"The Dutch Venice" a Amsterdam Travel Page by Rixie

Amsterdam has a whole different energy from Rotterdam: masses of people walking in throngs, taking pictures, sitting in cafes. Whereas Rotterdam has few foreign tourists and is a very serene commercial city, Amsterdam seems to be mostly tourists. It reminded me of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, or Disneyland, only in a more picturesque setting.

In Amsterdam you can get high just taking a walk - the smell of marijuana and hashish floats out at you from doorways and passersby.
There are so many people in constant motion that you get carried along with the crowd, whether you like it or not.

But you can forgive all of that, because Amsterdam is so beautiful, with its old red-brick Dutch gabled houses lining six concentric circles of canals ("More canals than Venice!").

We were there on a gorgeous summer day, almost too hot for walking, with Dutch blue skies. We browsed through the tourist-trap streets near Amsterdam Centraal Station -- souvenir shops wanting E1 per postcard, discount shoe stores, etc. -- and walked over little bridges and past the canals.

Feeding the pigeons in Amsterdam

Even in the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam, you can find pockets of serenity.