Amsterdam - another Disneyland?
Trip Start
May 05, 2008
1
5
97
Trip End
May 09, 2009
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Friday, May 23, 2008
After spending a few days in the Dutch countryside, where any conservative American lamenting the loss of the god old-fashioned values would feel right at home, Amsterdam can come as a bit of a shock. The city itself has preserved very well the downtown core which dates from the 17th century, where beautiful, stately merchant houses and the concentric canals are weaved together in a harmonious ensemble which is very pleasant to the eye.
Of course, that's not what Amsterdam is most famous for these days, and that is evident in the hordes of young tourists, mostly American, who wander its streets in a haze, muttering: "Whoa man, this is soooo cool!". The main attractions of Amsterdam these days are its liberal attitudes
Typical pedestrian street
. Coffeeshops (as opposed to the more normal cafes), where marijuana and hashish are sold, are as numerous as pubs, and that's saying a lot for a country known for its beer. The red light district is situated right next to Amsterdam's main square and church. Some may think that all this can combine to make Amsterdam a decadent city, and possibly a dangerous one at that, but that is not the impression which we have got.Amsterdam can best be described as a social experiment, which seems to work very well for now and which more than likely owes its success to its uniqueness as a fairly large, attractive city with liberal attitudes, situated a one of the crossroads of Europe. The government, both national and municipal, have implemented a series of measures which seem to work very well in conjunction with one another. The legalization of soft drugs and prostitution help to reduce the crime associated with these activities in other cities, which makes Amsterdam,at least during the day, feel very safe. Everything is clean, regulated, taxed and run with typical Dutch efficiency. What's more, these measures and Amsterdam's reputation have helped attract a lot of artists. We have never seen such a concentration of art galleries, antique stores and outdoor cafes anywhere else,and that includes Paris, London and New York. The great numbers of tourists also allow for a lot of stores. The city is generally very pedestrian-friendly and there are very many pedestrian streets all lined up with stores
Sign in front of the Rijksmuseum
. Amsterdam is a shopper's paradise. The culture seems very Americanized and one can see a strong connection between the Dutch and American cultures. Everyone seems to know English and there seem to be as many American-style resturants as there are of those of the Netherlands' former colony, Indonesia. Though Amsterdam has a reputation as a financial and brokerage centre, that is not obvious to the tourist visiting the city core. The main industry seems to to be tourism, and everything I've described so far caters to that. Of course, Amsterdam is not a big city and the city's former glory ensures that the core is extremely densely packed with houses, stuck together side by side, sometimes only 5 meters wide. The streets are not very wide either. The solution to allowing as many people to visit the city, while preserving the historical buildings and the city's charm is Amsterdam's 3-tier road system. Quite remarkably for a North American, where cars get the vast bulk of roads, in Amsterdam cars only get a minority of the road. Sidewalks are fairly wide, but the most striking feature of the city's roads are the bicycle paths. Indeed, there are more bikes in this city than people, and one can see a dozen bikes for every car passing by. Public transport is ensured by electric tramways and a metro system. One would almost be tempted to say that Amstedam can serve as a model for a city of the future, where pollution is low and people don't depend upon cars
Being a part of the city...
. Unfortunately the wealth of the city is probably a direct function of the affluence brought to the city by the tourists attracted by Amsterdam's reputation. The city could probably still function quite well as a modern and clean city without this wealth, but it's difficult to predict what the city would be like if many other cities would model after it. In any case, given the city's overall atmosphere and look, our overall impression is that Amsterdam is almost like a Disneyland, only meant for adults with liberal attitudes. That may sound funny, but it could simply be the case of the Dutch, being very practical and business-minded people, having used a model similar in many ways to the American Disneyland, but modelling it for a different clientelle and starting from a historical city rather than from scratch.
Leaving the observations aside, we are having a really god time here. We have found it a lot of fun to stroll its streets, do some window-shopping and enjoy its cafes and pubs. The national Rijksmuseum has an excellent display of Dutch art, and seeing Rembrandt's work in person is a moving experience. Yesterday we went to see Indiana Jones at the famous Tutchinsky theatre, which was built in 1921 and combined several artistic currents (notably Art-Nouveau) and oriental influences, to create one of the most striking buildings we have ever seen
Another Dutch symbol
. That was possibly the best movie experience we have ever had. Virginia''s sister Stephanie would have loved as she would the Dutch men here ;) .I think that the six days we are spending here are a good amount of time, as we are having fun for now, but we would probably feel restless if we stayed here for too long.I would say that after almost 3 weeks on the road, we are finally learning how to relax and it's really hitting us that we are on the road for a year. Until now, this trip felt more like a vacation where you almost expect everyday to return to Canada and start working again. We miss our family and talk about them a fair bit but at the same time we are enjoying our time and we are learning a lot about the world and about ourselves. We have also started to pick up a bit of Dutch (it's not that difficult really), and we are getting a new perspective about Virginia's Dutch relatives in Canada.
Monday we are flying to Madrid. If we don't get to update the blog again, then tot ziens! to everyone.
