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We are now in Amsterdam for six days before heading back to Scotland for another ten days. Amsterdam is all about soaking up the local culture, lounging about at a canal-side café, visiting the museums, enjoying the food. The city’s laid-back people and its beauty make it a great destination on any European trip. Amsterdam is an old city, with a rich architectural heritage that dates back to Middle Ages. Amsterdam’s most distinct physical features are its canals and tall, narrow, buildings. When much of the city centre was being laid out, taxes were levied based on the frontage at ground level. This encouraged building upwards, and has contributed to Amsterdam’s present urban design. Surrounding the ancient centre are countless bridges spanning gorgeous tree-lined canals.The entire city is flat and walkable.
We are staying on the Leidsestraat, it is full of charming boutiques and cafes. This narrow street, packed with both tourists and local shoppers, is perfect for window-shopping as each boutique offers fun, unique items. You won’t find chain stores here. The Dutch generally have a warm and welcoming attitude toward visitors, and most have at least a moderate grasp of the English language, so you have an easy time discovering the city’s substantial charm.
We are staying on the Leidsestraat, it is full of charming boutiques and cafes. This narrow street, packed with both tourists and local shoppers, is perfect for window-shopping as each boutique offers fun, unique items. You won’t find chain stores here. The Dutch generally have a warm and welcoming attitude toward visitors, and most have at least a moderate grasp of the English language, so you have an easy time discovering the city’s substantial charm.
We strolled down the Damrack from Central Station, and found ourselves in the middle of a bustling square teeming with both tourists and locals apparently it is like this 24 hours a day. The famous Dam Square, or simply The Dam, was constructed during the 13th century to protect occupants of the city from flooding. The Dam is always a lively place no matter the weather.
We decided this was the day to visit the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum as Amsterdam was suffering extreme storms. Several trees were uprooted along some of the canals causing authorities to warn people to stay indoors. A car was squashed injuring people inside, a woman killed walking along the canal path and bikes destroyed.
Visiting the Van Gogh was a unique experience. The museum contains the largest collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the world and also holds an extensive offer of exhibitions on various subjects from 19th-century art history.
We also visited the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum has been a working museum for more than 125 years. The current building was opened in 1885. To those approaching from the direction of the old town, the museum looks impressive and somewhat severe from the Museumplein, however, it looks more like a fairytale castle. After more than a century this huge building needed a radical makeover. In the year 2000, the government of the day gave the go-ahead and work started in 2004, finally completed in April 2013.
The renovated Rijksmuseum displays over 8,000 artistic and historical objects that tell the story of 800 years of Dutch history, from the year 1200 right up to the present. The entire Rijksmuseum collection, including drawings, prints and photos, consists of around 1,000.000 items.
Before the 10 year renovations, around 1.000.000 people visited the Rijksmuseum annually now the museum will have the capacity to welcome up to 2 million visitors annually.
The renovated Rijksmuseum displays over 8,000 artistic and historical objects that tell the story of 800 years of Dutch history, from the year 1200 right up to the present. The entire Rijksmuseum collection, including drawings, prints and photos, consists of around 1,000.000 items.
Before the 10 year renovations, around 1.000.000 people visited the Rijksmuseum annually now the museum will have the capacity to welcome up to 2 million visitors annually.
The Red Light District leaves nothing to the imagination. It is very likely that you will have heard about this neighbourhood and everything you have heard is probably true, but we had to check it out for ourselves. Definitely it is unlike any other place we have visited.
The Red Light District, De Wallen is a major tourist attraction in Amsterdam and you won’t be surprised to see crowds of tourists. There are a number of sex shops, peep shows, a sex museum, a cannabis museum, and a number of coffee shops that sell marijuana. In the Netherlands, "coffee shop" is not a place for you to enjoy a latte, it is a cafe to buy and try drugs. We were told you will be handed a “menu of drugs” selling items such as space cakes, space cookies, space tea and etc that contain a dose of cannabis. They are all over the city. The Dutch are very liberal as this is all legal in Holland.
The Red Light District that everyone knows about is the one where women in bikinis, underwear or less parade their wares in windows surrounded by red lights and usually with a red lamp above it, ready to offer more than a peep-show. It is one thing to know about this area, however, when we wandered into this area around 5pm it was another to turn a corner and see a girl pop out of her red window in front of us to tap a guy on the shoulder and beckon him in (without success) we knew we had found the area.
Probably only about 25% of the girls were working as it was late afternoon and apparently the area does not really liven up until 10pm but still there were plenty of customers negotiating the price and disappearing as the red curtains were drawn. The variety of woman ranged from stunningly beautiful, tanned girls to thin very ordinary woman, young and old, you had to wonder how some of them could make a living.
The Red Light District is in the old town and among good restaurants, nice pubs and interesting little shops, not seedy as you might imagine, there is also a lovely old church in the area,
The people in this area would have been around 80% tourists when we were there. People of all ages, groups of men, young and old, couples holding hands, some pointing in shock at it all, groups of women, and busloads of Japanese tourists toting cameras (except not in the direction of the lit windows!) Photographing the girls is strictly banned, they or their pimps apparently will try and grab your camera and throw it in the canal ! One group of American woman started taking photos next thing a woman in a bikini who must have been at least 50 came out screaming at her. Interesting to say the least.
The Red Light District, De Wallen is a major tourist attraction in Amsterdam and you won’t be surprised to see crowds of tourists. There are a number of sex shops, peep shows, a sex museum, a cannabis museum, and a number of coffee shops that sell marijuana. In the Netherlands, "coffee shop" is not a place for you to enjoy a latte, it is a cafe to buy and try drugs. We were told you will be handed a “menu of drugs” selling items such as space cakes, space cookies, space tea and etc that contain a dose of cannabis. They are all over the city. The Dutch are very liberal as this is all legal in Holland.
The Red Light District that everyone knows about is the one where women in bikinis, underwear or less parade their wares in windows surrounded by red lights and usually with a red lamp above it, ready to offer more than a peep-show. It is one thing to know about this area, however, when we wandered into this area around 5pm it was another to turn a corner and see a girl pop out of her red window in front of us to tap a guy on the shoulder and beckon him in (without success) we knew we had found the area.
Probably only about 25% of the girls were working as it was late afternoon and apparently the area does not really liven up until 10pm but still there were plenty of customers negotiating the price and disappearing as the red curtains were drawn. The variety of woman ranged from stunningly beautiful, tanned girls to thin very ordinary woman, young and old, you had to wonder how some of them could make a living.
The Red Light District is in the old town and among good restaurants, nice pubs and interesting little shops, not seedy as you might imagine, there is also a lovely old church in the area,
The people in this area would have been around 80% tourists when we were there. People of all ages, groups of men, young and old, couples holding hands, some pointing in shock at it all, groups of women, and busloads of Japanese tourists toting cameras (except not in the direction of the lit windows!) Photographing the girls is strictly banned, they or their pimps apparently will try and grab your camera and throw it in the canal ! One group of American woman started taking photos next thing a woman in a bikini who must have been at least 50 came out screaming at her. Interesting to say the least.