"Amsterdam - What A Way To Go!" a Amsterdam Travel Page by flyingscot4

Amsterdam is an enigma. It is truly a city that is difficult to describe. It is liberal (very liberal) in many respects, but somewhat conservative in others. For me, the best descriptive word for Amsterdam is "unpretentious" (a fellow VTer from The Netherlands said that Amsterdamers are the most pretentious and on this we disagree). The people of Amsterdam don't have to be anything but what they are because what they are is what a lot of people in this world would like to be.

Amsterdam is a wealthy city and has been off and on for centuries. Right now the wealth is back and locals are living the life. Rents are very high and ownership is out of sight, but everything is rented or sold when it is available. Amsterdam does not have the most canals or the most bridges in the world. But one would never know that when walking in the city, especially at night when the canals are lit.

Amsterdam has a population of just under 750,000 people. The Netherlands has one of the highest standards of living in the world due to the strength of its economy. It is said that one in three barges plying its trade on the Rhine River flies the Dutch flag. It also is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with over 16,000,000+ in population. Amsterdam is the capital.

Amsterdam gets its name from the damming of the Amstel River. That's simple and logical. Everything from there gets a little complicated. Amsterdam is in Holland which means that people from Amsterdam are "Dutch" people who come from "Holland." Not every "Dutch" person comes from "Holland." "Holland" is actually one of the "states" in the Netherlands. "Holland" and the "Netherlands" are not interchangeable because of this "state" business. A person from the Netherlands is said to be "Dutch" and may not be from "Holland," while a person from one of the other "states" is not technically from "Holland," but is "Dutch." A person who is "Dutch" may or may not come from "Holland," but even if they are from "Holland," they are still "Dutch." It's actually very simple (or not). The point is that if the people of the Netherlands can figure all that out, they deserve to be successful. (I wonder what a person from "Holland, Michigan," a "state" in the USA, would be called if he emigrated to "Holland?" Think about that one.

Amsterdam doesn't even have the most bicycles in the world, although they may have the most per capita. The last figure that I heard was over 1 million. There are two different kinds of bicycles (hereinafter known as "bikes") in Amsterdam They are: personal bikes and "Dutch" bikes. The difference, you ask? A person from Amsterdam will have two bikes if he/she does any kind of pleasure riding in the country. These are the kind of bikes that may be racing bikes, or mountain bikes, or touring bikes. They usually have a bunch of sprockets and gears and they almost get lunch by themselves. They are usually EXPENSIVE. "Dutch" bikes, on the other hand, have one speed and look like the old Schwinn balloon tire slugs that were popular in the US in the 40's and 50's. Many of them are from that period and have been resurrected from ashes to carry people to work, or shopping, taking the kids to school, just the normal transportation one finds in Amsterdam. There are approximately 800,000 of these bikes chained to anything bolted, cemented, or otherwise permanent. The locks are heavy gauge metal alloy of amazing strength, and worth about 3 times as much as the bike. There seems to be a bike theft problem in old Amsterdam, and if you leave a good bike out there it better have a couple of armed guards watching it. If it is a nice bike and properly chained, it may last 20 minutes during the day - less when its dark. You have been warned!

Even though there is plenty of automobile traffic in Amsterdam (not much parking though), most people pedal their way everywhere and in any weather. It is not uncommon to see teenagers riding with 3 people on the bike. One stands and pedals, one sits on the seat, and one is on the back luggage rack. Children are carted all over by parents or siblings in carts behind the bike, child seats on the front fender and handle bars, baskets for 2 children on the front, and a child seat on the rear fender. More people use bikes to go to work than any other mode of transportation. That includes men and women in business suits with briefcases. There are thousands of bikes parked at Centraal Station each morning by people who work outside the city (see photo for a small percentage, really). It is also common to see women of every age wearing skirts and dresses pedaling along showing flashes of their underwear. I asked one woman about that and she said, "That's why we wear really nice underwear." Made sense to me.

There are special bike lanes in many European cities. Amsterdam is no exception. What visitors need to know is that if they are wandering in the bike lane, they are fair game. Many's the tourist who needed to get scraped off the handle bars. That little bell on the bike goes "tinkle tinkle" just in time to warn the pedestrian the he is toast. Seriously, BIKES HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY OVER EVERYTHING including unsuspecting tourists. Always look back over your RIGHT shoulder when crossing the street. Look for cars, but watch out for bikes. You can't say to the officer, "Well, he just came out of my blind spot." WATCH OUT FOR BIKES 100% OF THE TIME!

The "Old Center" of Amsterdam is known for it's canals. It is kind of a grid that emanates out from Centraal Station in the shape of a semi-circle. It's kind of like an outdoor band shell with the band shell itself being Centraal Station. The photo shows Centraal Station as it was in October of 2003. In 2004 construction began which is going to be completed around 2011. The station will apparently keep the same look as it has in the photo, but there will be an entire new world underground. All of the public transportation (subway, tram, and bus) will load and unload in the underground center. The project requires rerouting the Amstel River.

Basically, Amsterdam is a city of canals (Grachten), streets (Straaten, squares (Pleinen), and boulevards (Lanen). In other words, Kerkstraat is Kerk Street and Herrengracht is Herren Canal. Leidseplein becomes Leidse Square. Simple. Simple. Simple. Right. Well, it may be simple for some people, but then there is another group of us that says, "Bull____!!!" Some of us cannot figure out the most simple map because we have no sense of direction. Those who have the ability to know where everything is have our undying pity. They obviously have very little adventure in their lives. Others of us live out "our" adventures daily. One could call us modern day explorers. OK. For those of us that are direction challenged, help has arrived. You can now purchase hand held GPS navigators with maps of Europe and the US and most other places as well. The will fit in a pocket comfortably along with your digital camera, PDA, cell phone, car keys, bubble gum, and breath sanitizer. For a lousy $750.00 you can get one with lots of maps and one of those maps will be Amsterdam. It will tell you what direction you are going, where to turn, your walking speed and distance, expected arrival time in Moscow, and lots of other things. They work terrificly until the battery runs out. Well, directionally challenged as I am, and as cheap as I am, I hit on a different solution. All you really need to know is which corner you are on. To know that, assuming there are street signs, all you need to know is which way is North. In other words, all you need is a $3.00 compass! North is usually spelled out on a map with an "N" symbol and an arrow, and if it isn't, North is toward the top of the map. All for just three bucks.

OK, back to the canals. You may surmise that Amsterdam is an easy city to get lost in. The good news is that it an easy city to get found in. Most of the Netherlands is multilingual. In Amsterdam the most common second language is English. You can walk up to almost anyone and ask in English for directions to where you want to go. In fact, if you want to try some of your Dutch, most likely they will answer you in English. They don't care about your Dutch. They want to practice their English. It's a "win-win" situation.

Because of the English fluency, I always suggest the Netherlands and especially Amsterdam as the first solo European visit. The Dutch are wonderfully friendly and so very patient. Amsterdam, for the most part, is a very safe city with very little crime (other than bicycle theft). Also, because the clubs and bars are open so late, there are always people on the streets. In the few trouble spots that there are, there are lots of very good police officers who are very visible. The nightlife is non-stop and exciting, The party's never end.

Amsterdam is a gateway city. It is a great starting point for teens and college age people to experience Europe before moving on to France, Germany, or Belgium. It is a city of wonderful ambiance and excitement. Amsterdam will grab you and hold you like you are in a roller-coaster ride. There are more than 50 museums alone in the city. It would take months to see it all. I will get into more of the sights later. Also important is the fact that Amsterdam has one of the most helpful populations in the world. If one starts in Amsterdam, the whole world will become an anticipated adventure. So go and get lost in Amsterdam! PS: Don't forget the compass!