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Published: January 25th 2009
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Amsterdam, to be honest was never high on my list of places to visit in Europe. But I had heard so much about it, I decided to put together a little road trip and see for myself what the mystique of Amsterdam was all about.
From the very beginning, things just kept getting bogged down. Finally, we left Strasbourg at about six. That was much later due than we expected, due to an extremely long check in for the rental. I thought I would never get out of there.
We had to check out the entire car. Sign for all kinds of things. And, to top it off, the GPS unit I requested would not stick to the window. So, at least I got 50% off the price of the unit. That was fair, since it only worked about 75% of the time. Of course, that was actually due to human error.
Our navigator had never used one and did not realize the antenna on the back needed to be raised. Oh well, you live and learn!!
Nevertheless, off we went, finally.
We arrived in Amsterdam around 1 am, and promptly got all screwed up. Within 800 meters of the youth hostel, the GPS (Garmin) lost its signal and just repeating the same thing over and over again. HMMMM...I wonder why?!?!
Well, finally, we parked the car in a parking tower (which ended up costing 36 euros for the night) OUCH!! But, as we were to find out, there is no place to park in Amsterdam. And it is the worst place I have yet to drive a car. What a mess!!!
The only thing that concerned ws being able to find the car when we would it to leave. I emphasize "to leave", because I am not driving another foot here!!!
Next time, it is the train for me. It took about 30 minutes to walk to the hostel, which was right in the middle of the Red Light District.
Lucky for us, it is the low season in Amsterdam. Yes, even the Red Light District has a low season.
So, we were able to get a smaller
room for the five of us. This beat having the five of us in a huge room of twelve. The first night we got to bed around 3 am after a couple beers at a hotel pub.
The next morning visited the Hemp Museum, which was convienently located two doors down from our finr hostel, the Heart of Amsterdam. Here I learned that hemp seems to have been involved in virtually every human endeavor in history. I am actually shocked hemp did not go to the moon in 1969!
Okay, so, here I am in Amsterdam. A 50 year old guy in the middle of the "counterculture" capital of the world. Everytime people who have been to Amsterdam even hear the mention of the name, they smile and say what a cool, great place it is. Well, I may be a little late, but, hey, lets find out all about what Amsterdam is about in the few days I have here.
So, after my brief stop at the Hemp Museum, I was ready to tackle the city, at a price.
At 1:15, I took the free NewEurope tour, which lasted about four hours. I had a great guide named Kevin who was from Australia. I learned much about the city. Including that the actual historical symbol for Amsterdam is XXX. How weird is that?
Actually, much of what we were told by Kevin was contradicted by our bicycle tour guide the next day. But hey...why let the facts get in the way of a good story???
We started the tour at the National Museum and after brief introductions, Kevin led us through a labyrinth of sidestreets, canal bridges, and alleyways. Although, I don't really know the difference between an alleyway and a sidestreet!!
By the way, it seems that a national sport of the residents of the city, is to join the free tour at various points and interject their own feelings about.....oh, just about anything. Kevin warned us of this at the beginning, but I don't think any of us really knew what he meant. Now we do.
We spent time in the Red light District where we found
out the oldest, "performing" woman on the strip is......how on to your hats.....75 years old. Okay...enough said about that. Before you ask..no, we did not actually see her.
I was insulted when a guy guessed 50. Hey, I'm 50!!!! Yeah, I guess the young think you die at 40!! Well, baby, it only gets better..
It was very chilly and drizzily for the first half of the tour. We saw the narrowest house in the world. There was the highest point in Amsterdam. I would have guessed one of the coffeeshops in town. But evidently, the "highest" point is a bridge. Although a spot just beyond the bridge looked much higher to me. Like I say, why let the facts..... Hey the tour is free...okay.
Actually, I thouroughly enjoyed the tour. We saw a church in the red Light District where sailors would prepay for the indulgences they would need for their trip to the ladies. The church was supposedly totally built with the indulgence money of the wicked or near-wicked.
Those "religious" guys think of everything!! Prepay
for your sins!!! Maybe they should be running the bailouts right now!!!
There was also "hand on boob". But you really need to see that...no way I can explain that.
Before we began the second half, we had the compulsory lunch and shopping. I ended up leaving the group and visited a book fair and had a nice sandwich and coffee down one of the various side streets. With the weather turning really nasty, I figured we would lose a lot of our crowd.
But the Pied Piper of Amsterdam actually lost no one. Within a few minutes of our scheduled departure for the second half, we were assembled and ready to go.
In the second part, we visited a "secret garden", which was actually a cloister for nuns. They have recently opened their doors to guests. It was a really beautiful serene spot in the midst of a lot of noise and clatter.
We also walked through a gallery of some examples of Old Masters paintings. Sorry, never been a fan!!! My question is what did guys who were
gay wear back then???? I mean, some of these outfits were just incredible.
The second half of the tour was just miserable. But as long as Kevin would talk, we would listen and follow.
Unfortunately, for much of the second half it really rained, and it was windy as heck. The tour ended at the Anne Frank House. We literally huddled around Kevin as he told us some stories concerning the Anne Frank House. the wind was especially brutal. I have learned to take an umbrella with me everywhere in Europe. But it was totally useless. The rain felt like pins.
Alas, our fine tour was over. We could follow Kevin back to the National Museum to get our bearings or we could stay there. Of course, I stayed.
So, I left the tour to find their way back, I thanked and tipped Kevin and made my way to the Anne Frank House.
Incredibly, there was no line, so I basically walked into the museum. The two other times I walked by the museum, the line was around the block. Talk about lucky.
I guess the rain and wind drove everybody to the coffee shops. Well, my gain.
The tour is self guided. If you watch and listen to eveything that is available, you are done in about an hour and some change. It was very interesting. But, it was not what I had pictured as a kid. Well worth the visit.
The next day, Saturday, we got up and did the bicycle tour. We used Mikes Bikes and we had a guide named Shawn. The bike tour was a blast.
We had 20 people on the tour and we kept getting split up. Probably ten people is about right. Getting through all the lights as a group was impossible.
We rode around the city and then ended up in the country right by a windmill buily in 1636. I would definitely do the bike tour again and again. Also, the weather was much improved from the previous day.
After the tour, we split up and some went to the Van Gogh Museum. I went walking around town taking
in the sights as well as pictures. We left this morning at 9 am and after about six hours driving and only a couple wrong turns, we got back to Strasbourg. Another wonderful weeknd in Europe. Speaking of pictures, here are a few. I hope you enjoy!!!
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Mary
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The fun bus
Where did you find the "Louis- the fun company" sign, how perfect for you!