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  Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Monday, September 29, 2008

mood: liberated

Amsterdam. Not sure if i really had expectations before i came here. Of course i know what goes on here, as if you dont know! But i didnt really know what i was going to find. But, i am incredibly impressed! This place is really cool. It really is like no other city in Europe. The people all speak wonderful English and are incredibly helpful and friendly, they are relaxed, they love their city and they love their laidback life. They are all mighty proud of Amsterdam, and so they should be - the canals, the architecture, the city is just beautiful.

When we arrived in on Saturday i met Allana, Rick, Alison and Lucy in the bar downstairs and we got some food and drinks and listened to the bad 90's mix of music they were playing and chilled out

a pretty sculpture in the street

. The hostel is pretty cool, although in some sort of ghetto out of town a bit (we have to catch a tram in). The place is huge, it used to be an old school and it feels like we are in America, theres a big cafeteria for breakfast etc. Lots of groups from schools seem to stay here.

We eventually headed into the city and strolled around. We went into the Grasshopper, one of the most touristy "coffee shops" and went downstairs to the smokers area just to check it out, but it was busy and to sit down there we had to buy a well overpriced drink so we decided instead to wander through some of the red light district. We went into the Bulldog - a place where you are supposedly allowed to smoke and drink at the same time, which is normally illegal. In fact, smoking cannabis is actually illegal in Amsterdam, but its de-criminalised, which means that the police can come up to you and say "stop that, its illegal", but there is no law as to how they punish you, therefore there is nothing they can do, so they just tolerate it. Same as with magic mushrooms, they are not classed as a hard drug as long as they are fresh - cause then they are still classed as a vegetable. It is however, illegal to smoke inside bars and clubs, except for pure cannabis (there is always a loophole). Its also illegal to serve alcohol inside a "coffee shop", and a major tourist trap is places advertising beer and smoking, though the beer is non-alcoholic (the customer doesnt know that unless they ask!) and its funny to watch people smoking and drinking and thinking that they are getting so drunk

canals of Amsterdam

.

and just to clarify, a "coffee shop" is somewhere you can buy and smoke weed, and a "cafe" is where you can buy coffee. quite confusing!

One of the guys we were with bought some weed and smoked it in the Bulldog, it was a little surreal and the fumes from inside the coffeeshop were pretty intense, im sure we walked out of there well on our way to getting high just from the secondhand smoke, and for the rest of the night we wandered back through the city, watched some guys using the public urinals (we werent being sickos, it was interesting! though you can see pretty much everything) and taking photos of themselves doing so, and we eventually bored of this and caught a tram back to the hostel and called it a night.

Amsterdam has one of the free walking tours so yesterday, after stocking up on free breakfast (and making some sandwiches to take along... naughty naughty!) we headed into the centre of town to the meeting spot. At this point, none of us were really impressed by the look of the city - it actually seemed quite boring, none of the fancy architecture that we had seen previously in other cities. The tour took us through some interesting parts of town, we stopped and saw the red light district which contained the oldest church in the city at 700 years, which was handy especially for those who had committed sins

canals of Amsterdam

. Back in the 1600's was Amsterdams golden age. The canalls accessing the city meant that it became the ecocentre of the world in terms of trading. When America was discovered and exporting of their products began, New York was actually owned by the Netherlands, and was then called New Amsterdam. They ended up giving it to Britan in exchange for an area which at the time was a good investment, but is worthless now. Amsterdam was the birthplace of the first corporation in the world (PTY LTD) as the owners of the boats were finding that of they lost a boat and its cargo due to bad weather or pirates etc, they would be ruined. But if they split their goods between a few different ships, their risk would be less, and therefore the first corporation was born.

And as the poor sailors would spend months at sea, would arrive into Amsterdam looking for some womanly loving, the redlight district was also born. its all about supply and demand.

Even though I hadnt been impressed by the central city, the canals, even around the red light district are really quite beautiful. Normal people actually live in and around the red light district, which means that normal life also goes on, so the gorgeous terrace houses and trees lining the canal are beautiful.

cannabis store

We learnt some cool little facts on the tour, like how some of the houses along the canals lean forward. This is not bacause they are falling over, but because when shippments came in on the boats people didnt want to put the stuff in their basements as it was prone to flooding, but it was still too hard to carry them upstairs to the second or third floors, so they would have a long metal bar poking out from above the top floor window, and would use a pulley system to winch the items up through the window. Good in theory, but if it was windy the stock would blow against the building, usually breaking windows or damaging the stock. Their solution? Tip the front of the houses forward! It was only later that it was also suggested that they extend the length of the bar instead. But i think it just makes Amsterdam all that more interesting.

Another interesting fact we learnt was when Napoleon was ruling over much of europe, he gave Holland and Amsterdam to his drunk little brother as a present. And he actually did bring some good to the city! For example, creating street names and numbers. Before this, the onlz was someones house was distinguishable was by the plaque above their door, usually with a symbol or some sort of picture. So if a parcel had to get to a certain location, it would be addressed something like: To so-and-so, the red house with the duck and spoons, near the bridge over the small canal, Amsterdam. Considering how many houses there were in amsterdam, it would have been an exhausting task. Another thing he introduced was last names, though the people at the time were not too impressed by this, and when Napoleons french inforcers came around to ask what they had chosen as their last names, the dutch people thought it would be funny to give themselves rediculous names such as toilet-cleaner, or garden bench

Amsterdam coffee shop

. As the french didnt understand dutch, they had no idea what they were writing down. Jokes on them. Now apparently its fun to get a dutch dictionary and a phone book, and try and translate some of the still wacky names used today.

The tour concluded outside Anne Franks house, and so me and Allison went inside to have a look. I was so shocked by how big it is. Its actually huge! The short version of the Anne Frank story is that during the Nazi rule the Frank family, along with another Jewish family and a single man, lived for 2 years in the floors above Otto's (Annes dads) business. The business continued to be run by Otto's non-jewish business partner, and they helped to hide and feed them during the war. They were eventually ratted out by one of their friends, and all of the Frank family except Otto died in the death camps. Otto came back and discovered Annes diary, and opened up his business as a memorial to to them and what happened. It was strange to walk through the rooms that they actually lived in, knowing that they had stared at the same walls and floors. There are even still the pictures that Anne stuck up on the walls of her room, that she put there to make it feel brighter and not so sad. Otto decided that he didnt want the place to remain furnished, so most of the rooms are now empty. But i was utterly amazed by how huge the area was! I had imagined a tiny little room where they all slept on the floor, maybe a toilet, but they practically had a whole house up there

way to stop people urinating in the street

. During the day they couldnt turn on the water or flush the toilet in case one of the workers downstairs heard, but at night they were free to do as they pleased. Its a shame that they didnt make it though, its hard to believe that this is such recent history. We wandered back along the canals and down the main shopping strip, then caught a tram back to the hostel to change into some warmer clothes, then found our way to the Hard Rock Cafe where we met up with Rick and Allana - who had been raving the past 2 days about the amazing cocktails they had there the last time they were in Amsterdam. After the chip incident in Bruge, we were a little wary of their recommendation, but they finally came through with the goods - these cocktails were impressive! Plus the bar guy took a liking to me and offered to top up my long island ice tea with with champagne instead of coke, which of course i willingly obliged to! We drank some mighty alcoholic cocktails, and then consequently had an amusing tramride/walk back to the hostel.

This morning we got up quite early to start a tradition we call 'second breakfastsesss' which involves heading downstairs for breaky, then heading back to the dorms to sleep/shower/do whatever, and then about half an hour before it finishes, head back down and have second breakfast. Its part of the backpackers policy to make good use of free food opportunities! another option is to simply sit there for 3 hours, so it becomes one huge long breakfast. Either works. This place however is ruthless when it comes to people making takeaway snacks for later, though i still managed to get away with it. Whos going to miss a couple of pieces of break and some ham and cheese? exactly.

Athough the sky looked threatening, Allison and myself did the bike tour of the surrounding countryside of Amsterdam

700 year old church in the red light district

. It was quite good, we rode along some of the dam walls, saw a windmill used to pump the water out of the lowlying areas, relished the green pastures and the stocky farmers horses, and admired the canals lined with huge multimillion dollar houses. The tour stopped at a cheese factory where a wierd creepy guide who cracked onto all the girls showed us how they make what they call 'farmers cheese' - no refrigeration required, then followed by a clog-making demo. It was a little strange. We got the chance to sample some of the different flavoured cheeses like garlic, pepper, smoked etc, and Allison and i decided to go halves in a wheel of the pepper. We made good time and got back to Amsterdam early, so we made a stop off at an Irish pub for some beer (and cider for me) before returning the bikes. I went off on my own and explored a little more of the city, then met back up with Allison for a walking tour of the red light district.

This tour is by far the best tour i have been one the whole time i have been away. Best 8€ i have ever spent. If anyone is going to amsterdam do NOT miss the night red light tour by New Europe tours. It is absolutely brilliant.

Our guides name was Kevin and he was absolutely amazing. He has developed such a respect for this city that it instantly was passed onto all of us. His love want because he could smoke pot wherever he wanted, or legally pay for sex, but because this city has such character, its like no other place on earth. People here are so friendly, the streets are one of the safest in Europe (only Scandinavia and Switzerland have better crime figures... thats impressive) and people are genuinely happy. Kevin taught us laws and to respect the red light district, you are absolutely forbidden to take photos (its completely disrespectful, not to mention the girls want to try and remain as annonymous as possible) and the penalty if you get caught by one of the girls includes (but is not limited to) camera getting thrown into the canal and you getting covered in a cup of urine

smallest house in Amsterdam

. Thats right, girls actually have a cup of piss sitting next to the doorway in case someone tries to disrespect them. Which i totally agree with. These are normal people and they dont deserve to be treated like anything less than a human being.

Athough there are many types of prostitution, the most famous one is the girls in the windows. These girls hire out the windows in 8 hour shifts, at around 140-180€ depending on location etc. Behind each window is a room with a bed and a clock, and the girls hire themselves out for 15mins at a time, with the basic going rate at about 30€. Within an 8 hour shift, most girls only work about 3 - 4 hours, the rest of the time they spend standing in their windows, usually on their phones, simply advertising themselves. Any time anyone is interested, they negotiate a price and then she tells him to come back at a certain time.

Athough most guys only plan on being in there for the 15 minutes, once they are in its all about the upsell. and it just keeps getting more and more expensive! If you want clothes off, its more. If you want the her to kiss you, its more. If you want to be tied up, its more. If you want to change positions, its more. and once the 15 minutes is up, no matter how much the guy begs, its another 15 minutes or nothing, and the next 15 minutes is going to be even more expensive than the first. So by the time the guy walks out, they could have spent 8 times the ammount they were intending to pay. The girls are very good at their jobs. And I guess it just highlights how weak males are in general. hehehe.

Because the sex industry is legal, it means that the girls get exactly the same rights as any other worker in terms of benefits and work-cover etc

canals of Amsterdam

. They pay taxes, and can claim (to my ammusement) for any workplace related injury.

Unfortunately though, the European Union doesnt agree with the liberal laws that Amsterdam now has, and wants things to be quite similar throughout the EU. they do not see the good side of Amsterdams loose law system when it comes to drugs and sex, and if these laws are inforced then the culture is merely going to go underground where it cannot be policed and therefore will only get worse. Unfortunately Amsterdam has gotten itself a name for attracting backpackers who come merely to get high, which is totally untrue as most of the people on Busabout didnt even try anything, and if they did it was purely for the novelty factor and is not in any shape or form promoting any sort of drug habit etc. In fact, the biggest issue here is with the youth binge-drinking, a problem which encompases the entire globe.

I myself was indeed intriegued by the sex and drugs culture, but had no intention or desire to endulge myself in any of the delights of Amsterdam. As did many of the people I was with. But i really do think it would be a damn shame to see things change. Word is that in 5 - 10 years everything that is Amsterdam will be no more, as it is forced to be more like the mainstream EU. Im glad i got to witness it as it currently is, and i do recommend that everyone get out there and check it out cause if things are forced to change, they will never go back again to how it was.

So i guess its easy to see how much i loved Amsterdam - it only took up 12 pages in my diary!!!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Anne Franks house	Anne Frank herself	cocktails in Hard Rock Cafe	Me and Allison on the bike ride
painted clogs	boxes full of clogs	clog wall	me and my new shoes
back in canal country	parkland in Amsterdam	my bike - called Hannah Montana	posing in the canals
Allison with our cheese investment	Amsterdam architecture	red light district	uhhh... one of the gay clubs in the red light dist
condom museum!	condom museum!	I amsterdam

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