AMSTERDAM BY BARGE
beer is again a nod to location and context.
Back in her barge days, Prisenboot used to haul grain to the Heineken Brewery on the nearby Singelgracht canal.
Today, Prinsenboot is firmly moored as a holiday home. It doesn’t even have a motor anymore. To amp up my Amsterdam experience, I decide to hop on a rented bike to cycle the seven blocks and five canals and bridges to Booking.com head office for my appointments. But it’s spitting rain outside. All the locals continue to cycle undaunted, so I join them.
Luckily, my rented wheels is a sturdy, single-gear, no-nonsense model with ample fenders so I don’t get splashed up the back by the liquid sunshine.
Nonetheless, I show up at Booking.com’s trendy offices in the historic former Dutch National Bank building on Herengracht slightly damp and dishevelled.
Upon my arrival I discover most of the 1,700 who work there cycle to work because it’s the most efficient way to get around.
In a compact city centre with little parking for cars and criss-crossed with canals and narrow streets, the bike is king.
There is, however, space beside the canal for row upon row of parked bikes as far as the eye can see.
Even high-powered, multi-millionaire Booking.com CEO Gillian Tans cycles to work, dropping her kids at school along the way.
When I catch up with Tans she’s happy to hear I’ve cycled there and I’m staying in a canal boat booked on Booking.com.
“Our company mandate is to empower people to experience the world,” she says.
“In your case, it’s a very Dutch experience for you today.”
On my previous trip to Amsterdam, I did the requisite Red Light District, marijuana coffeehouse, Edam cheese, wooden shoes and flower market tour.
Thus, this visit allowed me more time to hang out on the canal boat, take a sightseeing Kinboat canal tour while enjoying a Heineken and discover the foodie side of Amsterdam.
There were memorable meals of Dutch comfort food at De Vergulden Eenhoorn, a restaurant in a recommissioned circa 1702 dairy barn; fresh seafood canal side at Scheepskameel; and nouveau Italian at Bussia.