Amsterdam Hotels
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Coffee Shops, Heineken, rockin the 'Dam!
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Amsterdam. The Big Kahuna. The city of infamy. The hub of all things deviant, sinful, hedonistic, where the illegal becomes legal, and men and women flock from everywhere to smoke joints in the streets and fry their brains in the cosy confines of the multitude of coffee shops. We've all heard the stories, the reputation, we know what its all about, and finally, the time had come to experience the infamous place face to face.
I'd been briefed by old dog Martin back at the hostel that Amsterdam sure as hell aint what it used to be. Over the last couple of years particularly, large sectors of the city had been sold away to foreign interest, at least half of the population constituted tourists, and prices had skyrocketed considerably since all of this had come to fruition. I was expecting a seedy, less than desirably, dodgy city with touts, shade merchants, and undersirable pricetags, and i gotta say, i was suddenly pleased with my decision to base myself in Utrecht and transit into the big smoke whenever i saw fit rather than stay in the thick of the sin-laden action. But perhaps i was speaking too soon, the place had to be seen to be understood.
After a no-show from the Aussies, who informed me later they were seedy as buggery from the two buck Lambrusco consumed last night, i hoofed it solo on the rail system right into the heart of Amsterdam central and got there just after midday. Amsterdam was a lot bigger than i was expecting, and i gotta say, as the train wound around the semicircular shape of the main city streets, i liked what i saw. The place exuded that trademark Dutch charm, though the 'warmth' of the place seemed a fair bit diminished from how it must have been in its glorious heyday. Indeed, kebap stores and fast food diners had made their presence felt big time, and the place was instantly vibing that of a purpose built tourist hub. Prices were indeed inflated compared to Utrecht, and most hostels here were at least 24 Euro for a single dorm, making no sense to park there when i could be comfortably lodged in Utrecht and fed booze and food for free. But i dug Amsterdam, the historical old buildings, the charmingly romantic canals - the place was bustling and in some spots, a little hairy, but in general it came across as a pretty clean, layed back place to be, toursity, but cool. i joined the army of tourists and made my way up one of the main town arteries, walking around fairly aimlessly, with the vague destination of the Heineken Factory, which i was told was around here somewhere.
Found my way north of the canal-laden city to the Heineken hub sometime after, the sun bearing down on me in the now customary Dutch fashion, and i lined up outside with some random yanks for the 'Heineken Experience', an obligatory tour of the old brewery and a refreshing insight into the company's origins and its growth throughout history. In all seriousness i was there for the free samples, the free beer and little else. Though the
displays were fairly cool, it turned out the actual brewery was not even there, but they fed me three tall glasses of the ice cold swill, so i was appeased and quite frankly, cared not about the educational content of the establishment. However, one thing i did discover on the tour was that i really don't like Heineken that much at all, sipping my freebies one by one and scratching my head as to how with all their enormous budgets they failed to fill the vacant spot where 'flavour' should have been. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but the place had nuthin' on the Guinness storehouse - that was something else altogether.
So i scored my free gift and boozily tripped out the exit doors of the 'Heineken Experience', considerably experienced in the way of Heineken after knocking back three pints within a good ten minutes. The sun continued to provide me with an idyllic afternoon vibe as i made my way back along the streets and canals to various spots of the 'Dam. With a fairly long list of sights i could have witnessed in Amsterdam, inclusing some fine notch culture like the Rembrandt museum and the Van Gogh galleries, of course i wound up at the dodgy as all buggery Sex Museum, a three story exhibit dedicated to the glory of shagging throghout time, containing some displays which left me feeling a tad queasy. I reccomend not eating lunch before entering the Amsterdam Sex Museum. Thankfully it was only 3 Euro to get in. Continuing on from this agenda of nefarious peurility, though it was smack bang in the middle of the day and the shadiness of nighttime was but hours away, i moseyed along over to the other side of town in order to glimpse perhaps the most famous of Amsterdam's sights - the Red Light District. Sure enough, all rumours checked out, as i walked up and down the main red light drag lined with sex shops and shady bald men in sunglasses parked at the doorways, ladies of all nationalities sat in windows waiting for business, eyeing me off and waving hello, and other rough birds standing in barely nothing at all, chewing gum looking bored shitless displaying their product in the doorframes of their quarters. I sat as a small nature strip outside the Weed, Hemp and Marijuana museum, knocked back another can of Heineken (why?) and marvelled with a boozy grin at the blantant display of sheer, unadulterated sin. It sure was tops.
Past a cavalcade of different coffee shops and stores flogging all manner of dodgy drug paraphenalia, i wound up back through to the main crux of town, and decided to call it a day, I could have checked out a bit more of Amsterdam, its many tourist attractions, the coffee shops and all that jazz, but to be honest, i felt like i'd seen enough. Happy to be back on a train to Utrecht, i arrived back at the cosiness of the hostel in the early evening and caught up with my Aussie mates, as well as the usual faces. Tonight was spent in a similar fashion to last night, knocking back Evelyn's free plonk and talking the usual assortment of jive, laughing at a Scottish couple who had consumed a helping of the local mushrooms and looked like they were visiting a planet not yet found in amongst the vast depths of the Kuiper Belt. Fluffed about on the internet after cooking up a free pasta, and learned a bit more about the history of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, and the region in general. CNN has been a continual presence in the background of the hostel dining room, and the events of the day are pretty much inescapable. This conflict continues to abhor me, as each day passes and another round of innocent lives, usually non-Hizballah Lebanese, are mowed down and blown away. It is a shitful situation that sees no signs of getting any better, and certainly unhelped by the oft misleading and sidetracking news reports that analyse the life out of the situation but do little to offer any real explanation or rational plan to end wars like these. The war in the middle east has become a deplorable, sad presence in the background as we all make ourselves at home in this cosy hostel in Utrecht.
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