Awaiting us on the dining room table were four wine glasses and a complimentary bottle of red. Outside, through one of the brass portholes, twinkled the lights of the famous Magere Brug, or Skinny Bridge — one of Amsterdam’s most beloved spans.
That’s surely one of the nicer aspects of staying on a barge: sipping the adult beverage of your choice while drinking in one languid, liquid view after another.
Although our barge moved slightly if a large passing tour boat or commercial vessel kicked up waves, most of the time you could barely notice. That might not be the case on smaller houseboats, which might be more easily knocked around.
And while there’s generally ample head room, there are low ceilings in some spots even aboard a bigger boat like the Verwisseling. I knocked my head a few times before making a mental note of where I’d better watch it.
Security can be another drawback. Because it’s at street level, a boat is easier to burglarize, so it’s best not to bring aboard valuables.
Houseboats are different from hotels in other ways: They’re self-catering, so there’s no mini-bar (unless you stock the fridge yourself), no room service, and no maid to make your bed, though the owner is likely to pop by with fresh bath towels.
And like self-catering apartments, you have to pay a nonrefundable deposit in advance — typically 35 percent — and fork over the rest in cash upon arrival. That can be a little jarring to the uninitiated.
Smoking is forbidden or confined to the upstairs cabin on nearly all barges because of the fire hazard.
You also may have to forgo an Internet connection. We were supposed to have wireless access, but the miscreant tenants who preceded us stole the router.
One last caveat: Don’t leave the portholes open.
Frank Jonckers, the affable owner of the Verwisseling and two other Amsterdam boats, says an entire family of swans once got in through an open window, only to panic when they couldn’t get out, breaking glassware and soiling the boat as they flapped around. (Sure enough, we found a few telltale feathers when we swept up.)
None of the above should steer you away from the tranquility and sheer beauty of a barge.
A boat is a great place to come home to after a long day of sightseeing. It can also be a unique venue in which to entertain: I was in town to run the ING Amsterdam Marathon, and the barge comfortably accommodated 10 friends and colleagues who joined us aboard for a post-race pasta party.
One of our nicest moments was spent outside, up on deck in the bow with scarves flung around our necks, raising our coffee cups to passing vessels: a goofy bunch of “Pardon me but have you got any Grey Poupon?” posers proud of our boat and pretending it was really ours.
You couldn’t spend a more quintessentially Dutch holiday if you slept on a bicycle.
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If You Go ...
HOW TO BOOK: A number of companies rent barges. A good place to start is Houseboat and Apartment Hotel Amsterdam, http://houseboathotel.nl. You can also deal directly with a boat owner, which can get you a 10 percent discount, but it may be difficult to ensure he or she is reputable.
HOUSEBOAT MUSEUM: There’s lots of lore about barge life through the centuries, and you’ll find it under one roof at the Houseboat Museum, http://www.houseboatmuseum.nl/uk/start1.html, on Amsterdam’s Prinsengracht canal.
TOUR THE CANALS: Several companies offer tourists lovely rides through Amsterdam’s web of waterways; see http://www.amsterdam.info/tours/canalcruise/ for details. We chose the hop-on, hop-off option, which costs $23.50 (18 euros) for a 24-hour ticket and drops you at some of the Dutch capital’s major attractions, including the famed Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank House.
SIDE TRIPS: Stick with your “water wonderland” theme and hop a train to the harbor town of Enkhuizen, a world maritime center during the heyday of the Dutch East India Company in the 1800s. There, you’ll also find the Zuiderzee Museum: http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/?languageen.
Garden a Dutch treat
Museum a mash note to beer
To Buy or not to Buy, from Detroit, that is
