· Amster ... DAMN!Amsterdam, The Netherlands · 6th Jan 2007 · Posted by Chris
Holy. Freakin. Crap. Everything I´ve heard about Amsterdam is true. Hang on, I´m getting ahead of myself ...
After a really nice stay in Delft we managed to find our train to Amsterdam with minimal casualties. I think I only knocked one person into the path of a train with my 15 ton backpack while running towards the train. Not a bad effort considering the stupid amounts of shopping we are now carrying. Ohhhhh yeah, retail therapy is surprisingly ... therapeutic. :)
Ok so Amsterdam didn´t seem quite so hardcore when we arrived. From the train it seemed our hotel ... hotel? The place had warnings all over the walls saying to lock your doors at night to protect yourself and your possessions. So now that we were suitably paranoid, we could get around to check out the legend that is Amsterdam ...
From our window we overlooked a seedy little street. No problem there except that every shop on it seemed to either sell food, magic mushrooms, other miscellaneous pills or, and here´s no surprise, marijuana. Look one way and you could see a window full of smoking pipes. Look the other way and you could see numerous signs saying ´Coffee Shop´. I´m going to assume that everyone reading this knows what they are.
We decided to walk about and check out the sights. Shops, shops and more shops! Everything you can imagine can be bought here, and all legal. There are even articles in the local guide, ´Boom´, quoting the health minister as saying that weed and mushrooms are sweet as and there´s no reason to make any changes to the laws surrounding them.
From there we headed further out into the more interesting areas of Amsterdam. Yes, you guessed it ... the world-famous Red Light District. And no Tom, there is no place called ´Club Vandersexxx´ ... sorry dude hahaha. :) Once again, everything is for sale here, including people. Every window with someone selling their wares is announced by a red light - obviously what gives this place its name. We saw some very attractive women who wouldn´t look out of place in the pages of a magazine, and some who looked like they had bad surgery. In fact, that´s probably not far from the truth as one woman looked like she had asked the surgeon if he/she could make her look like one of the cat-like creatures from the movie ´The Mummy´. Every few windows a door would open and some random guy would emerge after obviously taking advantage of whatever the lady´s speciality is. There are no signs so no, we have no idea what those specialities are! If you want to get an idea though, see if you can look up the ´Boom´ publication´s description of what 50 euro will get you ... hehehe.
A sign featuring a large pink elephant the size of truck was advertising a place called ´Casa Rosso´, one of Amsterdam´s more famous theatres. No movies here though! It´s all the same kind of thing you can purchase for 50 euro although you get to watch ... ummm ... people on stage. Streams of people emerging from these places too so it´s obviously a very popular attraction on this street.
So with the questionable sections of Amsterdam out of the way, we decided to take a canal cruise to check out the local sights. One of the stops is for the tour around probably Amsterdam´s most famous attraction, the Anne Frank House. Beth-Anne you´re right - it´s really worth seeing. From the excerpts from Anne´s diary written on the walls to the exhibits scattered throughout the house, it really is a sad place. Walking through the rooms Anne and her family hid in for 2 years without being able to go outside is something that makes all visitors go eerily quiet as they look around.
Then there were the Amsterdam Dungeons! We walked in the door and before being allowed in I had to put my head on a plank and have Annie hold an axe to my neck. All this must be accompanied by the best scream you can muster. I´m sure I look scared in the photo they take of all this (and then try to sell you at the end) but the whole time I could hear Annie´s giggle in my ear! hehehe. Anyway, the tour through the dungeons is a maze of dark rooms, tunnels, stairs going down God knows how far into the earth. Every few minutes we had to stop for someone dressed in very theatrical dress so explain about the various tortures and horrible events from Amsterdam´s past. One guy had to sit in a chair while a presenter that looked like the grim reaper explained how they used a device designed to deprive a guy of the right to call himself a man. When he got a question wrong they locked his girlfriend in a cage and left her there while we all walked on with the rest of the tour hahaha ... poor Natalie! With us was a group of young Italian guys who got separated near the start of the tour. One of them said to us in very frightened Italian "I´m glad you guys are here or I´d be shitting myself!". 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... awwwwwwwwwww! :) The end of the tour even had a roller coaster! Inside the building! Now that´s pretty damn cool. Halfway around it you get a photo taken. Everyone in the car had their scream faces on except Annie and I ... hahaha. I think my expression said something along the lines of "Meh!" while Annie´s expression seemed to say "Aww, that´s nice." So yeah, not a particularly scary ride hehe.
I have a feeling this post might set a record for ramble time so I´ll cut it short there.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-chau!
P.S. That´s my teeth chattering from the scary roller coaster ride ... lol omg wtf. :P
After a really nice stay in Delft we managed to find our train to Amsterdam with minimal casualties. I think I only knocked one person into the path of a train with my 15 ton backpack while running towards the train. Not a bad effort considering the stupid amounts of shopping we are now carrying. Ohhhhh yeah, retail therapy is surprisingly ... therapeutic. :)
Ok so Amsterdam didn´t seem quite so hardcore when we arrived. From the train it seemed our hotel ... hotel? The place had warnings all over the walls saying to lock your doors at night to protect yourself and your possessions. So now that we were suitably paranoid, we could get around to check out the legend that is Amsterdam ...
From our window we overlooked a seedy little street. No problem there except that every shop on it seemed to either sell food, magic mushrooms, other miscellaneous pills or, and here´s no surprise, marijuana. Look one way and you could see a window full of smoking pipes. Look the other way and you could see numerous signs saying ´Coffee Shop´. I´m going to assume that everyone reading this knows what they are.
We decided to walk about and check out the sights. Shops, shops and more shops! Everything you can imagine can be bought here, and all legal. There are even articles in the local guide, ´Boom´, quoting the health minister as saying that weed and mushrooms are sweet as and there´s no reason to make any changes to the laws surrounding them.
From there we headed further out into the more interesting areas of Amsterdam. Yes, you guessed it ... the world-famous Red Light District. And no Tom, there is no place called ´Club Vandersexxx´ ... sorry dude hahaha. :) Once again, everything is for sale here, including people. Every window with someone selling their wares is announced by a red light - obviously what gives this place its name. We saw some very attractive women who wouldn´t look out of place in the pages of a magazine, and some who looked like they had bad surgery. In fact, that´s probably not far from the truth as one woman looked like she had asked the surgeon if he/she could make her look like one of the cat-like creatures from the movie ´The Mummy´. Every few windows a door would open and some random guy would emerge after obviously taking advantage of whatever the lady´s speciality is. There are no signs so no, we have no idea what those specialities are! If you want to get an idea though, see if you can look up the ´Boom´ publication´s description of what 50 euro will get you ... hehehe.
A sign featuring a large pink elephant the size of truck was advertising a place called ´Casa Rosso´, one of Amsterdam´s more famous theatres. No movies here though! It´s all the same kind of thing you can purchase for 50 euro although you get to watch ... ummm ... people on stage. Streams of people emerging from these places too so it´s obviously a very popular attraction on this street.
So with the questionable sections of Amsterdam out of the way, we decided to take a canal cruise to check out the local sights. One of the stops is for the tour around probably Amsterdam´s most famous attraction, the Anne Frank House. Beth-Anne you´re right - it´s really worth seeing. From the excerpts from Anne´s diary written on the walls to the exhibits scattered throughout the house, it really is a sad place. Walking through the rooms Anne and her family hid in for 2 years without being able to go outside is something that makes all visitors go eerily quiet as they look around.
Then there were the Amsterdam Dungeons! We walked in the door and before being allowed in I had to put my head on a plank and have Annie hold an axe to my neck. All this must be accompanied by the best scream you can muster. I´m sure I look scared in the photo they take of all this (and then try to sell you at the end) but the whole time I could hear Annie´s giggle in my ear! hehehe. Anyway, the tour through the dungeons is a maze of dark rooms, tunnels, stairs going down God knows how far into the earth. Every few minutes we had to stop for someone dressed in very theatrical dress so explain about the various tortures and horrible events from Amsterdam´s past. One guy had to sit in a chair while a presenter that looked like the grim reaper explained how they used a device designed to deprive a guy of the right to call himself a man. When he got a question wrong they locked his girlfriend in a cage and left her there while we all walked on with the rest of the tour hahaha ... poor Natalie! With us was a group of young Italian guys who got separated near the start of the tour. One of them said to us in very frightened Italian "I´m glad you guys are here or I´d be shitting myself!". 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... awwwwwwwwwww! :) The end of the tour even had a roller coaster! Inside the building! Now that´s pretty damn cool. Halfway around it you get a photo taken. Everyone in the car had their scream faces on except Annie and I ... hahaha. I think my expression said something along the lines of "Meh!" while Annie´s expression seemed to say "Aww, that´s nice." So yeah, not a particularly scary ride hehe.
I have a feeling this post might set a record for ramble time so I´ll cut it short there.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-chau!
P.S. That´s my teeth chattering from the scary roller coaster ride ... lol omg wtf. :P
