Amsterdam

Amsterdam

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January 15th 2015

Published: January 22nd 2015

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Francy

Canal

Amsterdam is refreshing after the formal, fashionable and conservative Italy and France. We all breathed a little easier and communicated more with the locals.

For this blog we will just share our observations:

Hip, cool people with quiet confidence and nothing to prove. They seem tolerant and liberal (about homosexuality, drugs and prostitution) and also quite disciplined;

locals who have perfect American or London accents when they speak english;

thousands and thousands of bicycles-old ones with baskets and crates either being ridden by helmetless locals on official bike lanes or lined up (of fallen down) all along every street;

the difficulty of crossing a road without being hit by cyclists, cars, horses, nearly everything you can think of;

pretty canals of muddy green water;

tall, skinny, colourful 5 story houses lining the canals;

Van Gogh museum (as wonderful as you could imagine, only better because his life and influences were presented so well)

Anne Frank House (As depressing as you could imagine it to be, especially the rooms with windows that have been blacked out, the whole place stuffy and gloomy)

boats with cranes used to dredge the canal near bridges

Christine looking at Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles

for rusted old bicycles (video);

cabin-like homes sitting on (in) the canals full of garden plants and emitting woodsmoke from little chimney pipes;

tulip bulbs, bonsai, marijuana and vegetable seeds in 'ready to grow' cans at the flower markets (photo);

strong wafts of dope smoked by mostly tourists in each 'coffeeshop' you pass;

vibrantly colourful wooden clogs in tourist shops;

ambulance sirens all day and night;

prostitutes bathed in red lights, framed by large window frames, inviting potential customers to come on in;

neon signs warning tourists about the latest drug related deaths (see photo)

5 H&M shops in one stretch of shopping;

Dutch (obviously), Indonesian and Argentinian restaurants;

A really lovely and interesting place.

We stayed on the top floor studio with terrasse of the Bridge Hotel. The hotel and staff were simply wonderful.