We had our Amsterdam adventure with two other friends- Annabelle (who was on uni holidays from her studies in France), and Chelsea (a friend of Annabelle who is on exchange in Sweden). Our pre-trip planning took a bit more effort than we originally thought, since it seemed every person in Europe was in Amsterdam making it hard for us to find accommodation. There were rumours floating around that the Dutch government were going to change their 'illegal but tolerated' approach to cannabis in Jan 2013, which meant every man and his dog is trying to get there now, stealing all the accommodation for people like us who were wanting to actually see the city. In the end we found a room for the four of us at the St Christophers Winston hostel right in the middle of town for one night, and then the other two nights we had the experience of staying on a boat. The MS Patria was docked about a 30 minute walk/ 5 minute bus ride from the main Centraal Station (yes it really is spelt Centraal in Dutch), and although it meant we had to pay more for transport to and from town, it was a place to call home and it even came with a good breakfast in the morning. Isn't she pretty:
We arrived on the evening of Halloween, and over the next three nights tried to see as much of the sights as we could. We basically had three days of exploring the really touristy sights of town around Dam Square, then trying to find places away from the touristy side of town, and in between sampling the best of the Dutch cuisine. We tracked down traditional Dutch apple pie and Dutch pancakes for a taste,and tried pea soup which is supposed to be a speciality of Holland.
In between we tried to eat some semi-decent foods, which was a bit of a mission since most of the shops there are takeaway joints catering for a certain type of clientele who only are after something greasy. So although it seemed we spent most of our time looking for places to eat that weren't entirely junk, we did manage to see some sights. We did a free walking tour that really helped to see how Amsterdam became what it is and why Dutch people are stereotypically "stubborn, awkward people", and after the tour we ended up in a less touristy side of town that was really beautiful, filled with lots of quirky little shops.
We went to a flea market and browsed the stalls; we wandered through Vondelpark; we took the obligatory photo with the "I Amsterdam" sign; and we went on a cruise through the canals at around sunset that was really beautiful (and warm, because it was raining outside at the time). Sadly we didn't get to see Anne Frank's house... Since it's such a tiny place there is always a line snaking out of it (even in the rain, one hour before closing time when the lines are meant to be smaller). So kind of glad we didn't have to stand in the rain for that one! Our timing was also 'perfect', as usual, and a lot of the museums, including the Van Gogh museum, are closed until early 2013, but in the end it probably worked out for the best because we managed to see the rest of the sights.
To describe initial impressions of Amsterdam, it would be easy to think it was just sleaze built around a network of canals. Yet the actual look of Amsterdam is really unique and picturesque. Often described as the "Venice of the North", it is built on over 160 canals and has something like 1600 bridges across the city. The grounds the city is built on is actually just layers of swamp and silt, and so all houses are constructed with massive wood pylons pushing into the earth to provide some sort of stability. The architecture of the place is really something else though- houses in Amsterdam are taxed on the width of their fronts, and so the streets are filled with these rows of narrow little townhouses. There is one that is barely over a metre wide at the front- apparently it tapers outwards the further you go in, but from the front it looks like it would only be wide enough for a hobbit. It's the one painted red:
The people wanting to show off their wealth would build massive wide houses, and amongst the rest of the architecture a wide house looks really out of place. Another funny thing about the buildings is that pretty much all of them have a lean- either an unintentional one to the side, where the houses are slowly sinking as the pylons underneath rot away, or intentional leans forwards over the canals to make the water drop straight down and not run over the front of the house. Because of this the streets look really quirky, with little wonky houses all over the place.
There are two other things that make Amsterdam so distinctive: canals and bikes. The network of canals are apparently really clean (even though they don't look it), though apparently really dangerous as well- our free walking tour guide said that they are FULL of bikes that people throw into the canals. So basically if you jumped into a canal you probably wouldn't come back up. Ouch. But the bikes of Amsterdam really area huge part of the city. There are 1.3 bikes to every person in Amsterdam, and they zig zag all over the streets making it impossible to cross the road without feeling like you are going to get run over. Before we got there, Mike and I were excited to ride bikes but after seeing how crazy they were, I'm pretty glad we didn't. The other funny thing is there are bikes parked everywhere, and they even have multi-storey parking lots just for bikes:
But the one part of Amsterdam that was most distinctive was definitely the red light district. On our first night after dinner we decided to have a little stroll through the infamous prostitution quarter. I had heard things about it before going there, but really I had no idea about the size of the district. We walked down the streets and saw window after window of ladies (some actually fairly decent, some so disgusting that surely their only clientele would be there for a laugh), with every type of erotica shop/ venue advertising to see a live show mixed in between. It was good for a laugh, though you couldn't help but feel awkward if you made eye contact with one of the ladies. Some of the windows had blue lights instead of red, and judging by the 'ladies' behind them, we soon worked out they weren't ladies at all. On our walking tour we learnt a little about the way it all works, and they charge something like€50 for 15 minutes which was pretty crazy. We also found out that those ladies don't like to be messed with, and especially don't like it if tourists take photos. We heard stories that if you tried to take a photo of them, they'd come chasing after you and throw stale urine at you... Gross. Safe to say we didn't attempt any photos there. It definitely was one of the most eye-opening parts of Amsterdam, but it didn't feel unsafe: one night we got a little lost walking around the district, and apart from Annabelle and Chelsea getting asked if they were working girls, we still managed to make it out alive.
Amsterdam was really one of those places that you had to see to believe. It's also a place that is better with people and it helps to bring out the funnier side of the city's quirks (I don't think it would be much fun if I had been walking by myself through the red light district). And it's definitely somewhere I am glad I visited while I was young... I was amazed to see some tourists walking through the red light district with their kids- who brings kids to a place like that?? All I know is that would be a fun conversation with the kids explaining why the ladies are wearing no clothes in the middle of the day. But it was beautiful as well, and here's my favourite photo of our time in Amsterdam:
Next up: our hunt for a wee bit of Irish luck, beginning in Belfast.
Still having a blast I see. Keep up the posts xxx
ReplyDeleteThe Arnotts.....