After our visit to the open air museum it was time to move on to the main attraction (for me anyway), which was the city of Amsterdam - and it certainly didn't disappoint! While there is obviously some traffic in Amsterdam, most of its inhabitants use bikes rather than cars, for the simple reason that there is nowhere to park! Bikes are everywhere and you'd better be pretty careful crossing the road because bike lanes are crowded and those bikes move! Our first stop was a guided tour of the diamond quarter, but quite frankly my friend and I weren't interested in that so took ourselves off to visit the flea market nearby (selling pretty much the same tat as they do in Geneva, to be honest). We wandered around for a bit and then sat and waited for the others to get back - which was a good move, as it turns out, because everyone said the people at the diamond place weren't interested in "the likes of us", but rather in the people getting out of the Bentleys! Or as one woman said, "if I actually had €9,000 to spend on a bracelet, I doubt I'd be travelling on a bus tour"!
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| Amsterdam! |
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| Apparently the houses are so narrow because people were initially taxed on the width of their homes (just as in England centuries ago people were taxed on the number of windows in their homes - so they took them out)!!! |
And of course you can't visit Amsterdam without visiting the red light district, although our small group of women was adamant that we did not want to visit "the prostitute windows". This is an area where virtually naked females stand behind glass so that potential clients can "take their pick"! Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands and prostitutes are expected to pay tax, although I'm pretty sure they don't pay that much tax as I doubt many johns pay by credit card! Even assuming it's the personal choice of the woman, I find it degrading that they should be on display like meat at a butcher's shop so we decided not to visit that part of the district. That being said, I'm pretty sure some of these young woman are trafficked and not actually prostituting themselves freely, and I well remember seeing the very effective campaign video put out a few years ago by anti-trafficking campaigners (you can see it here if you are interested)!
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| A dance show put on by the young "window" women! |
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| ... with this sign as the finale! |
We wandered through a few back alleys and happened to pass in front of three "windows" off the beaten track, where older, fatter Asian women were standing "plying their wares" dressed in next to nothing and looking bored out of their minds, so I guess we did get a sad glimpse of what the main prostitute area is like! There were a few sex shops in these alleys and the goods in the store fronts were eye-popping, with the miniscule "sexy" outfits being the least of it! And the smell of the place - I'm surprised we didn't get high just walking around, as weed is neither legal nor illegal, but can be freely smoked in places called "coffee shops"!
After leaving the red light district (it's pretty small), we took a walk through the flower market with its amazing array of flowers/bulbs. The bulbs were humongous so I can just imagine how big the flowers would grow to be, but I decided against buying anything to lug round with me and save my money for Keukenhof the next day!
One of my online bike rides goes through Amsterdam, oh my gosh are there a lot of bikes! And bike racks!
ReplyDeleteI hope you managed to keep up!
DeleteMy son and I spent our entire time in Amsterdam pulling my oblivious husband out of the bike path - not every biker would ring the bell as they sped by. We were obviously tourists!
ReplyDeleteOh you can spot the tourists a mile off, can't you, and when you're not used to it it can be very hard to keep your eye out for the bikes! My first introduction to that was stepping off a bus in Copenhagen and almost getting run over by a bike! Live and learn, I guess (or end up with tyre tracks up your spine)!
DeleteCan't wait for Keukenhof pictures
ReplyDeleteDefinitely worth it, although my pictures don't do it justice, of course!
Deleteoh it looks gorgeous. i don't mind sex work at all, but the trafficking stuff is so scary and sad :(
ReplyDeleteI agree on the sex work (although I could never imagine CHOOSING to do that - I mean, I highly doubt Richard Gere is hanging around), but the trafficking is horrendous. There seem to be a helluva a lot of young eastern European women being trafficked (because they're usually beautiful and probably quite poor) and I can't begin to imagine the hell it must be for them!
DeleteI would very much like to visit Amsterdam but not for the sex workers or weed, for that matter. I hear it's just so beautiful. I loved what the lady on your tour said about the cost of a diamond bracelet.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite "dug up" when we were there (I hear they're putting in a new tramway) but it is otherwise very walkable if you watch out for the bikes and very pretty! And as for the diamonds, even if I had that kind of money I'm just not interested so I guess me not going on the tour is no loss to them!
DeleteAmsterdam is beautiful. I did not know that about the taxes on houses. Very interesting. It sounds like you enjoyed it. Sex trafficking is one topic that just makes my blood boil. I can't even begin to imagine what these women have gone through. A local woman here wrote the book Eyes Wide Open about her experiences and it was a very difficult book to read. Some say she wasn't completely honest, I don't know, but if only a third of what she wrote happened, it was too much.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the sex trafficking! I watched a documentary once on a young (married) Russian woman whose "friend" offered her a job somewhere in western Europe (I can't remember the country) as a waitress. She went as they needed the money - and of course she was trafficked. Her husband searched EVERYWHERE to find her and with the help of investigative reporters they got her back, but only after about six months. The trauma she went through was indescribable! To be honest I can't even understand doing it voluntarily, but then I suppose drugs are involved in many cases too! Those poor women (and young men I suppose, too)!
DeleteI visited Amsterdam many years ago, in fact it was probably about 2002. I know it was around that time as hubby and I went into a department store there and I bought a plush rocking Tigger for our baby grandson (now 21) and hubby had to carry it all round Amsterdam until we got to the airport to go home again! We didn't have any luggage as it was a 'cheap' day trip we were on with some friends but I assume I had to check it in to return home :) My grandson and granddaughter got lots of fun using it so it was worth it and it has now been passed on to other family to use. We decided not to wait in the huge queue to see Anne Franks house but we did visit the Van Gogh museum and didn't like it at all! Not all his work was created equal lets just say lol. I look forward to seeing your tulips, we were there at the wrong time of year for that. x
ReplyDeleteI tend to be drawn to beautiful architecture so as you can imagine I loved Amsterdam - although I didn't get to see nearly enough of it! I suspect another long weekend is in the cards! I would have loved to have visited Anne Frank's house too but I understand it's pretty depressing. To think that she and her family spent half the war locked up in such a small, dark place and then didn't survive! So again, another reason to re-visit Amsterdam. I had to laugh at Tigger though. I remember my friend Steve saying he and his wife went to Morocco and came back with three camels - about four feet high - one for each of their kids. He found them gathering dust stuffed behind a wardrobe when he and his wife divorced! Just like the pillock who thought it was a good idea to buy a HUUUGGGGEEE sombrero in Mexico I guess. That is until he landed back at Heathrow in the pouring rain! Happy days though eh!
DeleteI do enjoy walking along the canals in Amsterdam but those bicycles can give you such a fright.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, and I reckon there has been more than one serious accident too!
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