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Published: October 7th 2017
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Or should I say Amshterdam!
First impressions... While Berlin is huge and very modernised, Amsterdam due to the fact a lot of it has been reclaimed from the river Amstel is considerably tighter and the houses a bit older and more old fashioned In fact, such is the demand for housing that approx 2,400 families live on houseboats on the canals! Certain other houses have had their foundations erode due to the water in the ground and hence either tilt left or right ! In fact Amsterdam has more of a village or town feel to it than a city, hard to imagine but true.
Walking around on the Sunday afternoon, the city centre in particular had a bit of a seedy feel to it. Seemed to be alot of tourists from across the channel in town for the weekend though things settled down Monday and Tuesday and we got a look at the real Amsterdam. Our first port of call was doing a boat trip of the canals, a good option to get yourself familiar with the city and hear some of the history.
Later after something to eat, we did a two
hour guided tour of the red light district. The red light is of course famous world wide and it was interesting to hear why the Dutch have taken such a liberal approach to prostitution. Basically the idea is that all the prostitutes have to register and rent a 'shop window' if they want to sell their wares. This has advantage in the policing as they are taken off street corners, the whole operation is centralised, the government now takes a share in tax and the ladies are less likely to be exploited. A win:win for all or so they say! Being part of a group allowed me to take a good look around without making it too obvious - the girls stand behind a glass door smoking, on the phone or trying to catch the eye of passer byes. There's a strict no photo policy in the district which is fair enough, don't want photo's circulating a few years later if you've taken a 9 to 5 job!
Day two, we did what for me, was my personal highlight of Amsterdam.. visiting the place where Ann Frank and her family lived in hiding for almost three years
during world war two. With the emergence of Hitlers 'final solution' to eradicate all Jews, the Franks and four other family friends went into hiding in three rooms in the top of the factory where her father used to be manager. Four of his former workers, at enormous risk to themselves if they were found out, helped supply the Jewish family with food, water, magazines etc as they could never leave while the gestapo were still searching. Walking around the small rooms and reading the stories of how the occupants had to stay quiet as mice throughout the day in case anyone working in the factory below heard them was both amazing and saddening in equal measure. Ann took to writing a diary to pass the time (Time goes very slowly being cooped up in a room, even prisoners have daily time in the yard) and when the hiding place was discovered and everyone sent to concentration camp, it was kept by one of the helpers who hadn't been arrested. Unfortuntatly the whole family ended up dying with the exception of the father Otto and it was his decision to have the diary published some years later. Very sad but
well worth visiting.
After a quick look around a local flea market where Mags managed to pick up a box of old stamp's to add to her dad's stamp collection, it was on to do a walking tour of the city. We did it with Sandman tours again, decent but nothing special I thought! It didn't help that the rain was torrential for the four hours ! Afterwards I decided to apply the 'When in Rome' policy and head to a local coffee house to sample one of Amsterdam's famous brownies. Having heard how strong the brownies were meant to be, myself and Mags went to share one between us. We both broke off a piece and ate it while playing a game of chess to kill the time as apparently it takes some time for the effects to take place. 45 minutes later and feeling nothing, I popped another piece into my mouth. The hour passed and since I still felt nothing, I had another piece despite Mags protestations... must have been that big meal I had before hand that was absorbing the hit...! 10 minutes later however... Paranoia, shakes, feeling of not being in control, time going
slowly - why would anybody do this on a regular basis I wondered! I was literally so bad that I didn't feel capable of taking the metro home and Mags had to lead me by the arm to a taxi rank. I woke up the following day and decided 'Never again!'
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sam David
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Same here.
I know how you feel- I can completely understand what you went through when you ate that brownie in Amsterdam!