"Waterways all the ways... Amsterdam! " a Amsterdam Travel Page by Jenniflower

Amsterdam... land of water and land, history and culture, coupled with modern 'liberties' and lifestyles. Our holiday here was a mixture of highs and lows, some things we absolutely loved, and other things made us feel very uncomfortable. I guess this can be said of most cities in the world, as there is good and bad everywhere, but for us, we had never encountered this type of element before.

We neither loved nor hated it. But we are glad we went.

What appealed to us was the lapping of the waters as our canal boat gently steered down the canal, watching the towering, skinny buildings on either side of us. Watching the young lady sunbathing on the roof of her river-boat; the young man beating his dust-filled carpet with a rod; the young girl curled up on the windowsill overlooking the canal, engrossed in the novel she was reading.

It offers, to the viewer and visitor, an intimate glimpse into the life of Amsterdam and is very special.

With good there is nearly always bad unfortunately, and whereas so much appealed to us in this old and beautiful city, some things went right against the grain for us. The high profiled drug use and sex industry is seen by many as a step forward for freedom and so-called democracy, but we see the darker element, and view this as sinful. There are only SO MANY sex shops one city could have, surely??? In this sense, things are quite monotonous and in-your-face. For people who believe that sex is to be kept within marriage, this is quite a lot to take in.

Having said that, we enjoyed this city, and the almost surreal-like element of the lifestyle on the canal.