STEEMFEST - Recap of Day Two

in #steemfest7 years ago (edited)

Did you miss my post about Day One of SteemFest? If so click here to read it.


The second day of SteemFest began with a canal boat tour of the city that embarked just a few blocks from the hotel on the Amstel river.

The euphoria of the previous day was still running high as we lazily made our way under dozens of bridges made of brick and stone to the oldest part of Amsterdam for Sunday’s Red Light Mashup Tour.

This day’s events were more relaxed could be taken at your own pace, which was a nice counterbalance to the first day’s intense schedule of presentations and workshops. By day two the ice had been broken and it was apparent that deeper bonds were forming between many of us. We felt like real friends now instead of just online acquaintances.

First off on the Red Light Mashup was the Quartier Putain coffeehouse where @fairytalelife did live portrait drawings and many of Steemit’s artists displayed their work.

Complimentary drinks were offered with the show of a SteemFest wristband. It was nice to enjoy a warm cup of good coffee on a cool day and soak up the wonderful creativity of the talented visual artists on the platform. They represented themselves very well.

Our next stop was the coffee shop, De Koffieschenkerij. On the terrace @roelandp ’s father and younger brother made us authentic Dutch pancakes from their very own family recipe.

For those of you who’ve never had a Dutch pancake they were nothing like pancakes we have in America. They were paper thin (like a crepe) and made of whole wheat. They came off the griddle piping hot and were sprinkled with powdered sugar and honey and then rolled up before they were plated. These things were fabulous. Even though they were filling I could have eaten two or three.

After we were full of pancakes and happy we made our way to the Old Church for a quick look inside before for our 3:00 time slot to climb to the top of the bell tower. This church was cavernous, beautiful, and cold. It actually felt colder inside the church than it was outside. We had to laugh at the fact that some of the big old Dutch banks had very ornately carved wooden pews that were elevated at least five feet above the rest of the seating in the church (to the left in the picture below). I couldn’t help but think these special pews were probably the great-great-great grandfather of the corporate box seats we see at sporting events today.

Next was the Old Church’s bell tower, the mother of all climbs. This tower was built in the 1500’s.

The stairs were so steep they were more like a succession of wooden ladders. I wish I could've gotten a picture of the stairs but I was concentrating on the climb. At the half way point the original bells of the tower were on display.

After we climbed a bit higher we saw the main bell, made in 1659.

Those brave enough to make the climb were rewarded with a breathtaking view high above the oldest neighborhoods of Amsterdam. Even more arduous than the climb up was the climb down. Those ancient wooden stairs were so steep they had to be descended just as you climb down a ladder, backwards.




Day Two ended with the SteemFest’s closing dinner at the Volkshotel at 7:30pm. We were treated to a delicious meal after a short speech by Roeland and @ned. @nanzo-scoop introduced himself and I had the pleasure to chat with him for a few moments. He’s been a great supporter of my work on the platform and it was nice to meet him. I was seated next to @steemrollin and we had a deep conversation about the next books in the ACD trilogy of novels, his online marketplace Peerhub, and ideas to improve the user experience on the Steemit. I also spoke with @ballinconscious, @michelle.gent, and @xanoxt.

As I wrap up this post the flight tracker tells me we are about thirty-three thousand feet somewhere over the mid-Atlantic, my energy is even soaring higher. I was going to try to sleep on the flight but I can’t because my creativity is on absolute hyper drive. The thought of going back to the grind makes me a little sad but there’s a multitude of thoughts, ideas, and emotions swirling around in this head of mine.

This weekend changed me in ways I can’t yet fully explain. It was a vital step in my life’s journey. The core of who I am is the same but now I feel more fearless, more ambitious, more open, and I have many new friends…maybe even a few lifelong ones. My wife and I fell in love with both the freedom and charm of Amsterdam as well as the openness and kindness of its people.

I feel as though for once in my life all of the stars were in alignment and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I’m one lucky bastard because this weekend I was a part of history, the first annual SteemFest. I can’t shake the thought that one day there will be a film made about this weekend (akin to movie The Social Network only much better of course.) I can’t help but wonder Who will play me? My best guess is Rowan Aktinson. : )

Thanks to all who contributed to the event. I already can't wait for SteemFest Two, I hope to see you there!


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wonderful city for sure, I spent 8 months there out of college...would have loved to go to steemfest there and am so pleased everyone had such a great experience, once again smiling as I read this and every steemfest report :-))))

Thanks, @natureofbeing! I'm sure living there for 8 months really gave you a different perspective than going there for vacation. My wife and In absolutely fell in love with the place. I can see us even living there part of the year. We've downloaded Dutch into Duolingo and are already practicing. : )

I too liked living there although it was in 1989-90 and it was MUCH more provincial. I was working in a small village 6 km outside of Amsterdam and literally had kids throw rocks at me because I was a foreigner and had a few bad experiences along these lines in Amsterdam itself. Thank goodness for th internet...I'm sure this wouldn't happen now! But all in all, I really liked the city. Dutch, hope it better for you than it did for me, languages usually come easily for me but I had a really hard time with Dutch.

Wow, that's too bad you had that experience. It sounds like things have really changed there since then! We're just into the very basics now of learning the language but it doesn't look easy. I started learning Mandarin Chinese and French a while back but didn't progress very far due to lack of time.

wow Mandarin...that's a challenge!!! Love French, it was my minor in college so I was conversationally fluent at that time but sadly can barely remember how to carry a sentence at this point, lol. Anyway, have fun with DUtch, I'm sure you will do better than my few words and phrases I managed to gain.

I didn't progress much beyond simple phrases. It was difficult!

Excellent insight @ericvancewalton! I do like a little Amstel beer and a creative smoke whilst in Amsterdam. Jamaican grass is great for us writers you know!
I hope your dendritic fireworks are now suitably refreshed :))

Thanks @mindhunter. A little ganga does coax out the creativity! I didn't actually partake this time but got several contact highs from just walking near people who were smoking. As we ate breakfast prior to boarding the canal boats the hotel restaurant played a Bob Marley medley, it couldn't have been more perfect. He's one of my favorite musicians.

One can never die without smoking some grass to his 'Exodus' album; I do look forward to your new dendritic musings on Steemit ;)

Thanks @mindhunter. Agreed! Exodus is one of my favorites. Kaya is my all time favorite original album of his.

'Coming In From The Cold' was ironically one of the last songs he wrote before he died, and is one of my favourites :)

I think I'll go with 'Uprising' as my favourite one :)

I like that one too! The album cover art from Confrontation might just be my next tattoo.

Eric, you summed up my feelings exactly about this weekend. It was a treat and an honor to be a part of it.

Thanks @fairytalelife. Now I have to find a way to transition back to reality. I'm very excited for the months to come though. How are you feeling after the weekend?

Okay, I call dibs on Jack Black playing me! :-D

It was really great talking to you, but for me the next couple of days are going to be quite low key, as I need to regain some energy. I am no stranger to the kind of nervous energy that is coursing through me, but it is just kind of masking the fact, that I am running on fumes.

Still, just talking to people here inspired a serious of really profound insights, that I would have probably never thought of otherwise. I'll see if I'll be able to get them into posts, but for me just the experience of having so many in such a short time was really epic.

Anyway, thank you again, meeting you was really great!

Jack Black, yes! : ) A few days of rest will be a good thing for all of us after all of the excitement and time-zone hopping. It's going to be a bit of a challenge transitioning back to regular life after this weekend. I was glad to have met you, man. Take care of yourself!

This is a great article on STEEMFEST. Thanks for sharing. Upvoted and shared on Twitter✔ for my followers to read and understand more about STEEMIT and STEEMFEST. Now following and looking forward to reading more of your blog. Cheers. Stephen
https://twitter.com/StephenPKendal/status/798248691312168960

Thank you for the support and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

StephenPKendal Stephen P Kendal tweeted @ 14 Nov 2016 - 19:38 UTC

#STEEMFEST - Recap of Day Two..!! @Steemit

steemit.com/steemfest/@eri… / https://t.co/ti1mH0KnQw

Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.

Very cool Eric. I wish I could have been there. Thanks for the update. And thanks for the package - just arrived this afternoon! :)

Hi @anotherjoe. Yes, hopefully next year! I'm so glad it finally arrived! I hope you enjoy it.

Amstel River! They must have named it after your dog :) So glad you guys had a good trip, it sounds awesome. Thank you for sharing with us. Love the pictures.

We both wished we could've brought him with us! I'm glad you enjoyed the post! It was such a memorable trip.

I hope you are having a smooth journey home! Great seeing you at SteemFest (and airport).

Thank you @opheliafu. It was an incredibly long flight but we made it without a hitch. We were a little concerned that US Customs wouldn't let us keep the cheese we bought but they did. I hope your travels were comfortable. It was great talking with you this weekend! I followed your blog and am looking forward to more of your posts!

Verry glad to see you at steem fest. Hope you are having a nice flight home you and your wife!

Thank you, @skapaneas! It was nice seeing you too. How were your travels back?

I am just 3:30 hours by plane from Amsterdam so it was quite not that big of a deal. I had a lot rest trying to get sober yesterday...

Excellent post my friend @ericvancewalton, beautiful images, accompanied by the story step by step, it seems that we are in the place, thank you for making us feel present,
Congratulations on another great job

Thank you! I hope you can make it to the next SteemFest!

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