Sex, Drugs and Bicycles
Trip Start
May 01, 2007
1
22
45
Trip End
Apr 29, 2008
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Terri, being the master bargain finder that she is, managed to get us a cheap hotel in a good part of town. Now, when I say "cheap" what I should really say is "cheap for Amsterdam", considering each night's stay killed our entire daily budget, before we did anything else, including eat. It was worth it though, considering that, for once, we didn't have to share the room with anyone, and actually got to sleep in a bed together (a nice break from bunk beds).
On our first night there, we hooked up with our new friends Jon and Clare from Australia, who we met in Berlin
01 Amsterdam Canal
. We enjoyed some cheap drinks together, then toured the mind boggling red-light district. Yes, the streets do actually glow red there. It was quite surreal walking around in there - the girls actually stand in lingerie behind glass, trying to entice any passersby. We're not quite sure how some of those girls actually made a living, but considering they're out there, I suppose everyone has his own tastes. What I really found bizarre were the prostitutes right across the street from a church. At least, they should be around the corner, in a part of town where God usually doesn't go, or something. Clouds of marijuana smoke are ubiquitous in town, and drinking on the streets is legal, as long as the drink is hidden inside a paper bag. Good times.In addition to the usual wandering around, we also took a canal cruise around the city. Downtown is arranged around concentric circular canals (reminded us of Venice) which made it a touch confusing to navigate for the first few days. We learned something very interesting about the downtown: property taxes are assessed based on the width of the property, not the square footage or depth or anything like that. All the houses are extremely narrow. Because of this, each building has a furniture winch at the top near the roof - whenever people move, they have to take their stuff in and out of the windows, as their stairwells are too narrow.
02 Matt and Terri
We rented bikes for a couple of hours, and cycled down to the big city park in the south end of downtown. Biking in Amsterdam is total madness. I can't believe that they don't have hundreds of bicycle-related fatalities annually. Street cars run all over the place, car drivers really don't seem to follow many rules and tourists walk about in giant gaggles. I'm surprised that both of us managed not to fall off or get hit by a car/tram or assaulted by a local for having the gall to be a tourist on a bicycle. I have it on good authority that locals hate tourists biking (apparently we're all idiots).
Once our reservation ran out, and we couldn't extend without paying twice the price, we were lucky enough to be able to stay with our friend Alex, a PhD student that we met on the ferry between Greece and Italy. He has a great condo out in the west end of town, conveniently right on a metro line. We met up with a couple of his friends, Erik and Eliza (I doubt I spelled that right). Terri and I decided to make them something Canadian, so it was poutine (french fries with cheese and gravy) on the menu that evening, and thankfully it went over quite well. They were nice enough to invite us to their house for a BBQ on our last night in town. They own a great old place next to a beautiful church - it was really stunning. After dinner, they took us out for a drive around the countryside, we saw some traditional Dutch windmills, then went to a beach for a drink, before retiring for the night. They had a cute little Jack Russel terrier that I delighted in playing with (I've been quite dog-deprived so far on our trip).
Amsterdam was a lot more fun than some of the places we've visited - it was great to be able to meet up with some friends again, as well as make some new ones. We had a blast.
Next stop: Paris.
Comments
amsterdam
Hey you two, long time reader firstime caller. You must certianly be having more fun doing what i am enjoying reading. When in Amsterdam did you do what the Amsterdamians do? Things are good for us, I hope your staying healthy & happy. I am curiuse how the amsterdam living expenses compare to Canada? Continue haveing fun, i enjoy reading and watching your trip. Please be careful and always watch your backs. sincerily, Kyle @ Apex