In our early twenties Amsterdam – renown for its cafes where one could smoke marijuana, party all night and ogle sex workers sitting in shop fronts advertising their wares was a must visit destination. We unfortunately didn’t get here back then so it was interesting to see how our fifties something self would find the place. After a glorious train trip across Germany, the terrain mostly flat and green, the contrast when crossing into the Netherlands was apparent. Immediately one noticed more water and the train actually felt as if it was going downhill for a lot of the journey into Amsterdam.
For the first time on this trip our arrival coincided with bleak, wet weather. Our hotel being a short walk away – it was out with the umbrella and out into the wide pedestrian, bicycle and tram filled streets.
It was directly obvious, despite the abysmal weather that the city was great. Streets of higgledy piggledy houses leaning forwards, backwards and sideways immediately appealed to our sense of quirkiness. Wide canals (although pretty filthy) were lined with these fantastic dwellings. Boats – for recreation, commerce and tourism plied these waterways. It was cyclist heaven with one having to dodge thousands of them. Waffles, pancakes and beer were abundant and the atmosphere was perfumed with the smell of dope.
Having only two nights here – the visit was pretty much given over to strolling the canals, shop gazing and looking for more waffles. We did take a canal tour which was excellent – much more comprehensive and taking us through many more waterways than we were expecting. We learnt that while artifacts from prehistoric times have been found here Amsterdam pretty much originated around the 13th century. It currently has a population of 750,000 people (average age 42). There are over 100 canals (most built in the 1700s) and over a 1000 bridges. The canals are flushed daily with 600,000 cubic metres of water to keep them clean although I beg to argue that it’s totally effective.
It’s evident that it’s a city that still appeals to the younger generation. Each afternoon hordes of them spill out from their hostels and start making their way through the streets – most to congregate in the infamous red light district. The place vibrates with the throb of music, cafes hazy with smoke overflow with youth and the whole vibe is party party party. I would hate to be a local here, having to put up with this every night.
So how did our older self find Amsterdam? Overall we found it a fantastic place. Its street lined canals are much more user friendly, beautiful and appealing than those of Venice. I would even hesitate to say if you had a choice, go Amsterdam any day. It offers retail therapy aplenty and there are cafes galore to sit and partake of a reviving wine, snack or something else. There are beautiful buildings, large city squares to listen to a local accordion player, copious art galleries and museums.The quirky lopsided houses are definitely one of its best features and well worth seeing. Whilst it wasn’t practical to enter – we did find Anne Franks house – now the Anne Frank Museum.
Today its a short two-hour train trip from Amsterdam to Brussels Belgium. This will be the final stop of our European jaunt before heading back to Reading England.
Next blog Brussels (for the chocolates).
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