Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amsterdam. Show all posts

Monday, November 10, 2014

Tel-Aviv to Toronto via Amsterdam on KLM - Part 2 With Whisky Tasting Notes

For the sake of completeness, I thought I'd add a note about my flight on KLM from Tel-Aviv to Toronto via Amsterdam.  The blog for the route the other way is here.

Like most other European flights, KLM leaves Tel-Aviv for Amsterdam at about 5:20 a.m.  This means getting to the airport at about 2:30 a.m.  It's a nasty start to any trip.  I suppose it works well for Israelis with short term business in Europe who would like to arrive in the morning.  But for travellers back to North America, it is quite painful and tiring.

The lines can be long at Ben Gurion Airport (particularly for these early morning flights to Europe) but they move along reasonably quickly.  Although the line-up looked quite daunting when I arrived at the airport at about 2:45 a.m., I moved through it in less than 15 minutes. 
  
The flight from Tel-Aviv to Amsterdam is between 4 1/2 and 5 hours, depending on tail winds.  The KLM planes are quite cramped with no video or other entertainment.  A breakfast of sorts was served.  I opted for the vegetarian meal and received something that vaguely resembled an omelet.  The seats were very tight.  However, I was extremely lucky and wound up with a vacant seat beside me.  This was pretty incredible given that the flight was otherwise completely packed.  Even with the extra room, the seat was still cramped but it was much more endurable.  The flight attendants were quite friendly, helpful and accommodating.  They came around often offering drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.  They were cheerful and polite.  They spoke English well though I don't think I heard any of them speaking Hebrew (even Air Canada has some Hebrew speaking flight attendants for flights to Israel).  I wound up assisting with some translation services for some Haredim whose language skills were limited to Hebrew, Yiddish and perhaps Aramaic.

We arrived in Amsterdam ahead of schedule, just before 9:30 a.m.  I then had a four hour wait until the flight to Toronto.  That scheduling is not nearly as convenient for flying to Toronto as some other European cities, but, then again, Schipol airport is huge and has lots to do.  There are some great places to eat, many different shops and lots of places to relax.  

I wandered around for a while in the different duty free shops including a chocolate shop, a cheese shop and a book store.  Then I found the perfect place - "The Exquisite Whisky Shop" located near lounge 2.   It features a huge tasting menu and many whiskies for sale.  I had a few hours, so I figured I might as well do some sampling.  

I sat down and thumbed through the menu booklet which included various whisky "flights" - groups of three that had been put together as suggested combinations - as well as single options.  The prices ranged wildly.  You could sample something fairly common for as little as 5 Euros.  Or you could try the Louis XIII Cognac for 100 Euros a shot. 

I settled on a "flight tasting" of three peated whiskies that looked interesting.  The cost was 15 Euros (about $21 Cdn). These are the single malts that I sampled:

1.  Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 11 - I was told that it was not widely available but that it was very popular and sells out quickly.  Only 12000 bottles were released.  It was about 120 Euros a bottle.  It was smoky - yet it had a very interesting range of tastes to it.  Overall, I quite liked it even though I generally tend to prefer smoother whiskies.  It was a cask strength Scotch - 59.5% alcohol.  I enjoyed it straight up as well as with a bit of water. 

2.  Talisker "Dark Storm" - This was somewhat more smoky - supposedly aged in "charred barrels" - yet still with a fairly interesting taste to it.  It is apparently the smokiest whisky that Talisker has every sold. I enjoyed it but not as much as the first glass that I had tasted.

3.  Bruichladdich Octomore - This was super smoky, described as "super heavily peated."  It was too much smoke for me - a peat rating of 167, which is apparently off the charts....

All of that was 15 Euros - (for a "flight) but my server was generous with the servings. I guess she liked me (or hoped I would spend a lot of money) so she offered me some Cragganmore 19 (on the house) - a special edition carried exclusively by duty free shops.  It was okay but nothing too exciting.  It was not very smoky but had some interesting fruity tastes.

The generous attendant suggested that I try the Old Pulteney 21 for another 7 Euros.  Apparently this one was rated as the best whisky in Jim Murray's 2012 Whisky Bible.  I had a look at my watch.  Lots of time until the next flight.  I looked around a bit at the other offerings.  Ultimately, I said "what the heck" and plunked down another 7.5 Euros.  Since I was wavering, she provided me with a very generous serving.  This offering was fruity and interesting - not smoky at all.  It was apparently aged in both a bourbon cask and an oloroso cask.  So it had a very sweet finish.

At this point, I thought I was pretty much done (in more ways than one).  But the very helpful Scotch pro decided to really spoil me.  She brought out a glass of Laphroaig 25 year - that she explained costs 400 Euros a bottle.  She quietly told me "not to tell the manager" - and hid the bottle quickly....(though I am quite sure this is all part of the promotion and sales in the place). I have to say that this one was quite nice, even sublime.  It was not nearly as smoky as some of the less expensive Laphroaigs that I have had.  It had a range of interesting tastes and only a relatively mild peaty taste.  It is a cask strength whisky with an alcohol content of 59.5%. 

So I guess that adds up to about 6 healthy shots...Finishing the tasting with that last dram was somewhat like the encore at a good concert.  It brought everything to a nice conclusion and left me with lots of time to make my way over to the gate for the next flight.  Overall, I can't say that the prices at this shop were amazing - but the selection was nice - and the people at the tasting shop were quite friendly, helpful and generous....For whisky lovers, it is a great way to spend some time at the Amsterdam airport without necessarily spending a huge amount of money.

I made my way over to the gate and I still had about two hours to go.  So I found a comfortable chair and rested for a while.  There is free internet at the airport with a sign-in, for 1/2 an hour.  

Each gate has its own security machines, including full body X-ray machines.  I didn't pay too much attention to the gate lineup until about an hour and twenty minutes before the flight.  At that point, I went to wait in line - and it was painful.  It was an incredibly long and slow moving line-up.  They were processing one or two people at a time.  With a line-up of more than 200 people, all winding around through the gate, this meant standing in line for close to an hour and moving along at a creeping speed.  Ouch.  It was probably about the worst security line up I have been in, other than the line-up at JFK (or maybe the Boston airport).  

Nothing new to report on the seating once I was in the plane.  It was still extremely cramped and the video system was still ancient, low resolution and poor sound.  That being said, I managed to watch a few enjoyable movies.  I didn't sleep much between Amsterdam and Toronto since it was a daytime flight.  Miracle of miracles, I wound up with an empty seat next to me for the second straight flight.  That was very fortunate given the width of the seats. 

But once again, the flight attendants were cheerful, helpful and constantly available.  The Asian vegetarian meal that I had ordered was fine (some curried chic peas and tofu).  The house wine was decent.  It was a South African Cabernet-Shiraz.  The cabin crew were also offering VSOP Cognac.  I grudgingly accepted, several times.   

Overall, it is a brutally uncomfortable way to fly but the flight attendants do their best to take your mind off the physical discomfort. The flight itself was uneventful and we arrived about 15 minutes early, despite a 1/2 hour delay in leaving.

When I arrived in Toronto I couldn't resist taking this picture of two planes, side by side...

One of the airlines is El Al.  And right next to it....I believe that is Pakistan Airlines.  I wonder if the respective crews had the chance to mingle and get to know each other a bit.  Since Israel and Pakistan do not have diplomatic relations, there are probably few opportunities for this type of exchange.

In any event, that side bit has nothing to do with flying KLM between Toronto and Tel-Aviv.  Once again, as I have said before, it is worth considering if the price is right.  You can spend a day in Amsterdam from Toronto to Tel-Aviv and spend a few hours in the whisky shop from Tel-Aviv to Toronto.  If you have no interest in whisky or Amsterdam, well, you might need to consider another airline or bring along several books.


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

KLM: Toronto to Tel-Aviv. Stopover in Amsterdam

KLM wing view
With all of the changes to Air Canada's Aeroplan program (the "altitude program" for frequent flyers), it has become much less attractive for many people to fly Air Canada regularly.  For starters, Air Canada now awards Aeroplan points at a greatly reduced rate for most flights.  With some partners, no Aeroplan miles are earned at all.  And the price for an Air Canada flight is often several hundred dollars more than a flight on one of the other airlines.

So I decided to take a cheaper flight on a different system.  I flew KLM this time from Toronto to Tel-Aviv with a lengthy stopover in Amsterdam.  The price was significantly lower than any available Star Alliance flight.  Only flights with Turkish Air or Alitalia were close in price.  Since I was traveling with someone this time - and he was changing through Amsterdam, I decided to join him.  I should note that he purchased a KLM flight, round trip, Toronto to Tel-Aviv, for just over $700 Cdn including all taxes.  That was at least $500 less than the lowest priced Air Canada or El Al flight.  These are my notes about the flight and about the stopover in Amsterdam.

Overall, I would say that it was quite fun to stop and spend the day in Amsterdam.  But to do so, you have to get through the KLM flight, which was brutal, compared to just about any other airline that I have used in the past 5 years (and reviewed on this site).

The main advantage of KLM was the price.  It was quite a bit cheaper than just about any other carriers - other than Turkish or Alitalia.  I was considering trying one of those but opted for a day in Amsterdam.

KLM leaves Toronto from Pearson International's Terminal 3, which is the older terminal.  There was little difficulty in the boarding process.  We were offered lounge access for about $30 Cdn (I had no special status on KLM so I would not have been able to get into the lounge otherwise).  My flying companion decided that this was a good idea so we spent a couple of hours in the lounge.  It was not nearly as nice as the Air Canada lounge in Terminal 1.  The food and drink selections were more limited.  Even the seats were less comfortable.  But even with the additional cost of paying for the lounge, flying KLM was still far less expensive than Air Canada.

Boarding was quite a jungle.  It was fairly disorganized, although the ground staff did their best to board passengers by row number.  They tried to stick to that but it was all taking place in such a crowded space that it seemed like a far lengthier and more disorganized process than many other airlines.

The biggest problem with KLM was the seats.  While I may have gained a couple of pounds since my last flight, this clearly felt like the narrowest seat I have sat in over the course of my five years traveling back and forth between Toronto and Israel.  I could barely get into the seat, let alone move in any direction once I was in it.  I was sitting at window seat and there were two people in the other seats next to me (the plane configuration was 3-4-3).  I was so uncomfortable, I just didn't know what to do.  I couldn't concentrate on the book I had, so I wound up watching a really dumb movie.

The plane did have personal entertainment systems, though they were the old-style systems, like those used on many Austrian Air planes.  The screen was low resolution and was not a touch-screen.  The selection was quite limited.  The sound was terrible.  While this was still a step up over El-Al (the planes between Toronto and Israel have no personal screens), it was nowhere close to the systems used by other airlines like Air Canada, United, US Air, Lufthansa, etc.,.

I had ordered an Asian vegetarian meal.  It was one of the smallest meals I have seen on a transatlantic flight.  It was served more than 2 hours into the flight (which was only 6 1/2 hours in total to begin with).  The meal included lentils, white rice, tofu and salad but I was still quite hungry.  The "house" wine was a South African Cabernet-Shiraz.  It was tasty.  The flight attendants also offered a variety of after dinner drinks including cognac.  So the drink service was comparable to most of the other European airlines or Air Canada.  (The American airlines all charge $7 for a bottle of lousy wine).  The flight attendants were cheerful and friendly and came around often.  I have no complaints about the beverage service or the flight attendants themselves.  But it is difficult to get past the tremendous discomfort of sitting in such a tiny, cramped seat on an overnight flight.

For all of my complaints about flying on KLM from Toronto to Amsterdam, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed being in Amsterdam.  It was my first time.  We had approximately 13 hours from the time our flight arrived in Amsterdam until the next flight to Tel-Aviv.  We decided to try and make the most of it.

Getting to the centre of Amsterdam is quite easy and convenient.  I should note that we first found a locker in the Amsterdam airport to store our carry on bags.  This was a great idea and made our trip that much easier.  Locker locations are clearly marked, easy to find and reasonably priced.  We then took the "inter-city" train from Schipol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal Station.  The cost was about 18 Euros for two of us, round-trip.  The train ride itself was about 15 minutes.  It was smooth and comfortable.

Anne Frank House Line-Up
Our first stop was the Anne Frank House.  I had read that it would have been better to buy tickets in advance to avoid the long line-ups.  But when I had visited the on-line site, about a week before the trip, the advance tickets were already sold out.  Since the attraction is so highly rated, we decided to wait to see it despite the line up.  But I have to say, it was a 2 1/2 hour wait to get into the museum.  It was cold and windy outside, perhaps 10 or 12C.  Not pleasant at all. 

The Museum itself was definitely worth visiting, though ideally without the lengthy wait.  Centred around the life story of Anne Frank and her famous diary, the museum is, essentially, a Holocaust museum, using the story of Anne Frank as the vehicle.  The museum is housed in a reconstructed version of the Frank house and involves climbing up some very steep and narrow staircases and traveling from room to room in the house in which Anne Frank hid from the Nazis for more than two years.  There were some very moving exhibits including the actual Anne Frank diary, the exhibit with information about Auschwitz-Birkenau and a video montage at the end with comments from a range of personalities about the story of Anne Frank.  The museum is apparently one of Amsterdam's most visited tourist sites.  It is a fascinating place and it is heartening to see so many people, from so many different countries, visiting the site.

After our museum visit, we took a short walk over to the Pancake Bakery, a well known and highly recommended pancake house.  Since we had planned this in advance, we had a Google map route.  It was a short walk and very convenient.  I had a veggie pancake - a giant pancake with a melange of stir fried veggies including broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, onions and some feta cheese.  It was quite
Cinnamon Ice Cream Dessert - Pancake Bakery
good.  My dining companion had a salmon cream cheese pancake which was somewhat less tasty.  We both had coffee which was okay but nothing more.  Overall, it was a neat place, moderately priced and reasonably filling.  We shared a dessert - cinnamon flavoured ice cream with fruit compote, Belgian chocolate shavings and whipped cream.  Neither of us ate the whipped cream and we couldn't finish the whole dessert.  But it was quite tasty.

From there, we headed off the old Jewish Quarter.  We had a Google map for this route as well.  We took a short walk, got on a tram car and we were dropped off right next to our destination in less than 10 minutes.  We had purchased an all day pass for the Amsterdam transportation system so, again, this was quite easy and convenient.  Once you buy these passes, you simply swipe the pass as you get on the tram car and then again once you get off.  No cash is used anywhere on this system.

Portuguese Synagogue Amsterdam - Entrance
Our main destination was the Portuguese Synagogue.  This is a wonderful place, originally completed in 1675.  It is a beautiful synagogue with ornate detailing.  When used, it is lit up entirely by candle light with no electricity or heating.  It is currently used on Yom Kippur and on selected special Shabbat services during the year.  It is also used for concerts and some holidays.  Visitors can pay an admission fee and take a tour of the entire synagogue complex with an audio device that provides pre-recorded information about various spots in the complex.  The cavernous synagogue includes rows of original wooden benches, and huge candelabras.

Portuguese Synagogue - "Esnoga" - Amsterdam
Esnoga Respository - Judaica
Esnoga Library
The synagogue complex also includes a basement repository of religious articles - Torah breastplates, crowns, pointers, Etrog boxes and many other items, hand crafted in silver and gold and often studded with ornamental precious or semi-precious stones.  The repository also includes a massive library, that is still in use.

We spent more time than we had planned in this complex and wound up skipping the nearby Amsterdam Jewish museum and the old Ashkenazi synagogue.  But this synagogue (known as the "Esnoga") alone easily justified the lengthy stopover in Amsterdam.

Traveling through Amsterdam, I couldn't help but feel that I was in a special place.  The architectural style of the buildings is attractive, the canals running through the city are enticing and there are so many cafes, museums, interesting stores and other places that I felt that I would need at least another week in Amsterdam - or perhaps several more lengthy stopovers.  We wound up missing the Van Gogh museum, the Rembrandt museum and the other great museums that Amsterdam is known for housing.  We didn't even make it to Amsterdam's unique Sex Museum, though we passed by the entrance.  We also ran out of time to hit the red light district, the famous coffee houses (and hash bars) and the Heineken beer factory.  From what I could see, I think it would be quite a bit of fun to just wander around or bike through the city without any set list of places to visit.

Overall, even though the KLM flight from Toronto to Amsterdam was cramped and uncomfortable, the stopover made it all worthwhile.

We took a train back from Amsterdam to the airport and even had time to wander around the duty free shops for a bit.  Our flight was uneventful.  The plane was very modest with no entertainment screens or other amenities.  Fortunately, it is only a 4 1/2 hour flight to Tel-Aviv, though it arrives at 2:20 a.m., which is also brutal.

Would I do it again?  Well, despite the discomfort of KLM, the price was right and Amsterdam was great.  There is lots more to see there.  So if I have another opportunity to save lots of money on an airline ticket and spend the day in Amsterdam, I will probably do it again, despite the various drawbacks, which, in particular, include the awful flight times and the super-cramped seating. But as you probably know from reading previous blogs, I tend to choose experience over luxury...