Amsterdam full of fun!

I can’t believe I had never made the trip over to Amsterdam while I was living in the UK.  It is an hour door to door from my folk’s house!!  Maybe it was a good thing as I loved Amsterdam, Prague was amazing, but I felt Amsterdam, and immediately knew I could quite happily live there (that doesn’t often happen, with Cape Town now my base).

Amsterdam is home to the bike, thousands of them, not sure if they are there just for decoration as more seemed to be chained to fences than actually being ridden,  Old basic nanny bikes (the type you would see Mary Poppins riding) less chance of stealing them I suppose.  Crooked narrow building leaning whichever way they feel like frame the 100kms of canals and their pretty houseboats.

The coffee shops were not my thing for more than one reason, I don’t like coffee…  and two I don’t smoke anything!  It was funny watching all the eager tourist taking advantage of the pleasures that are illegal in nearly all of their home countries.  The fumes permeating almost every street were at times a little much, and I am not sure if I was totally immune as I walked through thick clouds of smoke, I did laugh out loud more than once!

The town is just built for wandering, drinking and eating. I only sat down to eat for one meal the rest was taken on the go from the numerous shops offering take away delights.  Of course, a trip on the canals is a must.

A trip to Amsterdam wouldn’t be complete without a walk through the Red Light District. One large street with lots of little alleyways running off it makes up the district.  The “live store windows” displaying a vast variety of human flesh for sale.  You are not sure whether you should gawk if you are not buying anything, feels a little intrusive. I think it is human nature to want to see the faces of the women who sit or stand looking out for their next sale from the throngs of people walking up and down and wonder what they must be thinking or feeling.   The hundreds if not thousands of lads on a boys weekend traipse rowdly up and down the streets from early morning. Egging each other on to sample what is on offer behind the glass. It seems most transactions take place after dark after a few drinks.   I nipped into the Red Light museum for a bit more education on the area, for those so inclined it is quite interesting is not a little sad.

The weekend ended with me meeting up with an old friend I had met in Thailand 20 years ago who now lives in Amsterdam, a pub crawl away from the tourists was a fun long way to end my last night in a city I will return to!