8.13.07-Day 2-Amsterdam
A trip to Amsterdam always draws a plethora of questions from people who have never been. So in no particular order, here’s the answers to some popular ones-
1.Old, but beautiful
2.Pretty bland
3.Absolutely
4. 12euros, and it’s out of this world
5. it feels very safe
5. 50euros for twenty minutes, full service
I rented a bike, which is a great way to get around town. I rode down to PC Hoofstraat, which is Amsterdams upscale shopping street, similar to Madison or Worth Avenue. There’s a men’s store that takes up a good chunk of the block that’s absolutely worth checking out. The inside is like an immaculate gentlemans club, all burled wood and silk walls, with leather books, model ships, bottles of bordeux and crystal barware scattered throughout. From there its to the Jordaan, an area that’s set around three concentric canals. Its leafy and filled with boutiques and cafes, similar in feel to the west village, but not nearly as crowded. That’s one thing about Amsterdam, thought the really touristy areas can be busy, its not really that crowded anywhere. There often times that you are the only person on a given street.
“Keep going, keep going, stop!”
The preferred mode of transportation in Amsterdam is the bicycle, but there’s still a decent number of cars in the city. It’s funny how the setting can make certain European cars like jaguars and lotuses seem very much at home. Much of the best living is around the canals, where there’s not a whole lot of space for parking. Therefore people parallel park along the edge of the canals. Thing is, there’s not always safety bars there, just the straight drop into the canal. Now I’ve run up on the curb a number of times when parallel parking in the city, I can only wonder how many Saab’s are resting at the bottom of these canals.
“Dude, I think the houses are moving”
Many of the townhouses in jordaan are beautifully decorated. I know this, because there living rooms are right at eye level along the street. The residents don’t seem to care, as they go about there lives with the huge windows open while people walk by literally sticking their heads into their living rooms. The architecture in Amsterdam is gorgeous. There are so many intricate old buildings, they definitely pay attention to details. Taken from afar, the buildings seem to be leaning in different directions. Amsterdam, like Venice, is built on hundreds of thousands of pylons stuck into the mud. Over the past seven hundred years or so the pylons have sunk and settled a bit, and the buildings have followed suit. This explains the ones that lean to the side. The ones that lean out over the road are actually a way of sticking it to the man. Amsterdammers are taxed by the footprint of the building, so the higher floors were built larger, while only the size of the ground floor is taxed. That’s my educational tid-bit for the day. Ok, one more- Most of the buildings have hooks coming off the roof. In lieu of taking heavy furniture up the narrow townhouse stairwells, ropes are thrown over the hook and furniture its craned into the window. They still move that way to this day.
‘Come see the banana show”
While Amsterdam is a beautiful European capital rich in history, many people’s idea of the city breaks down to two things- hookers and weed. And it’s not undeserved. The smell of marijuana in everpresent, and then there’s the red light district. Did I get a hooker in Amsterdam? Of course not, for a myriad of reasons ranging from the principals of health and fidelity to the cold war and the recent devaluation of Argentinian currency. But did I go look? Absolutely. It’s like the mall or the zoo, just a whole hell of a lot more interesting. Most people think they’ve seen a hooker. The hot Russian with the old guy at the hotelbar, the women by the truckspot. But when do you get the opportunity to really see them in their natural habitat. While some of them are indeed very attractive, for the most part, they aren’t. And there’s a whole lot of them. Which means that eventually, you’re going to find one that reminds you of someone you know. It’s not arousing, because it’s not like a hot teacher, its more the elementary school janitor or some neighbor. (Hamilton, if you’re reading this, that’s purely for illustrative purposes. No worries.) After hitting several bars and two hours of trying to remember where I’d locked my bike, it was time to call it a night. Amsterdam, as always, had been an absolute blast, but it was time to keep exploring.
A trip to Amsterdam always draws a plethora of questions from people who have never been. So in no particular order, here’s the answers to some popular ones-
1.Old, but beautiful
2.Pretty bland
3.Absolutely
4. 12euros, and it’s out of this world
5. it feels very safe
5. 50euros for twenty minutes, full service
I rented a bike, which is a great way to get around town. I rode down to PC Hoofstraat, which is Amsterdams upscale shopping street, similar to Madison or Worth Avenue. There’s a men’s store that takes up a good chunk of the block that’s absolutely worth checking out. The inside is like an immaculate gentlemans club, all burled wood and silk walls, with leather books, model ships, bottles of bordeux and crystal barware scattered throughout. From there its to the Jordaan, an area that’s set around three concentric canals. Its leafy and filled with boutiques and cafes, similar in feel to the west village, but not nearly as crowded. That’s one thing about Amsterdam, thought the really touristy areas can be busy, its not really that crowded anywhere. There often times that you are the only person on a given street.
“Keep going, keep going, stop!”
The preferred mode of transportation in Amsterdam is the bicycle, but there’s still a decent number of cars in the city. It’s funny how the setting can make certain European cars like jaguars and lotuses seem very much at home. Much of the best living is around the canals, where there’s not a whole lot of space for parking. Therefore people parallel park along the edge of the canals. Thing is, there’s not always safety bars there, just the straight drop into the canal. Now I’ve run up on the curb a number of times when parallel parking in the city, I can only wonder how many Saab’s are resting at the bottom of these canals.
“Dude, I think the houses are moving”
Many of the townhouses in jordaan are beautifully decorated. I know this, because there living rooms are right at eye level along the street. The residents don’t seem to care, as they go about there lives with the huge windows open while people walk by literally sticking their heads into their living rooms. The architecture in Amsterdam is gorgeous. There are so many intricate old buildings, they definitely pay attention to details. Taken from afar, the buildings seem to be leaning in different directions. Amsterdam, like Venice, is built on hundreds of thousands of pylons stuck into the mud. Over the past seven hundred years or so the pylons have sunk and settled a bit, and the buildings have followed suit. This explains the ones that lean to the side. The ones that lean out over the road are actually a way of sticking it to the man. Amsterdammers are taxed by the footprint of the building, so the higher floors were built larger, while only the size of the ground floor is taxed. That’s my educational tid-bit for the day. Ok, one more- Most of the buildings have hooks coming off the roof. In lieu of taking heavy furniture up the narrow townhouse stairwells, ropes are thrown over the hook and furniture its craned into the window. They still move that way to this day.
‘Come see the banana show”
While Amsterdam is a beautiful European capital rich in history, many people’s idea of the city breaks down to two things- hookers and weed. And it’s not undeserved. The smell of marijuana in everpresent, and then there’s the red light district. Did I get a hooker in Amsterdam? Of course not, for a myriad of reasons ranging from the principals of health and fidelity to the cold war and the recent devaluation of Argentinian currency. But did I go look? Absolutely. It’s like the mall or the zoo, just a whole hell of a lot more interesting. Most people think they’ve seen a hooker. The hot Russian with the old guy at the hotelbar, the women by the truckspot. But when do you get the opportunity to really see them in their natural habitat. While some of them are indeed very attractive, for the most part, they aren’t. And there’s a whole lot of them. Which means that eventually, you’re going to find one that reminds you of someone you know. It’s not arousing, because it’s not like a hot teacher, its more the elementary school janitor or some neighbor. (Hamilton, if you’re reading this, that’s purely for illustrative purposes. No worries.) After hitting several bars and two hours of trying to remember where I’d locked my bike, it was time to call it a night. Amsterdam, as always, had been an absolute blast, but it was time to keep exploring.
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