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Published: April 4th 2010
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Statue
In Dam Square At the end of January, 2010, my buddy, Travis, and I decided to plan a trip to Europe. After a couple months of planning, we have finally arrived at our first destination, Amsterdam. This is not only the first stop on our tour, but the first city I have visited outside of the United States. Ok, I have been to Cancun, Mexico a couple of times, but does that really count? We flew through Heathrow, London into Schipol outside Amsterdam. From there, we took a train into Grand Centraal. I bought two tickets for the train, but didn't notice any where to put them, and no one checking them!
Upon exiting Grand Centraal we stood before streets shared by pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, cars, and trains. Yes, small, slower, electric trains, but trains nonetheless. A garage of what must have been thousands of bicycles were stored to the right of us. This was my first clue that bikes were the major mode of urban travel here. The streets and sidewalks took up the entire area between buildings packed tightly together. Waterways run in between major streets. A Palace sits across from a statue in Dam Square. This is where we met
The Palace
Across from the Statue in Dam Square. It is apparently under renovations :( to get a tour of the city.
The tour guide, Lee, started by telling us the history of Amsterdam, dating back over 1,000 years. In her history lesson, Lee told us that Netherlands claims to have originated capitalism back in 1300 AD when the Netherlands became a world power due to their popular free market in Amsterdam. I don't know if many would call this the birthplace of capitalism, but capitalism definitely exists here today in a very pure form. Just about anything you want you can buy here. Walking through some of the streets reminds me of walking through a shopping mall.
Well first thing was first, Lee led us right through the Red Light District. Women stood behind full windows in bikinis and lingerie, looking for eye contact and smiling when they found it. This manner was about what I had expected, however, I did not expect them to be so attractive. In the middle of the Red Light District stood The Old Church. Yes, a church in the middle of the Red Light District. And apparently it was strategically placed. When soldiers returning from battle would stop by the Red Light District, they needed a
Train
Small electric trains that run through the streets. The arm on top touches the power wire. place for redemption before returning to battle. The church provided this, but for a small fee. The priest would determine a fee proportional to the amount of sin committed. The church grew from a small wooden chapel to a large cathedral.
The architecture of Amsterdam has its own flavor. The buildings are tall and narrow, and the staircases are made to maximize floor space. Narrow spirals go up and down these buildings preventing any large furniture or appliances from being carried to the upper levels. That's why you'll notice hooks at the top of every house. The hooks are used to hoist furniture and appliances to the upper levels, where they are pulled in through the windows. After a few windows were bashed out from these operations, the Dutch started building houses that lean forward. BRILLIANT!! This way there was some extra room in between the windows and the furniture. Then someone got the lame idea that they should just extend the arm that held the hook out farther. But why do that when you could lean your house forward???
Next we were led to Dampkring, which was famous or serving Amsterdam coffee to celebrities. The beginner's guide
The Old Church
In the middle of the Red Light District said to "sip" the Amsterdam coffee slowly if it was your first time so you don't "drink" too much. Hmmm… there's a picture of George Clooney on the wall. I didn't know he drank coffee.
After the tour we went walking around town on our own. There is food everywhere. One particular fast food place has taken to selling their burgers and sandwiches out of a big vending machine-like wall. Since it seemed to be popular I got a chicken sandwich. There's lots to see here in Amsterdam, like the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, the Hemp Museum, and the Sex Museum. I'm not sure if I'll get to see all of it, but I've got a few more days here so we'll see what happens.
So we got the 48 hour museum pass and ran around for a couple days looking at all the museums. The largest was the History of Amsterdam Museum. There were several rooms in this building full of artifacts from every era. The vast majority were from the Golden Age. After Holland was free from the Spanish after the 80 years war, the city thrived on trade. The East India Trading
The waterways
This view can be seen from many places around Amsterdam. Company brought spices, sugar, and other commodities to Amsterdam. There merchants gathered from all over Western Europe to buy these goods. The economy thrived so much in those days that the city had homeless shelters, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. Banks offered credit to worthy merchants and a rudimentary stock exchange system developed.
This is the time Rembrandt lived in Amsterdam and painted his famous "Night Watch", a depiction of the Civic Guard giving orders to troops. Unlike the many other paintings of the Civic Guard, which were men gathered around a table, this painting showed the men in action. Buildings were constructed of brick, and much of the face of the inner city of Amsterdam is still present today. This age continued until Germany, France, and England all ganged up and attacked.
In touring the rest of the museums it was easy to see that Amsterdam is very proud of its Golden Age. Many of the prized artifacts come directly from that era. The museum Van Loon is a tour of the house the Van Loon's, the owners of the East India Trading Company, lived for many generations. The Rijksmuseum is a collection of paintings and
Medieval Castle
Leftover and Preserved. other artwork largely from that era as well. The houseboat museum was quite different however. Very small, but really cool... I think I want one. I found the Van Gogh museum to be way over-hyped though. I don't understand why people think Van Gogh was so talented. Rembrandt's paintings are so vivid they almost comes to life. Van Gogh's paintings look like he was using the wrong end of the paint brush most of the time. Then again, this is probably why I'm an engineer and not an artist. When we had seen all the museums we wanted to, we took a boat ride around the city's canals. We weren't looking at anything we hadn't seen before, but the new view was great. The sides and roof of the boat were all windows.
The last couple of days we hung out in Vondel Park. This was a nice and very popular park just outside the inner city. People gathered around spreading out blankets, eating lunch, drinking wine, playing games, playing music, etc. It was like a concert with no headliner.
The next day we took a bus to Brussels, Belgium.
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neil
non-member comment
"Free Adam"
What kind of "coffee" do they sell? :)