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Published: September 19th 2008
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In quick succession, Margot drove my three friends and me to the most representative localities in Amsterdam, starting with the sea-of-bicycles around Central Station where people leave their bikes before catching their trains. Though I was very familiar with many of these localities from my previous visits to the city, I was surprised to be acquainted with others that had managed to remain under the radar for me.
The tour had a work-related objective though. Before starting our yearly International Broadcast Conference, we set off to capture highlights of Amsterdam on HD video to showcase at our company’s stand at the event. Nelson, Mathews, Josh and I got very quickly used to the procedure that started with a quick signal from Margot, and followed immediately with the four of us dropping off the car, grabbing the video equipment from the trunk and deploying the camera at the point of interest while Margo stayed at the wheel of the car just to the side of the road waiting for us.
While driving between locations, Margot would describe the place to be shot next so that we would know what was important to capture with our cameras. We spent the first
half of the day repeating this procedure many times. I was overwhelmed by the kindness and hospitality that Margot and her boss Pieter extended to us so that we could produce our Amsterdam video.
Unfortunately, as it usually happens in Amsterdam during this time of the year, the weather was not ideal for capturing colorful images; a featureless gray sky was to dominate the background of our entire shoot around the city.
Because Margot needed to return to work sometime during the middle of the afternoon, my colleagues and I agreed to drive by ourselves on a rental car to the Waterland area (e.g. Volendam and Monickendam) that I had visited a year ago. We hoped to be able to shoot one of those traditional buildings so readily associated with the Netherlands but so rarely found here anymore: traditional windmills.
A year ago when I traveled to Waterland by bus, I did not have any easy way to locate all of the points of interests that I had researched in the area (at least not in the time that I had available a year ago). Our rental car made all the difference in the World and we
were able to reach the access road to Volendam in about twenty-five minutes after we parted ways with Margot at our hotel.
As Murphy would have it, the weather turned for the better as soon as we had completed our shoot in Amsterdam. By the time we reached Waterland, a rich-blue sky with striking patterns of pink clouds had replaced the gray overcast… At least, any video and images captured here would look much more attractive than the ones captured in Amsterdam (the bulk of the shoot)..
Lo and behold! As we were reaching Volendam’s outskirts , the familiar silhouette of a Dutch traditional windmill loomed ahead of us. We promptly turned onto its narrow access road, parked the car in a small grassy field next to it and followed the same routine that we had used so many times earlier in the day with Margot.
After we had captured the required video and photos at the windmill, we headed for the center of Volendam and tried to reach the harbor area that I had visited by boat a year ago but found that because of of a town event going on at that exact time, the
Floating Garden...
Including shade tree road that would lead us there was fenced off by the authorities. Large crowds transformed the road into a large pedestrian walkway!
We skimmed the town beyond nearby parking areas that were full of cars where we could have otherwise left our rental car. When we finally found a place to park, it was at an industrial area some distance from the harbor; we walked for a while following the coastline until we finally reached the harbor area with our video and photo equipment on tow.
The very loud music should have been and indication for us, but we did not imagine the wild intensity with which the locals were celebrating. We had obviously arrived at the tail end of the party, judging by the large mounds of empty and crushed plastic bier cups that littered the main street and the sea water in the harbor (so much for Green Europe!). From time to time on this stretch, the road was completely blocked by large crowds of all ages dancing and drinking in the street, obviously having much more than just a good time.
After many tight passes through the dancing crowds, we managed to reach the
end of the harbor and without any of us getting sprayed with bier, We did some video shooting from this perspective and then used an alternate route, closer to the moored boats, to reach a brasserie that was not as wild as the establishments at the center of the dancing crowds; we stopped there to get a quick thing to eat and drink.
It was at this place where we met one of the locals who was wearing a monk costume and Halloween mask and found us to be unusual or interesting enough to be worth a conversation (Our foursome, though from the U. S. A., did not have a consistent or identifying “look”). His “where are you from?” question, initiated a long conversation that uncovered him as a fellow World traveler who had already spent considerable time in South America, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and within the rest of Europe.
The four of us admired the typical European disposition to abandon life’s responsibilities for months at a time to pursue Word travel. After sharing with us the pertinent details about the music festival that we bumped into in Volendam, our monk friend eventually was ready to rejoin the
town’s party and we continued our conversation and meal.
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Nazila Lajevardi
non-member comment
I really admire your photos.
You are such a Professional photographer. The way you write it reminds my trip to Amesterdam in this summer. Enjoy your trip.