No its not you, the buildings really do lean!

Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam
August 14th 2008

Published: August 16th 2008

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Amsterdam

View of Amsterdam...it was definitely not this sunny and clear when we first came...in fact, it was pouring and windy.

Greetings from Amsterdam!

So this is our last day here in Amsterdam, and its been a blast. The city is actually really cool...I had no idea that it was a canal city until we got here. We went on a walking tour yesterday, and saw all the major landmarks. Amsterdam is a city that was built with money in mind, the richer you were, the larger your doorway. No really, theres a really, really wide doorway in one part of the city that belonged to a rich merchant and his rich merchant brother. Apparently you got taxed depending on how wide your doorway was, so to have one so wide was insane. The buildings actually do lean...to lean forwards was done on purpose to make getting things up to the top floor easier, but leaning sideways is just because the foundations are giving way (not good!).

The architecture of the city is really cool, the streets however are very narrow, and everyone and their mom rides a bike. No joke, everyone in this city rides a bike! Its crazy! They also have no care for pedestrians...when they're on their bike, they own the roads. Cars are better at

Leaning Buildings

stopping then bikes, as are the trams, though our tour guide did say that they lost one tourist a year to the trams.

Our hostel is right on the edge of the red light district, which is not just coffee shops and smart shops, but is the oldest part of the city. The very aptly named "Old Church" is right here (yes, the church is next to the red light district) and is pretty cool. According to the story, they built the church here on purpose because back when Amsterdam was mainly just a port city, sailors would come in for the night and enjoy the red light district. Then when they woke up they could stumble outside feeling guilty, see the church, and immediately confess. Which, in those days, also meant paying an indulgence to the Church for forgiveness...again with the money 😊.

We also saw other parts of the city, the old women's prison, the old men's prison, the town hall, which was turned into the royal palace, China town, the old Jewish quarter, and other cool things. We ended the tour at Anne Frank's old house, which they have made into a museum, but we

Hostel

The sign from our hostel, which really was right on the edge of the red light district.

didn't go inside. It was strange to walk through the city and see all the things that she wrote about in her diary that are still here. At one point the church bells ring, like when she mentioned that while in hiding the bells kept her connected to the outside world.

After the tour was over I went to the Van Gogh museum...actually just the gift shop, because our tour didn't end until 430 and the museum closed at 600. The are its in, however, is a really pretty park, and there was a lot, lot, lot of shopping!

Amsterdam's people really are tolerant and laid back. Well, maybe they were just trying to get money from stupid tourists (little did they realize that we are all broke at this point!) but everyone I talked to was really nice. Strangely enough, they were mostly people born in other countries (England, Australia, Italy) who had moved to Amsterdam for various reasons.

I uploaded some pictures, but I'm being lazy and haven't finished adding captions, ect, but I'll do that soon. We leave to Brussels tomorrow (the 15th) and then I head on to Cologne. This is the last

Photo 2

city were all 8 of us are together, so its a bit sad to leave, but it has been a blast!

I hope everyone is doing well, and I want to hear from home!!! 😊

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