Dutch customs and other Amsterdam, Netherlands Local Custom Tips

Kissing ¡V Three kisses starting on the right cheek & ending on the right cheek
I always get my right & my left confused ¡K.. No not on purpose :-)

If you are in a bakery, postoffice, deli etc make sure if there is a dispenser where you get a numbered ticket before joining a queue.

It is not the done thing to smoke dope in public so it is restricted to coffeeshops, same applies to drinking on the street this sort of behaviour is detested by the locals

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Website: http://www.blistex.com/Global_lips.htm

When walking around admiring the buildings you may see some unusual wall tablets.
This was how Amsterdam identified their houses before street numbers were introduced, usually they depicted something about the profession, origin or religion of the resident.

In the attached photo taken in the Jordaan district the inhabitant would once have been a writer of sorts.

A wall tablet displaying a mail wago at Singel 74 commemorates the start of the postal system in Amsterdam in 1660. Further down the street there is a tablet with Eve tempting Adam with the apple - this was when that part of the street operated as a fruit market.

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Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus, and is celebrated in the Netherlands and Belgium on December 5th eve and the morning of December 6th. Sinterklaas traditionally arrives on a steamboat from Spain during November month and parades through the streets.

Zwarte Piet is known as Sinterklaas helper and climbs down the chimneys to deliver the presents thus being covered in black soot (hence the name Black Pete).

If your name is in Sinterklaas's big black book then you have been naughty and you will find a bundle of sticks or a lump of salt in your shoes instead of delicious candy. If you are a naughty child in Belgium you may be at risk of being put into the sack and taken back to Spain.

Presents are wrapped in interesting shapes and the children have to guess the present with the help of a funny poem written by Zwarte Piet. You will tell that Sinterklaas has visited your house as the table should be full of presents and there will be sweets and speculaas scattered all over the place.

Enjoy this holiday tradition and remember to be GOOD

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