This evening I went with two of my new colleagues ( one Australian and one Moroccan) to SAIL. We had VIP tickets to a party being hosted by Amsterdam Weekly (a free funky English paper in Amsterdam) to enjoy the view from their harbour front offices.
SAIL is a “twice-a-decade” event, where hundreds of ships and vessels from all around the world congregate at the Amsterdam harbour. This year over 700 ships are participating, and the city has estimated that the event will bring over 2 million tourists to the city. Unfortunately there is a garbage strike on at the moment as well. Do the tourists just think Amsterdam is a filthy place?!
Tonight was “sail-in”--the first evening when all the ships coordinate their arrival time and form a large, albeit slightly chaotic, entrance parade. It was a very cool sight to see. The largest boat in the world (and no, this isn’t just one of my many exaggerations) is participating this year; a Russian tall ship measuring 118 m and dating from 1921!!
I half expected to see at any moment, pirates swinging from the numerous sails and invading the streets of Amsterdam. I suppose the hordes of spectators, those in particular who had had a few too many bruskies in the sun, were an appropriate replacement. Perhaps, for the sake of my personal amusement, I could convince a few to sport an eye patch and parrot? Whatcha think??
