On Cautious Travel & Fine Dining
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| Amsterdam from the North |
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Outside the Game:
It was time to switch cities again, so I was sort of up early, but managed to go back to sleep once or twice. Necessity eventually got me out of bed, and I showered, finished packing, and then checked out. After my last adventure, I was double-counting my bags every five minutes, and not leaving anything to chance, I took the tram up to Centraal. The Intercity Direct trains to Amsterdam run very frequently, so I was able to jump on one quickly. There was no WIFI, but since I spent nearly the entire trip asleep, it was less of an issue.
Arriving at Sloterdijk again, I bought a three-day train pass at the station before heading to my hotel, the nearby Holiday Inn Express. It was far too early in the morning to check in, but I just wanted to leave my bags so I could bum around for a while. The entrance to the hotel was a little confusing, especially the elevator set-up, but I managed to get to the front desk and drop my bags before grabbing a train back to Centraal.
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| Because I pretty much had to. |
I didn't really have a set agenda for this day, and I wasn't feeling very ambitious. I walked down to the Dam for a while, and then headed back up to take the ferry to North Amsterdam. I had only been to the very edge of the area to go to the museums and A'DAM Tower, so I took a long walk along the canals for a while before heading back to the ferry and down to Spui, where they were having the book fair again. I was feeling pretty hungry at this point, and with only a few days left, I gave into temptation and stopped in at Luciens, the tourist-friendly Dutch pancake house, where I had a lunch of bacon and banana pancakes.
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| Flower power |
I continued wandering down to the tulip market for a little bit, ended up doing some more shopping at the Delftware store, and then topped off my phone at the mobile store on the way back to the subway. I went back to Centraal and then by train to Sloterdijk, where I was now able to check into my hotel. I was being served at the same time as an older couple, and we followed each other up the elevator and to our rooms, which were right next to each other. I told them to keep the partying down, and then set up my room a little bit and took a much-needed nap.
I got dressed for dinner and had looked up a fondue place to eat. After getting the train back to Centraal and finding the place, it was right in the center of the heavy tourist area and was already packed, so I wasn't feeling it. I went back down near Spui to look for restaurants, when I passed a sign for "d'Vijff Vlieghen" (The Five Flies). It looked interesting enough, so I decided to go in on a whim and see if they had a table. Now, this place turns out to be a high-end restaurant in a 400-year-old building, and I just wandered in, and not only did they have a table, the only table left for one was the "King's Table," a little nook raised up from the main floor and usually reserved for honeymooners. Good enough for me.
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| Fit for a king |
Suffice to say the meal was mind-blowing. Forgetting the high-end service and historic environs, the food was simply indescribable. I did have to limit it to four courses, as I agreed to keep my meal to under two hours as there was a newlywed couple with a reservation for later, but it was worth every last bit of it.
As I wandered around in my food bliss, I walked back up toward the Dam and kept going. I had found a gamer bar called TonTon in the Red Light District while I was looking for a restaurant earlier in the trip. The thing was, there were three or four red-light windows right across from the entrance to the gamer bar, and given the cramped road, it was kind of awkward and made me feel real pathos for the prostitutes. Here they were, showing their wares, such as it was, and there were all these geeks walking past, essentially saying, "Thank you for the opportunity to buy sex with you, but I'd rather just go play arcade games." I mean, that's a pretty hard pill to swallow, if you think about it too much. But what do I know? Maybe they do gangbuster business from nerds that get a beer or two into them and are prey to their weaknesses on the way home. Either way, you are sitting there playing pinball or video games, and sometimes you're pretty much just staring at the prostitutes because of the way the eyelines are arranged.
It is a weird little world.
The inside was absolutely packed with Germans playing board games and drinking beer, which is what I suppose the new version of Valhalla is to them. There were a couple of locals on the pinball machines and playing air hockey with dates, but it was pretty much me and this older Japanese guy playing the classic arcade games for the most part. Either way, it was a good way to spend an evening.
I waved goodbye to the prostitutes and walked back up to Centraal to grab a train back to the hotel, organize a little, and then fall asleep.
The Accommodations:
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| Holiday Inn Express, Sloterdijk |
I was at the Holiday Inn Express at Sloterdijk for the last weekend of my trip. It was a bit of a disconnect, because it was very much like every other Holiday Inn room I've been in, and also, very much not like every other Holiday Inn room I've been in.
I had a room at the end of the hall, which is always good for a noise perspective, especially since my only neighbors were that older couple. What it was, however, is right next to the train tracks. I had wondered why some of the Sloterdijk tracks had a half-tunnel around them, and it suddenly became clear: They were noise dampeners for the trains because of the hotel. And you could definitely hear when trains went by still, but it was more of a "whooshy" noise than an "angry train noise," and it really didn't affect my stay at all.
The room had a small alcove at the entrance to hang jackets and the like. It was right next to the frosted door to the long bathroom, with vanity and toilet and shower all in a row. Around the corner was a small desk with built-in shelves for clothes underneath a TV. The bed with nightstands built into the wall was on the other wall. The climate control took a bit to work out, even with English instructions in the room book, but I persevered.
As with most things in the Netherlands, it seems small at first glance, but it manages to have that odd Dutch coziness gezelligheid.
On Accidental Stalking and Other Misfortunes
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| Pim Mulier Sportpark, 2019 |
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Hoofddorp Pioneers vs. Haarlem DSSPim Mulier Sportpark
Honkbal Hoofdklasse
Haarlem, The Netherlands
2:00 PM
Outside the Game:
I was up early for my next-to-last day in-country. I went down to the restaurant for the hotel breakfast, another massive affair, starring mostly cheese and meats that turned into a fresh-bread sandwich of love and calories. I went back upstairs for a nap before showering and heading out.
After a week or so of planning, my nefarious plan to see the van Gogh Museum was coming to fruition. I took the metro down to Museumplein, and then walked to the line for the museum with my ticket for the first group of the day. It was a sizable line-up, but it went fast. There were three American women in line with me who were wondering if they would be able to go the Rijksmuseum later, and I told them that there wasn't really a line to get in or specific entry times for that, so they should be fine going after there visit here, and then we were all whisked into the museum.
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| Van Gogh Museum |
I did my old trick of heading to the top floor and working down, and in so doing I missed most of the crowd for most of my visit, even if I was seeing everything in reverse chronological order. The museum was very well done in telling the story, but it had a policy of no pictures, not for art preservation purposes, but to prevent big hold-ups at the most popular works of art. I respected the prohibition, but there was one smug-looking lady who was taking pictures with her phone at every painting. But she eventually got caught by security guards after being warned, and I'm not sure what happened to her. I like to think she was killed, but probably not.
Anyway, so I made my way through the exhibition. I'm not a big van Gogh guy, but you come to the man's home, you have to go to his house. I eventually made my way to the gift shop, where I took pictures just to take pictures at this point. I bagged up on merchandise, including my favorite piece of merchandising ever: The Potato Eaters potato crisps.
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| Awful and awesome |
Now here's where things get weird. After securing my purchases, I went outside and decided to take a picture of the crisps bag. As I was doing this on the pavement outside the museum, the three American ladies walked by again. We did the polite nod thing, and they went walking away. After I got my shot, I stopped at one of the food kiosks on Museumplein and got a waffle, and as I got on line, I saw the three Americans walking away with their own waffles, and one of them clearly saw me. Okay, great. Well, what are you going to do?
I sat down and ate my waffle, and then walked back to the metro stop to catch the subway back to Centraal. To get there, you have to walk past the Rijksmuseum entrance, and there was some large mascot-looking character doing something in the museum, and so I stopped to look. And locked eyes with the same American lady who was in the museum and watching the character.
Oh, god. Oh, god, no.
So, on the off chance any of you ladies are reading this, I'm very, very sorry, and I swear I wasn't stalking you.
Dealing with residual social anxiety for the rest of the walk, I went back to the hotel to lock myself away from people for a bit and start to organize all my stuff for packing the next day and grab a short anxiety nap. I then snatched up my game bag and took the short train ride to the station in Haarlem for the stadium. I arrived there with no problem, but I was having a bit of an issue orienting myself. Thankfully, there was a map right at the station, and as I was trying to suss out my position, a local came up to dump his recyclables in the bins at the station. He saw me looking and gave me some quick directions, and I was on my way for the short walk to the park.
After the game in the late afternoon, I got to the station just after the train left. In the short wait for the next one, I finished up my scorecard, and then boarded a crowded train back to Sloterdijk. I was able to upgrade from a jumpseat in the exit area to a real seat for the rest of the short ride after a stop or two, and then I went back to my room to drop off my bag and shower.
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| Dinner at De Stallmeesters |
That evening, I decided to give Nieumarket a shot for dinner. After a short metro ride, I was walking around the Amstel canal area. I spotted a traditional Dutch cafe bar, and since I hadn't eaten at one yet and time was running out, I went into De Stallmeesters and had a nice dinner of parsnip soup and an angus burger while looking out over the canal. I walked around for a while before heading back to the hotel, doing some more pre-packing, and then hitting the hay.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Pim Mulier Sportpark |
There are two fields within Pim Mulier Sportpark. There is the larger and nicer Pim Mulier Stadium, and then there is the ballfield at Pim Mulier Sportpark, among smaller fields for lower-level baseball and softball. Pim Mulier Stadium is a two-level affair, with two sections of seating of modern flip-down seats, a top patio with a full restaurant, a business club area, and a small hall of fame. There are posters for the national baseball team, and it would seem that this facility (around A+ or AA in America) was also used for tournaments. This is not the Honkbal Hoofdklasse league's team ballpark. There are two top-level men's teams in Haarlem. They switched parks in the recent past, but then the other team got relegated out of Honkbal Hoofdklasse, so now the top-level team plays at the lesser Pim Mulier Sportpark ballfield, as the first team still has rights to the stadium. Still following?
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| DSS Clubhouse across the way |
That particular park was nearly all chain-link fences, as was the case in The Hague. The bullpens and dugouts are on the outside of the main fence, with just the field inside. The digital scoreboard sits on in left field against the backdrop of trees and an apartment building construction rising in right-center above the advertising-laden outfield wall. The spectator area is relatively tiny. There is a small clutch of molded plastic seats right behind home plate, with a small pillbox of a press box on top. A patio behind the playing area holds some free-standing chairs, and fans bring their own. A raised dais on the first-base side of home has a long, high table with bar seats behind it. There is a small canteen under the stands, but most of the food (and facilities) are across the sidewalk at the main clubhouse for all the DSS teams. There are small memorial to Dick Hoff and Ruud Naaktgeboren has his #2 retired on the outfield wall.
The small crowd was a typical Dutch 100-200 people and dogs, but much closer to the former. There were some visiting fans who were huddled on chairs on the third-base side. The game was no-frills, as with most Dutch matches, although for some reason they played some very hick-y American country music between innings. The fans (and announcers) were very into the game, and happy with the home victory.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Scoring with program |
When I showed up, I was confused by the stadium situation, to the point that I was horrified that I might not have checked the home stadium correctly and had gone to the wrong place again. Walking further in, I saw the other park and was slightly more reassured, if not more confused. I took pictures of both parks and then walked around a little. As it got closer to game time, I was greeted by an old man at the gate who handed me the only program I would receive in my entire trip to see Dutch baseball.
I tried to go to the little kiosk underneath the stands, such as they were, and the helpful man there said the main concessions (and bathrooms, by the way) were across the road the main DSS clubhouse. And so it was that the standard European clubhouse was by the soccer fields, with the regular posters and trophies, and clubhouse bar and grill. I grabbed some food and headed back across for the game, sitting for the first section of the game in the molded plastic seats behind home plate. I was able to clearly hear the announcers, who were very much homers. When there was one questionable pitch called a strike, I clearly heard from behind me "Niet" ("No").
As the sun got to be a little much in the later innings, I moved over to the shade on the first base side by the home dugout. The older gentleman who gave me my program before and I started chatting at that point. He had started playing baseball with softball as a boy in New Zealand before coming home to join family in the Netherlands. He helpfully explained some things, including how the lower-level team managed to get the nicer stadium (local sports politics, as stated above) and the fact that the teams were just getting by to pay their rent on the stadium grounds. He feared that several teams were going to go belly up in the next few years.
He also talked about the pressure that the top-level schedule put on the very semi-professional players on the team. With three games and at least one practice every week, the players were making a significant sacrifice during the season, giving up all their weekend mornings and at least two nights. The players on the field really wanted to be there and put in a lot of effort to play. It was a very humanizing thing to hear, coming from a land where the base minimum player at the top level makes a half-million dollars a year, and the thought of a second job is the furthest things from their minds.
He wished me luck as the game ended, as he was heading off to a big social for the softball league.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Pioneers vs. DSS |
This rematch of the "battle of nearly identical red teams" of Pioneers and DSS at the other's locale also switched up the ending.
The Pioneers came out strong early, as a leadoff hit by pitch was followed by four straight singles (though not without some controversy) that brought four runs across the plate, giving them the early 4-0 nod. Haarlem started strong themselves with a double, then a strikeout nixed on a passed ball, making it first and third. A sacrifice fly to center brought in a run, but that was it, cutting the lead to 4-1. The second went in a blink, with only a leadoff single caught stealing for Hoofddorp, and DSS went in order. The Pioneers went in order in the top of the third, and Haarlem just a walk in their half.
Hoofddorp went in order again in the fourth, and while DSS started their half of the inning strong with back-to-back singles (scoring one run on a late throw), that was all they got, leaving it 4-2 after four. The anemic Pioneers went in order yet again in the fifth, but a walk-a-thon consisting of four walks only interrupted by a ground-out, and a two-out single got Haarlem three runs to take their first lead, 5-4. In the sixth, Hoofdoorp got a leadoff walk to second on an error, but he got caught sleeping on the bag and nothing came across. DSS did everything but score in their half of the frame, with two singles and walk loading the bases, but killing the threat with no runs.
The Pioneers had only a single to show for the top of the seventh, but Haarlem went back to their scoring ways. A leadoff double and a single got a run in, making it 6-4, but a failed suicide squeeze and other mayhem ended the damage there (see below). In the top of the eighth, Hoofddorp had just a walk to show for it, but DSS kept scoring, with four walks, two singles, and a double bringing in four more to expand the lead to a more comfortable 10-4. In their last licks, the Pioneers turned two singles and a passed ball into a run, but nothing more, placing the final score at 10-5, DSS.
The Scorecard:
Pioneers vs. DSS, 05/25/19. DSS wins, 10-5.
I was using the BBWAA scorebook again.
Lots of weird stuff in this one. We start in the top of the first, where a single brought in a run, and the second runner also attempted to make it home, but he was pretty clearly out 7-2, but was called safe. That was worthy of a note. In the bottom of the first was the rare K erased on a passed ball. The bottom of the second had a batter hit a pop-up that looked foul, but the catcher dropped it in fair territory, and the runner was easily put out 2-4. In the bottom of the fifth, there was the good ole' CS 8-1-5 on a single to left-center, where the center fielder hit the pitcher as cutoff, who still had time to throw out a runner trying to make it to third from first. In the top of the sixth, there was an E1 on an attempted pick-off throw to first that was then erased CS 1-4 when he took too big a lead at second. And in the rarest of occasions in this modern age, there was a 3-2 putout on an attempted suicide squeeze. There was also an appeal play to third that same half-inning, which was denied. The bottom of the eighth had one last weirdo, with a CS 8-2 on a runner trying to make it home from first on a double to center.
I also started putting a red dot by a player that had a memorable line score. The first recipient was DSS' first baseman, who had a split of 0 AB, 2 R, 0 H, 1 RBI thanks to a sacrifice fly and four walks. With the help of the scoreboard and the program, I was able to get all of the players down, except one pitcher for the Pioneers who was not in the program or announced clearly on the PA.
The Accommodations:
I was at the Holiday Inn Express again. Beside the extended time in the morning for breakfast, I didn't spend an awful lot of time there this day.
2019 The Netherlands
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