We took the obligatory canal tour (as we had done in Copenhagen) and we chose a company which advertised at half the price of everybody else. This man was the captain and when we approached the boat, there were no other passengers on board, just him talking to the crew and the ticket bloke. I asked if he was "operational" today and he said "No". "Oh", I said, then the ticket man said "Yes we are". I asked if they were or weren't and eventually they reluctantly let us on board. I thought he had the look of a man with an interesting history.