam. On a whim I decided to go for a long weekend. I had planned to return on Monday the 10th, but all the discounted seats were sold out so I selected the following day.

Haarlem

I had intended to stay in Amsterdam but due to the last minute nature of the trip (and a large conference held in the city) I was unable to find budget accommodations in the city. So I stayed in nearby Haarlem.

Stayed at this hotel on the Grote Market - it was very basic but comfortable enough

Stadhuis (City Hall) also on the Grote Market

Haarlem - 2001 09 - 107 - Grote Market w Meat Market

Meat Market on the Grote Market

Grote Kerk

Amsterdame Poort Gate

Typical street scene

Haarlem - 2001 09 - 127 - Frans Hals Musuem

Frans Hals Museum - which I very much enjoyed

Haarlem - 2001 09 - 131 - Frans Hals Musuem Courtyard

Courtyard of Frans Hals Museum

Old canal house

Spaarne River in Haarlem

River scene

Amsterdam

This is the trip that cemented my love of Amsterdam (really the Netherlands as a whole). I came to feel that this is my home - I just happened to be born and live somewhere else. Every subsequent trip just reinforces that feeling.

Centraal Station

View from the Amstel River

Typical canal scene

Begijnhof - one (and the most famous) of the hidden courtyards

Concert House

Rijkmusuem - Believe this is the last time I visited the museum before its extensive and often delayed remodeling - from which it only recently emerged

Amsterdam - 2001 09 - 131 - Rembremdplien

Rembremtplien

Den Haag

I took the train to Den Haag

Ridderzall (Hall of Knights) in the Binnenhof Complex

Binnenhof

Mauritshuis - which is a small but excellent art museum - at least if you enjoy the Dutch Masters

Lieden

I also visited Leiden that day.

Train station

Pieterkerk

9-11 and Halifax

On my return flight our plane diverted to Halifax. At first we were told it was due to a minor mechanical issue, After landing the very large number of widebodied jets parked down the length of one runway and the exceptional anxiety of or flight crew made this explanation seem unlikely.

We were then told that severe weather on the east coast had caused a large number of planes to divert - again this seemed strange given the forecast a few hours earlier had be fine, and the flight crew still seemed extremely agitated, and now the planes were being guarded by armed Canadian troops . Slowly rumors spread that something horrible had happened, only about an hour later was it announced that New York had been attacked. I had no idea what to think - best I could figure New York must have been nuked. Slowly over the course of the day I got some idea of what had actually happened. About 10pm that evening we were taken off the plan and driven to a nearby sports arena which had been set up to accommodate us. Only at this point did I see only video of the events of that day.I spent three days in Halifax before being allowed to fly home. To this day I feel I owe a debt to the people of Halifax who took care of us during that time.