What Happens in Amsterdam Stays in Amsterdam

            We were planning to take a day trip to Amsterdam while visiting Lille, but our friends said we should really go for a night to get the most out of it. So on Tuesday we headed north for the Promised Land.  I would describe Amsterdam as the Venice of the North. Not nearly as confusing and maze-like but another beautiful city flourishing along a network of canals. Most of the local shopkeepers are very cordial and happy to help you, despite the large number of tourists they meet each year. Randy unknowingly cut off a person in line and when he apologized for his mistake the man’s reply was, “It’s ok; you are our guest.”  The response was astounding. The one place you are most likely NOT to find courtesy is when you are a pedestrian. From my observations I concluded that the order of importance on the road is as follows: Boat, Bus/Tram, Car, Bicyclist, pedestrian.  A good rule of thumb in Amsterdam and most large European cities, stay out of the bike lane and always look for cars before crossing any street (unless, of course, you are in Switzerland where pedestrians always have the right of way).

            We stayed in a boat hostel which was pretty cool. The water was very calm so we never really noticed a difference from being on a boat and land. Our room was the size of a walk in closet, with a built-in bunk bed, a sink and a small coat closet. It was hard to move around in there but we were out in the city most of the time. We took the canal bus, which was a hop on, hop off type tour boat. We saw most of the city that way but eventually became annoyed with the amount of time in between each bus pick up (which was usually 2 hours for the same line). The city isn’t very big so we managed to see most of it and we even got to walk through a couple of regular street markets. I love the street markets in Europe. I’m going to see what kind of equivalent I can find in the states when I get home.  Anyway, the next morning the rain caught up to us and despite our effort to stay dry and still see the city on the canal bus we ended up getting soaked when we walked back to our boat hostel and then the train station. The distance we had to walk wasn’t far, and the rain wasn’t falling very hard but being in constant wetness for 15-30 minutes will get everything thoroughly soggy.

            Hoping from country to country has made it difficult to communicate at times. By the time we pick up one language we have to start using another. It takes a day or two to stop using the first language by accident and pick up the new keywords/phrases. By the time we are using the correct language it’s time to go to the next country and the cycle repeats itself.  Then we come to the Netherlands where we don’t even begin to know the language.  We don’t know a single Dutch word or even have any sort of language guide or reference book. Thank goodness everyone speaks some form of English (Which has not been the case in France).  

Fun Facts about Amsterdam:

            -There are no tall buildings in Amsterdam because all of the houses were built on soft foundations (planks of wood driven about 34 km into the ground). If air gets into the foundation the wood begins to rot and the house begins to sink.

            -Most of the buildings were designed to learn forward so that the pulley would not damage the building when lifting goods or furniture.

            -The house didn’t have numbers on them until the 18^th century. Before that most houses were recognized by the style of gable and stone face. The style of the house and gable usually told the origin and religion of its occupants. 

            -The length of the total canal network would stretch 63 miles long.

            -They say the canals are 3 meters deep. 1 meter of mud, 1 meter of water, and 1 meter of bicycles. (lol).

            -Almost every single resident owns a bike, so there are roughly a half of a million bikes in Amsterdam alone, and 60-70,000 bikes are stolen each year.