Amsterdam, Netherlands – Day 1

Stage Manager’s Log
M.S. Prinsendam
Friday, June 23, 2006
Amsterdam, Netherlands – Day 1

Today was a rather long day. We treated it like a port day even though we didn’t arrive in Amsterdam until 1200. The nice thing was that there was no morning lecture, so I got the chance to sleep in a little. I got up to watch the last bit of sailing into the port, which was very interesting. We sailed up one of the canals into Amsterdam and then the ship had to turn around 180˚ before pulling up to the pier. It was a pretty impressive maneuver.

We had rehearsal for the show at 1230. Tonight’s show was a variety show with four of the performers we had over the past week. Rehearsal took almost two hours to get through everyone. It wasn’t too bad, though we did discover that Izabella and Scott who both use tracks with click have their click and tracks on opposite channels on their discs. It was an adventure, but it always is.

By the time rehearsal was over I had some time to get lunch. Then I really didn’t have enough time to get off the ship. So I relaxed a little, and enjoyed the nice weather and I read for a bit. I talked to Reed at PTC to confirm a few things as well.

I didn’t really have anything to do until showtime, but that wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t too much time. I got some dinner before the show and since we had early shows tonight we were done around 2130. I met up with the band after the show and we all got off the ship together. We met up with Chris and Rachel from the cast, and we also had Ashley and Jen from cruise staff with us. Jen had a friend, Petra who showed us around a little. We met up with the rest of the cast in Dam Square.

One of the most interesting things about Amsterdam is that there are more bikes than there are cars. They have separate bike lanes on every street, and if you are not careful they will run you over. Walking around you see bikes everywhere, and sometimes it seems like there are more bikes than people.

We all walked towards the Red Light District and stopped at a bar, tried the local beer. Then we continued on our way, as the Red Light district is one of those places that you have to see in Amsterdam at night. As you head toward it you start to see things like the Sex Museum, or the sex show theatres. As you walk down the alleys there it really gives new meaning to window shopping. There are girls that stand in the windows waiting for customers, and some that you would probably rather not see standing in the windows. I would be interested to know what some of Becca’s feminist friends think of what these girls here do by their own choice.

After a while, Stephen and I broke off from the group, as we had enough of the bars. We walked back into the middle of the town, and saw a couple more of the sights by night. I didn’t take my camera into town tonight, just because there were so many people around and it was night, and I didn’t want to have to worry about it, so no photos from today. Eventually we made our way back to the ship to go to bed.