3 Days in Amsterdam

My notes and observations while spending three days in Amsterdam:

Architecture

The entire city was built on reclaimed swamps and wetlands. The wood pilings on which structures were built rot and disintegrate. So, the houses lean and remain standing only because they are being held up by the building next to it. As the houses continue to lean, owners adjust the flooring inside back to level (their beer bottles and hookahs would otherwise slide off of their kitchen tables). They then have to look out of their crooked windows.

Look closely and you will see several of these buildings leaning one way or the other.

At the time they were built, they were taxed based on the amount of street frontage they took up. So, naturally, owners built them with a narrow and taller design. Most have hooks projecting from the roof line. Winches are affixed to these hooks and used to haul furniture and other large items up to the top floors since the narrow design results in very narrow staircases - so narrow that it makes it impossible to haul up goods by conventional means.  And by design, some buildings purposely lean slightly outwards toward the street. This prevents large items from bumping against the windows on their way up to the upper floors.

 

Hooks for winches at the rooftops.

The buildings purposely lean out toward the street. 

Scenes From the Streets and Canals

Monet painted a scene very close to this one, and from the same bridge.

Churches

City fathers from centuries ago didn’t go to great lengths at being creative when naming their churches. Because of their lackadaisical efforts, Amsterdam has the “Old Church” and a “New Church.”  There’s the “East Church” as well as a “West Church.”

But the church that was most interesting to us, as well as the most creatively named, was the “Church of Our Lord in the Attic.” There was a period of time in the 1600s when Catholicism was banned in favor of New Reformed Protestant beliefs. Catholics had to congregate in secret and did so in churches built in the upper floors and attic of what from the outside were ordinary homes. A few of these survive to this day.

Hidden inside this normal looking building is the Church of the Lord in the Attic in which as many as 200 people would gather to worship. 

The Red Light District

Prostitution in Amsterdam is legal. In the Red Light District, the  buyer and casual tourist alike will see evidence of this everywhere: sex shops, strip clubs, and tiny rooms with windows at street level in which the prostitutes preen, smile, and hope to lure in the passerby. At one window, a lady gave me a wink, smile, and then exposed a bit more of her already over-exposed breasts to gauge my interest - all this despite having MK walking right by my side.

These individual red-lit windows are rooms rented by prostitutes in which they ply their trade.

 Perhaps most interesting is how all of this is located in and among the “regular” stores, shops, restaurants, and, alarmingly, the various churches mentioned previously.

This was among the brick pavers in front of the "Old Church,"

Taking pictures of the girls inside their "rooms" is forbidden.

Just after MK snapped this picture, a man came running back to the room on my right. The girl inside reached out to return to him an umbrella he had left behind. 

Cannabis

Given its notoriety as a pot loving, weed smoking city, one would be surprised to learn that in Amsterdam, possession and use of the substance is illegal. But, in this “live and let live” society, it is tolerated and laws are not enforced. This becomes obvious what with the dozens of stores selling cannabis, museums honoring all things weed, and the scent of pot emanating from bars and coffee shops as one strolls by.

Inside our hotel room door: instructions on what to do in case of a fire, and what not to do with a fire. 

You can smoke weed and buy sex but, by God, don't you dare drink or pee in the street. 

Anne Frank House

We spent a sobering two hours touring this house, which has been turned into a museum and holocaust memorial. For that reason we were not allowed to take pictures inside. We did see the rooms and attic spaces, hidden behind the infamous bookcase through which we walked, in the back portion of the Frank home and warehouse. It is there that they and some family friends hid from the Nazi regime for two years during WW II before being discovered in late 1944. Otto Frank, the family patriarch, was the only one to survive the concentration camps before they were liberated by the Allies.

Behind this facade hid the Frank family for two years during WWII.

Commuters

Bikes, bikes, and more bikes. They are everywhere and are the principal means of commuting to work and generally getting around.

A typical bike parking lot. This one is near the train station.

"Honey, where did you say you parked my bike?"

Where bikes can’t travel or the distance are too far, ferries and trains take-up the chore. We had to regularly board a cross-channel ferry to get from our hotel to the center city where all of the sites were located. We were joined daily by the regular, everyday Amsterdamers (Amsterdamians?) commuting by bike to and from work and school.

Outside of Town

We became bicyclists ourselves for a day, pedaling on the paths and trails on the outskirts of town. Our travels on two wheels took us past windmills, canals, and quaint Dutch villages.

Amsterdam - Worth a Visit!

This liberal city, full of contrasts and loads of interesting things to see and do, is definitely worth visiting. But if you do come, leave any puritanical leanings you may have back home. You’ll otherwise be challenged with the “live and let live” attitude and lifestyle.