plying her trade in the window next door to a fried-
chicken shop. She looks entirely nonplussed, of course,
but for me, the sheer, head-spinning oddness of this
ancient part of town is driven home like never before.
Amsterdam celebrates the 400th anniversary of
its postcard-friendly Canal Ring this year. Although
the ritzy central waterways are largely decorative,
construction of the north-western sector of town
started in 1613, after it was decided the city needed a
transport and sanitation infrastructure to support the
influx to Amsterdam of skilled migrants seeking
freedom from persecution.
Right now, though, we’re in a part of town that pre-
dates all that, where the medieval walls of the old centre
meet the waters of the IJ. The Schreierstoren defence
tower, loosely translated as ‘weeping tower’,
is so-called because it’s supposedly the point at which
Amsterdam’s womenfolk would bid a tearful farewell to
their sailors before they set off on their perilous journeys
of Golden Age discovery. Although that turns out to have
been something of a romantic falsification, it is certainly
the point fromwhich Henry Hudson set sail on his
voyage to America, which would result in the discovery
of Manhattan. “This is where Amsterdammeets the
world,” declares Coen.
Once we’ve navigated our way through the waters
of the Oosterdok – past Europe’s largest floating Chinese
restaurant and Renzo Piano’s amazing ship-shaped
science museum, NEMO – it’s time for a rest. Beside the
railway track, Coen spots a stationary freight barge
that’s storing materials for the construction of the long-
awaited Nord-Zuid metro line. We tether our canoes and
hoist ourselves onto the enormous vessel. Right on cue,
it starts to snow. Coen scouts an appropriate place for
erecting the tent he’s brought along in a large, plastic,
screw-top jar. I have more pressing concerns.
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