Amsterdam

---

670 klms from Berlin to Amsterdam. God bless the autobahn. Approaching the German/Dutch border and it was time to disrobe the leiderhausen and slip on the wooden clogs, working on the theory we try not look like tourists and dress like the locals. Why does everyone still keep staring at us?
Amsterdam in 3 days. In fact Holland in 3 days. We ARE in a hurry.
Is Amsterdam tolerant or just plain decadent? Let me position myself strategically on the fence and say - DUNNO. Get over here to this "joint" and decide for yourself.
You can wander into a "coffee shop" and not smell anything remotely like coffee. Could be the original Dutch oven.
In the red light district, window shopping takes on an entirely new dimension. Penny particularly "enjoyed" these streets. The world's oldest profession is obviously overt in a unique kind of way. However, these working class gals really should be uniting into a more forceful union. From what we saw (even though I tried, HONESTLY, to look the other way), very few ot these ladies are on the old State Superannuation Scheme. If they were, the majority would have been retired off either due to physical inability to carry out their job description or purely because they'd reached the maximum working age. Still, the seemingly oldest of these "veterans" of the service (we later found out 73 years young), had the curtains pulled when we slipped past a second time. Come to your own conclusions about the clientele.
Let's rotate the topic 180 degrees to cheeze. Not too exciting? Get your Gouda appreciating butts up to Alkmaar on a Friday. The cheese market (where they sell literally tonnes of the stuff) is full of pomp and ceremony but where the participants have their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. It's fun but, like any tourist attraction, is extremely popular, so get there early to nab a prime viewing spot. Everyone knows Harlem. New York right? Add another A, remove black guys saying "WHATEVER" or "YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN" and add a beautiful plaza surrounded by cafes and a couple of imposing churches. Stick it a few klms from Amsterdam and you've got a Dutch Haarlem, a lovely town that pleasantly fills in the afternoon following the Alkmaar morning. Not a bad farewell to Holland.
Yeatesy

Amsterdam - 9,000 less druggies than 10 years ago, but still 1,000 of them walking / loitering the streets looking for a quick buck to be made, and bicycles are their main target. With nearly every local citizen owning and riding a bike, that's approximately 731,000 bikes in Amsterdam. There are lots of bikes basically, and being a tourist they, and the trams are always my biggest obstacles. Everywhere you walk, cross or try and take a photo, you have to navigate around bikes and trams. The bikes here in Amsterdam are also some of the "coolest" we have seen. There are speciality shops dotted all over the place selling carts, bells, satchels and all sorts of accessories to go on the bike. There are family bikes, flower bikes, theme bikes and lots of rusty bikes. The canal is rumoured to be approximately 1 metre higher each year as a result of all the bikes that are thrown, ridden or catapulted into the canal.
This visit to Amsterdam I was determined to visit the red light distrtict, the one area I didn't venture into as a teenager. I was hoping to capture a few photos, but was told they are taboo, and I could risk having urine or any number of unsavouring substances thrown at me if I was to attempt a photo. These girls are not for the cameras, I guess since many are under pseudo names / identities, they don't want to be discovered. I was suprised at just how many windows are occupied by these girls, well, ladies and really old ladies to be precise. I did like the fact they could rent their window in an 8 hour block and they could move into the more desirable /upmarket areas once they had climbed the "hooker" ladder. At least they didn't have to outlay too much money on their outfits, some looked liked they had owned them for 20+ years and had grown out of them but they were still using them.
So apart from the red light distrtict, what else did we get up to in Amsterdam? Gary has acquired a taste for kransky since arriving in Europe, which in Amsterdam could be a dangerous past time. We found a kransky outlet that sold the kransky though a glass box in the wall. You insert your money (just like a vending machine) then pick a box and out pops a hot kransky on a serviette. Sound disgusting? I thought so, but Gary being the willing guinea pig, gave it a go. He has lived to tell the tale giving the kransky in the wall a 2 out of 10, but a 10 out of 10 for the expereince.
Coffee shops are also plentiful in Amsterdam, however they don't smell anything like coffee and the patrons look anthing but coffee drinkers, hence we didn't visit any. There was one cafe we passed where I thought I saw Coco (my late cat) reincarnated. Sitting on a stool in the window of the cafe was the biggest fattest stoned cat I have ever seen. If it was Coco, she was clearly enjoying her new life and I was not going to risk going in to rescue her without breathing apparatus on. So the big fat Coco look-a-like remains in the window of the cafe enjoying the remnants of what ever is being consumed on the day.
We managed to visit a few towns outside of Amsterdam, where the houses still slope forward backward and sideways. We were told that most housing in Holland was built to slope slightly forward to preserve the paint!! It looked more like the reclaimed land was causing them to bend with the water level. I guess they have survived this long, and will for a few more decades / centuries.
We leave Amsterdam and head for Belgium, home to CHOCOLATE and beer of course.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

---

Photos

Amsterdam
Canalside architecture

Amsterdam
Behind bars.

Amsterdam
750 thousand residents in Amsterdam, 750 thousand bikes.

Amsterdam
We bought Penny a pair of clogs with the hope she would grow into them.

Amsterdam
The kransky vending machine. They taste like crap but what the heck, I had to try it.

Amsterdam
By the canals again but then everywhere in Amsterdam is by a canal.

Amsterdam
Street art.

Alkmaar
Gouda bonanza.

Alkmaar
Say "cheeze".

Alkmaar
This was a great bike shop.

Haarlem
The gay main square on a Sunday morning.