Amsterdam was the first stop of my 2013 2-week Europe trip. It was one of the best trips of my life as I was lucky to have travelled with my longtime Taiwan bestie, C, and my younger sister, Ju.
We picked Amsterdam as a meeting point before we embarked on our journey to Spain and Portugal (click to see my trip report). Even though we had, overall, 3 full days in Amsterdam, we didn’t cram too many tourists attractions in our itinerary as it was mainly a stopover to overcome our jet-lag. We only had three main things that we wanted to see: the windmills, “coffee shops” and the red light district.
Kinderdijk
Kinderdijk is a world heritage listed site with the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands.
We did it as a day trip from Amsterdam using public transport. We first caught the train to Rotterdam Central Station; then we changed the metro to Rotterdam Zuidplein; then we took bus 90 (Utrecht) to Alblasserdam. Kinderdijk is the last stop on the bus route so you couldn’t miss it.
When you get off, remember to check the bus stop for the schedule as the return bus only came every hour when we were there.
I’d never seen an actual traditional windmill up close before. They’re huge!
Did you know there is such a thing called “windmill language”? The positioning of the arms of the windmill tells a different situation or event happening at that windmill, e.g. working windmill, resting windmill, celebration or mourning in a family. Very interesting.
One of the windmills was open to public, for the visitors to get a glimpse of what life used to be like for these village people living inside a windmill.
The inside of the windmill was carefully decorated with vintage furniture and decor representing the appropriate era. We don’t have windmills back at home, so being able to get into one was quite a fascinating experience for us.
{Kinderdijk} Opening Hours: https://www.kinderdijk.com/openinghours Public transport directions: https://www.kinderdijk.com/route_parking/transportation
Amsterdam snapshots
The city of Amsterdam is very likable, completed with canals and beautiful houses built along them.
Bicycles are a big transportation method used by the locals.
Boathouses are an alternative to your traditional hostel/hotel/b&b.
Can you see how the houses are all a bit tilted?
To accommodate the slimness of the apartments, the facade of the houses are all a bit tilted. Why? Our walking tour guide told us it’s so that the bulky furniture that does not fit into the stairs could be towed up from the hook installed on the top of each house.
I saw many very narrow and steep underground entry like this. More space-efficient?
Amsterdam sunset.
Amsterdam at night.
Anne Frank museum
If you are to visit one museum in Amsterdam, visit the Anne Frank museum.
To be honest, I was ignorant on the full history of Anne Frank before I came here. I didn’t read her diary and, to me, Anne Frank was just another name of an unfortunate soul suffered in WWII and I did not understand the full extent of what she represented.
I only felt the real sense of empathy as I visited the Anne Frank museum, especially the secret annex where she used to hide from 1942 to 1944. Do not miss this place.
{Anne Frank Museum} Address: Prinsengracht 263-267, 1016 GV Amsterdam. Opening Hours: http://www.annefrank.org/en/Sitewide/Languages/English/
Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (Amsterdam Library)
C and I didn’t have much planned for our last day. After we checked out of our hostel, we decided to hang around at the library next to Amsterdam Centraal station.
It was, hands down, the best public library that I’ve seen in my life!
Futuristic cube for studying. If only we had this in Sydney when I was still in uni!
Media room. Wow.
The multimedia archive.
There’s even a proper restaurant on the top floor. Are you kidding me. How thoughtful and convenient.
Back in uni, my friends and I studied in libraries a lot and we always struggled to find a good spot on the weekends as most libraries in Sydney closes around 5pm and most eateries around the libraries would be closed during the weekend – if only we had this!
Freshly made pasta.
Mmm soup.
Mmmmmm fresh fruit juice.
{Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam} Hours: Every day, 10am - 10pm. Website: http://www.oba.nl/
Red Light District
This is the iconic sculpture on the floor of the red light district: A hand feeling up a breast. Both the identity of the man (supposedly – or it could be a woman too, anything goes here) and the woman is hidden and unknown, perfectly portraying what it’s supposed to be like in this mysterious red light district.
Visiting the red light district was a truly eyes-opening experience.
The prostitutes that we saw all seemed very professional and was not shy in showing off their bodies through their full-length windows. Of course, no photos are allowed. I heard that if you ever try to take a photo of the prostitutes or of their window, your camera/phone/whatever will be thrown into the canal by the buffed guys looking over the girls. Every job should be respected, so if they don’t want their photos taken, don’t.
Surprisingly, I didn’t feel that the red light district was a particularly dangerous place because it seemed pretty touristy (one wouldn’t come to Amsterdam without checking out the red light district, right) and it’s just behind the hostel we stayed at, along with lots of other hostels. Apart from the tourists, men/women that mean business know exactly what they’re there for so they don’t cast a second look on tourists like us anyway.
The Coffee Shop culture
So, what is a coffee shop? In Amsterdam, the term “coffee shop” is not used in your ordinary sense. The correct answer is: a marijuana joint.
It’s really that easy to buy graded weed/hashies/marijuana – just over the coffee shop counter.
Before I came to Amsterdam, I had never smelt weed. But now that I know what it smells like, I can finally understand why the parents in movies could always tell when their kids were sneak-smoking pot. It stinks! Anyway, we did not smoke any weed, but we did make an adventurous trip to sit down at one of the coffee shops. We had…a banana smoothie and a glass of mint tea. Haha, yes they sell normal drinks too.
The cannabis culture is undoubtedly one of Amsterdam’s best known attractions. However, one has to be here to see just how popularised it is! Cannabis lollipop, cannabis tea, cannabis drinks, cannabis brownies, cannabis this, cannabis that. Amazing.
And the most interesting part? Contrary to popular belief, cannabis is illegal in Amsterdam.
Say what? Yep, it is illegal.
In reality, these soft-drugs are only “permitted” because of the ‘Policy of Tolerance’ (in Dutch: ‘Gedoogbeleid’). In simple words, as long as you smoke a specific amount in either a public or private area and abide by the rules of taking/buying/selling/growing cannabis, the Country will not enforce the law.
Seeing so much drugs in Amsterdam could make one delusional in thinking that ‘drugs are no big deal’, and some might get carried away with all the weed-related novelty merchandise. Remember, drugs are not allowed at the airport or your home country. Don’t even think about sneaking some home, you’ll get in trouble!
The food
A friend of mine went on an exchange program a few years back, and I remembered how highly she thought of this Netherlands specialty: Herring – a kind of raw fish that comes with pickles and onions (and the Netherlands flagged toothpicks, cute).
We found it at a local fish shop and from a street vendor. It’s quite nice, like the Dutch version of sashimi, but different.
Of course, gotta have some Dutch pancakes.
We were going to make a trip to Brussels, but didn’t get to. At least we had some fries at Manneken Pis, a fries place near the Centraal station serving Belgium style fries.
We also ate at the Pancake Factory. Their savoury pancake was a little salty for us, but was still worth trying.
I had a culture shock here when the waitress declined to add hot water for my cup of tea (nope, it didn’t come in a pot, I ordered tea and got a cup of tea) – In Australia, tea always come in a pot and hot water refill is a must; and restaurants must serve tap water free of charge. Although I personally think it’s too stingy of a restaurant to not offer hot water refill for tea, getting to know the culture and etiquette is part of the fun in travelling anyway, so, lesson learned!
HER{curio}MAJESTY. I was here. February 2013.