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Published: June 30th 2009
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June 30, 2009
I have a confession to make. I have a weakness. I feel this confession is appropriate as it hit me right away when I arrived in Amsterdam this morning. I love cheap touristy junk. I had to exert huge amounts of will power to resist the plastic Eiffel towers they were selling in Paris. And here it is even worse! There are cute plastic windmills! And witty t-shirts! What am I going to do? How can I resist for 5 whole days? This vice is dragging me down already, and I only just got here. Oh well, Amsterdam is the reigning champion of vice cities. Where else can you buy sex and drugs in a legitimate buisiness and then go buy a t-shirt that commemorates the occasion? As vices go mine is pretty boring.
I love Amsterdam. It is so unique. Apparently they have an economy that relies heavily on tourism. (No Surprise.) They get like 40 million visitors every year. But you can see why. The city, the canals, and the architecture is just amazing. The medival ambiance reminds me of Bruges, but there is a more lived in feel to Amsterdam. People on Bicycles, grocery shopping,
and there is even graffiti! Nothing gives a place that lived in look like pubic vandalism. I took 118 pictures today.
Interesting facts about Amsterdam:
1) Has been in existence as a settlement since the thirteen century, gained city rights in 1306.
2) The harbor is enclosed by locks and therefore has no tides.
3) There are over 1000 bridges and the canals total about 100 km in length.
4) The three major canals built during the 17th century are the Gentleman's canal, the Emperor's canal, and the Prince's canal. The sort of make a half circle opposite the harbor.
Today I visited the Museum of Our Lord in the Attic which was built in the 16th century by a rich merchant. Because Catholicism was banned by the state, Catholics who wished to worship had to go underground. Or in this case above the house. This church which is actually the attics of three different buildings was used as a functioning church until the 1800s when a new church was built right down the block. After that it was transformed into a museum and only used on certain occasions such as weddings. There were lots of twisty staircases and
Coffeshop across from a church
A coffeeshop is Dutch code for store to buy and smoke marijuana. In case I wasn't the last person on earth to discover that. back entrances that they used to conceal the church. Although it was an open secret even in its own time. The government got letters requesting that it, and other secret churches like it, be closed down. The government turned a blind eye.
Ironically this church is smack dab in the middle of the red light district and you can see the sex shops from the windows. On the walk through you could see the prostitutes in the doorways and windows wearing nothing but their underwear. I really wasn’t expecting to see them at 1pm in the afternoon, but they were out and waving at the hordes of tourists.
After that I walked down to the harbour and took a canal cruise. It was a bit dull, but it was fun to see the city from the canals.
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