Amsterdam: the bicycles

Ok, words do not even begin to explain how many bicycles there are in Amsterdam. 

Seriously. Our tour guide told us there were 850,000 bikes in Amsterdam for 750,000 residents (however wikipedia disagrees with this figure). But even if it's incorrect, it's still entirely believable. There are so many people riding bikes all over this city. Even through all the tourists. 

Trust me, to get through the hoards of out-of-towners, you have to be a very aggressive rider. And aggressive they are. The clinging of bike bells is sort of a constant background noise in Amsterdam. But if you hear it coming from behind you, you basically need to spring dive out of the way or you will get run over. In fact, by the end of our 3 day trip, we could barely walk down the street without anxiously looking over our shoulder every 30 seconds, just in case! 

Amsterdam also has a really unique selection of bikes. We saw so many different bikes, and I'm not even sure we scratched the surface of all the strange kinds of bikes out there! 


We saw blue bikes

and green bikes

and yellow bikes on a bridge (a personal goal for Katharina).

We saw bikes with built in baby carriages in front,

and (my favorite) even a bike growing a garden! 

So many bikes everywhere! Which begs the question: if everyone is riding their bike and running you over, how are there still so many bike locked up everywhere?!

SO MANY BIKES!!

Amsterdam: the drugs

Out of all the things Amsterdam is known for, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that legalized marijuana is probably the most well known. In fact, when people tell you they're going to Amsterdam, this is probably the first scenario that pops into your head:

And it's true. Marijuana is a pretty prevalent part of Amsterdam. I'd say you can avoid it if you want to, but you can pretty much smell it every time the wind changes. 

But here's a fun fact guys: marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands. However, since the Dutch are the most amazingly tolerant people ever, they just sort of overlook it as long as it's not hurting anyone. But that's why you can't just find signs like "buy your weed here!!" Instead, you have to go to "coffee shops." And trust me, they're not hard to find. First, because they're on every corner. And second because the smell is unavoidable as you walk past. 

But what happens if you really do just want a coffee without an ensuing high? Then you go to a Cafe.

Of course, if can't remember, just walk up to the door and ask yourself 3 simple questions:
1. is everyone inside smoking something?
2. are there pictures of marijuana leaves all over the decor?
3. is the pungent stench of weed permeating into the street?

if your answer to any one of these questions was "yes," then it's safe to say you're at a coffee shop. 


Oh, and here's one last fun fact to think about: The Netherlands is starting to make it illegal (as in actually illegal and enforced) for non dutch residents to use coffee shops. This has already been implemented in most of southern Netherlands and is supposed to take effect in Amsterdam in 2013. Just so you know.

Amsterdam: the sex

As I mentioned yesterday, one of Amsterdam's most notorious attractions is the red light district. 

We've all heard rumors and whispers of the goings-on of Amsterdam's red light district, but just what really is it about? 

If you said sex, you're right. Seriously people, pretty much 24 hours a day you can find naked  (ok, not really naked... Well, by American standards yes, but otherwise you could just say "erotically dressed") women hanging out in windows all around the red light district. Of course, there are considerably more women workin' it at night than in the morning. But don't be caught off guard when you're making your way through the city at 10am and are greeted by boobs on the other side of a glass door. In fact, if you see glass doors out of the corner of your eye, it's best to just keep looking forward and avoid awkward eye-contact. I'm not really sure how one procures a prostitute, but in the event of it being some secret eye signal, I'm just going to keep my bashful American gaze on the ground in front of me. 

However, at night the red light district doesn't sneak up on you quite as much. Somehow between all the neon lights and middle-aged creepers it kind of gets the message out: "oh hey, there's some legalized prostitution going on here." 

Now you might notice I'm not posting any pictures from the red light district. This is for two reasons: 

1. No. just no.

2. If you take pictures of them they will come out from behind their glass door and smack you and your camera down. 

If the red light district is something that is going to offend you or upset you, I would suggest just not going to Amsterdam. Of course there are plenty of other things to see, but because it is located right in the middle of the city, it's hard to get from one side to the other without walking through it. Also, there are lots of - how shall we say - novelty shops that are not discreet in their advertising. They even have a tribute to the red light district conveniently placed right in front of one of Amsterdam's beautiful old churches. easily overlooked, yet unmistakably clear. 

The sex culture is just a part of Amsterdam you've got to roll with - you just leave it on the streets if you want to. Unless of course you've got a group of nasty British kids in your 14 person hostel room. But that's another story for another blog.

So, before this post gets too uncomfortable to continue (must I remind you that I am still American and typing a whole post about sex is a big step for my people), I'm just going to leave you with a novelty condom shop in the middle of the city with a pretty hilarious display window. 

Amsterdam: Sex, Drugs, and Bicycles

Way back in the beginning of June, Katharina and I went to Amsterdam for a weekend. I've been there twice before, but only for a combined total of 24 hours - so I was excited to finally get to really visit this city I'd only gotten a glimpse of. 

Of course Amsterdam has a bit of a reputation for sex and drugs - what, with the infamous red light district and well known "coffee shops." Of course, one thing you might notice before the sex and drugs if you ever visit Amsterdam is all the bicycles! Eventually all this led Katharina to proclaim Amsterdam the city of sex, drugs, and bicycles.

I'll touch on all 3 of those subjects. But not today. 

I wanted to start Amsterdam blogging by clarifying that that place is an amazingly beautiful city that has a lot more than just sex, drugs, and bicycles! Of course you should visit the red light district and/or a coffee shop if you want - they're definitely interesting bits of culture. But if you ever go to Amsterdam, make sure to get off the beaten path. Get out side the city center. Walk along the canals until you don't know where you are anymore. And that's where you'll find the most beautiful side of Amsterdam. And you'll understand why I think it's such an amazing city. 

A good layover

On our way to Scotland, Andrea and I had a layover in Amsterdam. I've only been to Amsterdam once before, and, as you might remember, it was also just for a layover. 

We took the train from Dortmund to Amsterdam (only 3 hours and 20€, I will be going again!) and had about 3 hours before our next departure. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for the tour that I did last time, so I did the best I could to recreate the tour myself. 

It consisted mostly of "I think we went this way"s and "this looks familiar"s and "this was important but I can't remember why"s. But we still got to see a lot of the city and enjoy a couple beers.

At one point, while walking along the canals, we found ourselves surrounded by a chinese parade of loud drumming and a big dragon people puppet (to be clear). It basically turned into dueling dragons ending with a 20 foot string of firecrackers going off in the middle of the street (loudest thing ever, btw). We still have no idea what on earth that was for, and it definitely wasn't official as there were some very angry drivers who couldn't get around it for about 20 minutes. 

Amsterdam was just as lovely as my last layover, and I hope to get out there for an actual visit at some point! 

I AMsterdam, in 20 hours or less

When I booked my flight home for the summer, I knew I had to connect through Amsterdam. The original connection would have been getting in at 9:30pm and leaving again at 10am. Just long enough to sleep. So I decided, instead of a 12 hour overnight layover, I would go for the evening flight and make it a full 20 hours.

So for my one day in Amsterdam, I decided to take a New Europe tour. For those of you who have never heard of New Europe tours, they are these awesome tours offered in just about every major city in Europe. They have lots of different kinds - the normal options (bike tours and pub crawls) and some tailored specifically to what the city offers (Coffee shop tours and Red Light District tours in Amsterdam). But the staple tours they always offer (Which happens to be my personal favorite... for obvious reasons) are free walking tours. Usually when the word "free" is in the title you don't expect the best quality, but these tours are 3 hours of interesting historical and current facts about the city. Basically, it's a walk around seeing all the big sites from the outside, hearing about them, but never actually going in. Perfect for short trips because you can fit everything 

in 3 hours. Perfect for long trips because it's a great starting point to get to know all the big sites and where they are. And did I mention it's free? 

After the tour ended, however, I literally ran to the train station to get to the airport. And the rest, as they say, is history!