Amsterdam
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2008
1
72
95
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Noord-Holland,
Netherlands
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Amsterdam was built on a big swamp area and the buildings were built on the swampy areas with the canals created to drain the water from the built up areas. Because the soil is pretty much silt and mud over the years a number of the houses have started to lean a bit and now in the older (and more expensive) areas of Amsterdam there are a lot of houses leaning either to the side or forward. Our guide was great and told us lots of little known facts about the history of Amsterdam along the way as well as tips for places to eat and drink etc.
After the bike ride we had a bit of a rest and then met Beatrijs, a friend that we had met in Mexico who lives in Amsterdam, for a few drinks.
The following day we took the day to wander around the centre of town and took in the sights of 'The Dam' and the 'Red light district'
Amsterdam!
. These areas are quite touristy and on almost every corner is a 'coffee shop'. Not to be confused with a 'café' - which sells coffee. Coffee shops in Amsterdam do sell e but also marijuana, In fact, due to recent smoking laws bought in in the Netherlands, you can't smoke tobacco in a lot of these coffee shops and only pot! Pretty much where ever you go you can smell pot!Next we checked out the Van Gogh museum. Having studied Van Gogh in school and always loved his paintings this was a must for me. It was great to see so many of those paintings that I have seen in books for so many years up close. It was also interesting to learn about his life.
We also visited the 'House of Bols'. Bols for those who are not familiar are the makers of genever (similar to gin but an older recipe than gin was then based on) and many liqueurs. The tour was really interesting. Matt enjoyed trying to learn to flair with bottles as the Bols liqueur bottles have been specifically designed to make it easier for bartenders to flair with. Then we enjoyed our free cocktails which we had chosen from the many choices available. There are 38 different liqueur flavours let alone the genevers. We were then informed that we were allowed to try the different flavours. Between Matt and I we tried, Strawberry, Parfait Amour, Kiwi, Blue Curaco, Sour Apple, Vanilla, Butterscotch and Genever. By the time we finished we were in need of food so stumbled to a nearby noodle house.
We decided to get out of the city and see all things Holland. We took the train to a little village where we saw lots of windmills, cheese being made and clogs being made. That night we went to a comedy show called Boom Chicago, in English, thankfully.
