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Amsterdam has so much to offer..depending what one is in to..We enjoyed the canals and can see why it is called "Venice of the North", it has over 100km of canals and 1500 bridges. The three main canals, Heregracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht were dug in the 17th century. Today all these waterways and canals are still used for transport and leisure activities. It also creates picture perfect scenes😊
Amsterdam's skew houses..one could easily conclude that the houses have gone all skew and wonky as they aged, but after doing some research..I found a common explanation for these tall buildings being so skew.. They were actually built like that! whaat?? here's why.. most of these houses have very steep spiral staircases leading to the top floor..up to 5 stories high.. so getting big bulky items up there was a bit of a challenge..so they built the houses skew so that the gable (a pulley type mechanism at the top and on outside of building) would be further out into the street and away from the house making it easier and safer to pull up big bulky items without damaging the building.
Amsterdam's bicycles...
They are everywhere...and coming at
you from all angles...there is nowhere to hide from them in this bicycle-happy-city...somehow they seem to be either neatly and precisely placed, or in a jumbled giant heap of metal and rubber..I guess it only takes one goofball to create the chaos and then everyone else follows by just dumping their bicycles in the general bike stand area...
How many bicycles in Amsterdam? Well authorities estimate that between the 780 000 people that actually live in Amsterdam they own about 881 000. All sorts of people use them, it's not unusual to see a businessman zooming past in a fancy suit with his pants legs pegged up, or a whole family going by on a family sized bicycle -kiddies stacked in a self built wooden cart attached to the front, people even "walk" their dogs by bike! It all happens by bike! On our last morning we witnessed a multiple bicycle pile-up..it was so strange..being from South Africa where any kind of a road incident just about leads to road rage we were gobsmacked to see this pile-up appear and dissapear just as quickly as it happened..they came from 4 directions..piled up in the intersection,fell off their bikes..politely raised their
hands in the air,a quick nod indicated "I'm fine", hopped back on and away they went on their intended course... This must happen quite often and perhaps generally expected as part of daily commute??
Yip..it's true..people seem to smoke "pot"/canabis/dagga/weed or whatever you want to call it just about anywhere, I'm sure there is supposed to be a designated "smoking" area in coffee shops and so on...but...judging by the looks of the chaotic bicycle jumbles all over - there seems to be a very laid-back or carefree view of rules and order...perhaps a side effect of all the fumes in the air?
As a result of all the weed smoking people get the "munchies"..and I'm sure that is why there are so many "chip shops". Friet Point seemed to be quite popular, serving hot chips in a paper cone with a choice of sauce..most popular being tomato sauce and aioli -garlic and mayo.. yummm..we don't smoke at all, but that didn't stop us from having ourselves some hot chips and aioli sauce.
It didn't take much wondering around before we found ourselves at the edge of the Red Light District, I felt uneasy as I saw
a scantilly dressed young petite blonde in a tiny window, which can't be much bigger than the actual cubicle that she was advertising herself in. Behind her the dull room seemed cramped by the narrow single bed. She had the saddest big blue eyes, who knows what circumstaces lead to her being there..or what chemicals she might take to make being there more tolerable..whatever the circumstances..it's degrading and humiliating standing there trying to make people "want" you so that you can earn a living and pay off the pimps and bodyguards that hang around in the streets like vultures..
On the brighter side of life...
Amsterdam has my absolute favorite flower..the Tulip!!! Only it wasn't flower season..so the only Tulips available were wooden ones and bulbs..which I strongly doubted would have made it through customs in Dubai -our next stop and finally South Africa...as it turns out Jenni managed to bring hers in no problemo..
Amsterdam has the world's only floating flowermarket, the flower stalls stand on houseboats on the Singel canal between Koningsplein and Muntplein. It is such a happy place and there are many other touristy souvenirs that one can pick up here.
There are many cheese
shops offering free tasters..some stock over 100 different cheeses, and there is even a cheese museum..plan your day carefully and you probably don't need to pay for lunch!
Amsterdam is beautifull but it also has some distorted qualities, and sadly people flock to this place for the latter and completely miss out on all that Amsterdam has to offer....
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