阿姆斯特丹周边 ( Marken, Volendam, Monnickendam）

Skip the jibberish below to find some nice familiar english words in line …

7月8日 星期日

今天是很有收获的一天，早上先去了安妮之家参观，然后坐巴士先后去了阿姆斯特丹的周边的小城马尔肯，福伦丹和蒙尼肯丹。去这三个地方是因为PJG的父亲在他1950年的旅游中是也到过那里。

马尔肯

坐大巴315大概40多分钟就直达马尔肯，从大概13世纪开始，这个孤立的小岛上的人们都靠捕鱼为生，到1957年，建立堤防后和大陆重新连接，这个堤防也是来往车辆的必经之路。1916年，这里曾遭受过巨大的洪水，几乎所以房屋都被淹没了，现在所看到的房屋几乎都是洪水后重建的。

这里真是个很清新的地方，很多独特的木制房屋都刷成了独特的绿色；蓝天，绿屋，点缀着每个家庭精心种植的花草，植物和田园，由依傍着大海，岸边停靠着各种私人帆船，真是一幅清新宁静的荷兰小镇美景。

Sunday, July 8

Today seemed more like two days; the first one experiencing the horror of Anne Frank’s life and the second one enjoying these beautiful towns north of Amsterdam. It was a very rewarding day. We took a bus to the small towns of Marken, Volendam and Monnickendam outside of Amsterdam. We went to these three places because PJG’s father had been there during his travels in 1950.

Marken

It takes about 40 minutes to get to Marken by bus. From about the 13th century, people on this once isolated island depended on fishing for a living. By 1957, after the dike was established it was connected to the mainland by a road. In 1916, after a huge flood, almost all the houses on the island were destroyed and so the houses that are there now are relatively new.

It is a very refreshing place, many unique wooden houses painted an iconic green. The blue sky and green houses dotted with flowers; the plants and gardens carefully planted by each family; a variety of private sailing boats docked at the shore gently bobbing on the water. Such is this beautiful view of the fresh and quiet Dutch town of Marken.

福伦丹

第二站是另一个艾瑟尔湖畔的古老渔村，我俩坐船大概30分钟从马尔肯过来，这里的游客明显比马尔肯要多很多，码头上充斥着饭店，咖啡馆，小吃摊和享受的游客们。我俩在这里只做了短暂的停留，找到了他父亲当年在门前留影的那间咖啡馆，拍了照片留了纪念 😃  他应该会自己写一篇的。

Volendam

The second stop is another ancient fishing village on the shore of the IJssel Lake, called Volendam. We took a 30 minute boat ride from Marken. There are obviously many more tourists here than in Marken. The pier is full of restaurants, cafes, food stalls and tourists enjoying the day. We only made a short stay here, found the coffee shop where his father took pictures in front and took a few photos to keep as a memory. PJG should write about this by himself.

蒙尼肯丹

我俩乘坐大巴，10分钟左右，到最后一站蒙尼肯丹，这里是喜欢水上运动者的家园，很多小型的船都停靠在这里。我俩来这里也是为了寻找一个点，在那里看一下他父亲曾经用黑白相机记录下的一幕。PJG来之前就已经确定好地点，当开始接近目标的时候，就听到震天的音乐，看到躁动的人群。走更近些，就看到这里真的是人山人海啊！ 空气里还弥漫着一股烧烤的香味，人们都在尽情的狂欢畅饮。没想到！！！  今天竟是这里一年一度的传统的熏鱼大赛！ 不会这么巧吧？ 我中午的午餐刚刚吃了超级好吃的熏鳗鱼，现在竟然误打误撞的进到了熏鱼大赛！ 是啊，这里最有名的特产就是熏鱼了。

很多很多人都拿出自家的烤炉在河边参加熏鱼大赛，中午的时候熏鱼都被送到10个评委手中，晚上8点多就会揭晓胜负。其实说是比赛，我倒觉得是一个和朋友家人出来这里放松，聚会的好机会。他们都很大方，我在拥挤的人群中拿着手机四处拍照，被一位大叔抓到我拍他的熏炉，结果他大方的给了我俩他烤的大虾吃，哈哈 😄 味道还真不错！  往前走，一位大叔给免费品尝他做的熏鱼加饼干；再往前挤，又被一位热情的大哥主动给啤酒喝！

Monnickendam

From Volendam we took a 10 minute bus, to our last stop in Monnickendan, one of Europe’s largest private sail boat harbors; many small boats are parked here. We are here to find a specific place from a photo, and look at the scene that his father snapped with his black and white camera. PJG has already determined the location before coming. As we approached the target, my feeling of boredom waned as I hear the quaking music and see the huge crowd. Getting closer, I saw that it really is very crowded! There is also strong smell of barbecue in the air, and people are enjoying a festival; so unexpected!!! Today happens to be the annual traditional smoked fish contest! What a coincidence! I had just eaten a super delicious smoked eel for lunch, and now we stumbled upon this smoked fish contest by mistake! Yes, but not surprisingly,  the most famous specialty here is smoked eel.

Many people with their own oven setup early in the morning and were participating in the smoked fish competition by the river. At noon, each contested had sent their smoked fish to the hands of ten judges and at 8 o’clock in the evening, they will reveal the outcome. Although staged as a competition, I really think it is just a good opportunity to come out and relax with friends and family. The people here are very generous. We squeezed between the crowds taking pictures with my phone; suddenly I was caught by a friendly old man who pulled me to his smoking oven and generously gave us two grilled prawns to eat. Haha tastes really good! Moving through the crowd, another man gave us a free taste of his smoked fish with biscuits he had made; then we kept squeezing forward and finally came upon a nice group and was offered a glass of beer … what a friendly crowd!!

今天真的是完美的一天，感受了历史，追寻了谜团，欣赏了美景，体验了传统，而且还品尝到了美食！ 😄😄 简直不能再有其它奢望了。

Today was a perfect day. I felt history; pursued mysteries, appreciated beauty; experienced traditions and best of all, tasted fine food! 😄😄 There can be no more extravagance in life.