After the street art area on Spuistraat was taken over by developers, I went looking for where the artists had gravitated to. It seems that the NDSM wharf, on the north side of the water, is the place to be. So I dedicated some time to the area on this trip. However, I was unprepared sheer size of the area and I didn't allow enough time to do it justice. I would be surprised if I covered 1/4 of it. I encourage others who have visited this area to contribute to this thread because I really know very little about the place and it looks as though there is more of interest there as well. Perhaps even entertainment. I don't know.
Getting thereIt is ridiculously easy to get there. Go to Centraal Station and go all the way through, past all of the train platforms to the IJ side. This is foreign territory for me in Centraal Station. It looks different.
NDSM IJ-zijde2.jpg [ 781.1 KiB ]
Go out the other side of the train station and turn left to the ferry docks. Go all the way down until you see a giant bicycle parking area. That is the dock for the NDSM ferry. The ferry runs every half hour and is free. It runs until past 2 am on Friday and Saturday. Bless you Amsterdam.
NDSM Ferry Dock2.jpg [ 500.05 KiB ]
NDSM Ferry Times2.jpg [ 432.33 KiB ]
It's a short trip and provides a different view of the city. Lots of different boats along the way. A nice old building here and there. But then...
Then there was this:
Strange BuildingC2.jpg [ 719.1 KiB ]
Whose idea was
that? It looks like someone stacked up a bunch of shipping containers of different sizes. Was it made from a giant Lego set? Is this one of the 3-D printed houses I have heard about? And look at the lovely old brick building right next to it. The poor thing must be embarrassed.
When we go to the dock at the NDSM wharf, I saw something else unexpected - a submarine. Tagged with paint, of course.
NDSM Submarine2.jpg [ 372.29 KiB ]
Immediately upon disembarking, I encountered the Sexyland location that I posted in my Back in Amsterdam thread. That wasn't what I was there for though, so I bypassed it and headed the direction that I saw a number of other people going. The paintings were everywhere and on a much grander scale than Spuistraat. More like 5 Pointz in New York.