On today’s expedition, we woke up rather late. The night before was also quite late though. With sunset around 10:06pm, we found ourselves eating dinner around 9pm in the centre of Amsterdam the night before. Sunset seemed to go for many hours, initially noticing the sun start to set around 7pm.
Waking up at about 11am, I took a walk around our little park outside the Generator while I waited for Mitchell to rise from a very long sleep (it was the third day after all).
Having still not studied the shared calendar Mitchell made, I was not sure on our activities today. I wandered the park for perhaps an hour until 12pm. I received a message from him letting me know he had risen. Meeting at the Generator Cafe, I learnt we were off to the NDSM art district to see a Banksy exhibition. I got a Vietnamese coffee from a stall just outside our hostel before we went through.
We travelled by train to Amsterdam Centraal, then by free ferry to NDSM district. Purchasing a small lunch for €3.39 and packet of fork & knife’s for €2 from an Albert Heijn grocery store, we had a quick bite to eat before the exhibition. With a pack of biodegradable forks and knives to carry with us we are ready for a slightly cheaper eating experience. The other thing we need to find now is a small sewing kit for adding flag patches to our bags. We ate on some concrete barricades.
I really enjoy the budget experience. Carrying a small backpack, eating and living out of very conveniently placed grocery stores, catching public transport or just walking from location to location.
Grocery stores from other countries are so interesting. Yesterday, in an Albert Heijn, there was a pizzeria inside. You could order a pizza for takeaway while you do your shopping. In Germany, I recall there was a whole cafe connected to the shopping centre. On our way to NDSM we passed an interesting meal service idea where you pay and get your pre-made meal out of a box.
Mitchell tells me this artist, Banksy, is one of his favourites. I picked up subtle hints that this anonymous artist was not the biggest fan of the Royal Establishment. Many exhibitions depicting scenes that would appear to me to criticise capitalism and the monarchy, or institutions of power, in some respects.
We toured the NDSM district afterwards. Seeing some pretty cool graffiti spread across the the harbour walls. The exhibit itself seemed to be in a old ship building warehouse. It had Netherlands Shipbuilding Company written across the top.
I later learn that simply enough NDSM means Netherlands Dock and Shipbuilding Company (Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij). Enjoyed a coffee after this stroll.
We ventured onto another ferry towards a light show called Amaze. To get there we walked past many apartment buildings which you can dock your boat at, directly entering your home.
The Amaze event included a walk through different types of visual and auditory events. It was very pretty in places.
Following this, we took a walk through some various residential areas. These included a lovely district which looked almost unpowered. It was the Tuinpark Nut en Genoegen residential area. Homes here are apparently kept cheap by the association with plots with basic square box style homes ranging from $4000 – $20,000. It looks like you would have to know how to garden to live here.
We had a quick ice cream on the long walk back towards Amsterdam. We had ventured far today to the outskirts.
We got to purchase dinner at another grocery chain. Dinner today consisted of an easy sandwich. Totalling €3.49. We sat in our park just outside the Generator Hostel at 10:30pm, to eat dinner in the last part of sunlight.
Until tomorrow.