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Published: April 23rd 2007
Amsterdam
Welcome to... Amsterdam, the city of bicycles, tourists and well, we all know what. Aside from the sex, drugs and rock´n´roll, Amsterdam is a beautiful city in it´s own right.
Interesting Amsterdam Fact no 1: 52 bodies are pulled out of Amsterdam´s canals each year (mostly drunken guys who trip over into the water while weeing)
Interesting Amsterdam Fact no 2: 50 bikes a week are pulled out of the canals
Interesting Amsterdam Fact no 3: There are 1000´s of bikes that are locked up and forgotten about all around Amsterdam. There are still bikes locked up from the 70´s!
We arrived at Amsterdam very late at night and made our way by foot and tram to our apartment which was very new and clean inside (the building was originally built in the 1600´s). A good night´s rest was well needed after 12 hours of travel from Edinburgh.
Our apartment was located at Leidesplein which is in the heart of the restaurant district and a good place to set out from. It was a great place to have the windows open and listen to the people. A late breakfast (well, lunch) of lasagne and a HUGE pizza was on
Amsterdam
Did you see me? order for our first morning before we set off for the Van Gogh museum. The life and times of Vinnie are interesting but we knew our limit and got back to the sunshine which has followed us for most of our journey so far. In actual fact, the nearby supermarket proved almost as interesting as buying food in another language can sometimes be a lucky dip as we found out.
Sunny weather greeted us again for our cruise on the canals in a retired open cargo boat operated by a not for profit organisation. Our skinny boat managed to get where the big tour operators can´t so we were given a unique glimpse of some of the smaller canals and float by the red light district. After this first dose, we decided for a daytime run up close and personal in the red light district to see what was "for sale". All shapes, sizes and colours are represented and even something for you! Unfortunately, photos are not allowed so we can´t show you what it´s like but it really is women (and also used to be men) in windows surrounded by red lights. It certainly puts a different spin
Amsterdam - Eve & Clogs
I'm off to do some dancing... on "window shopping". We arrived at the red light district via the flower market which has an incredible range of flowers and bulbs, all very cheap.
Sunny weather again greeted us as we met up with Amber (from earlier entries) and went on a bike ride to the coutryside. Very touristy, I know but we visited a windmill and cheese factory (see pictures) and had a lot of fun. It was a flashback to the 70´s (or 80´s) on big bikes with white wall tyres. We also passed the Amsterdam Hilton where John and Yoko had their naked sit in conference and although difficult to see, the writing is still on the windows (and you pay extra to stay in that room).
After a beer, we left the bikes behind and hit the town to investigate one of the well known coffee shops. We finished the day relaxed and with a huge dessert of dutch pancakes and ice cream, american style (read: massive servings).
Sunday was spent preparing for the next leg of our trip, Sweden (organising train tickets & washing).
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Wombat
non-member comment
Keep having Fun
All those Bikes - maybe you should teach them about a wonderful thing called the car! the waffles look good in the picture, made me want some, dont think Harry's Cafe will be selling any today. Keep Having Fun Dont ask the DSM about Fred - all i will say are Scissors were needed