I say Amsterdam, you say...Weed? Drugs? Prostitutes? Red Light District?
Maybe this was just my perception of Amsterdam, but it is in fact a very lovely and charming city. On top of this, it's an architectural and civil engineering achievement that would make any college professor drool.
While it is true that anything goes in Amsterdam, it's centuries old, culturally tolerant and accepting society is unlike any other. Being here was almost just as much a lesson in parenting as in European history. I know what you're thinking - parenting? what the heck is she talking about? To me, the city seemed so normal despite knowing that the Coffee Shops weren't just for drinking some espresso, a whole few blocks of the city is a major sex industry, and LED display boards light up across town reading "Caution, Ignore Street Dealers, White Heroin Sold as Cocaine, 3 Tourists Have Died". And with all this in mind; it was not dirty, there were no signs of crime, and nobody was walking around incoherently high or drunk.
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| A pair of locked up bikes. We were nearly hit in the narrow streets by a dozen of the ones that weren't unlocked! |
Parents: "Come on Ams! Come have a few drinks with us." (16 year old Ams proceeds to have one too many with his parents and discovers his drinking limits the hard way. He throws up under his own roof with his parents chuckling next door and lays in bed the next day with a gnarly hangover.. Ams is much wiser in the future and less pressured in peer situations, and proceeds in life with overall responsible decision-making)
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| A palace..no wait...a train station?? |
Parents: "Harri, you must get good grades, not succumb to peer pressure, drink until 21, and be home by 11 sharp." (18 year old Harri goes to college and realizes no one can tell him what to do anymore and gets in multiple bad situations from poor decision-making)
While I went off on a huge tangent from the awesomeness of Amsterdam, the point of my Harri & Ams story is how surprisingly charming a kid/city with a "bad" rep can be and how even your most regulated of Townsvilles can't stop dangerous, irresponsible, and illegal behavior.
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| Westerkerk (Kerk = church) 100m from the Anne Frank House. |
Walking through Amsterdam you would never begin to think that this large scale city was built on an entirely artificial foundation. Much like Venice was built into a lagoon, Amsterdam was built on top of marshy swampland. It's name reflects this as Amstel is the river that flows into the city and Dam indicates just that, a dyke or dam to hold back the sea. Before driving the pilings for the foundation of the city, the marshland first had to be drained into a semi-circular canal, which today is known as the Singel Canal. Not only was it used for engineering purposes, it was also used for defense (think giant moat) against attackers and ferocious, man-eating squid. Okay, okay not the squid.
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| A beautiful Amsterdam neighborhood on the Singel Canal. |
Amsterdam joined the Hanseatic League in 1369, which back then was like being a shareholder in Google, so naturally with time the city grew rich and expanded beyond the Singel. They couldn't very well build on the marshland yet, so they had to construct several more canals to drain the ground and pile on the pilings. Eventually what was created was a ring of canals, which today is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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| Castle-ish building near the Red Light District. |
More has come out of Amsterdam than just it's illicit drugs (I forgot to mention in my parenting rampage that, unsurprisingly, Amsterdam is Europe's major producer of ecstasy, illicit amphetamines, and other synthetic drugs). Famous individuals such as Anne Frank, Van Gogh, Rembrant, Abel Tasman (discovered Tasmania), Daniel Fahrenheit, and Gerard Heineken (yes the beer) have also had the pleasure of claiming Amsterdam as home.
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| Directions to several notable sites. Yes you read the middle one right, and though it may have a funny name, it was built way back in 1987 to commemorate gay men and women who were the subject of persecution because of their sexuality. Just another example the amazingly accepting and tolerant Amsterdam culture. |
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| The National Monument built to commemorate the fallen soldiers of WWII. |
As you could imagine, the work of draining the land and then building on top of pilings must of been incredibly tedious, the Palace alone required ~1,600 of them, but it really paid off for the Dutch as Amsterdam became the capital of Europe's economy with a per capita income 4x that of Paris. Not only that, but urban cities began to model themselves after the flourishing Amsterdam.
Our day in the city was nothing short of ordinarily spectacular. We first found free parking in the most expensive district (the Jordaan) in the city. Then we walked along the canals while avoiding speeding bikers and ran into the Anne Frank House and Westerkerk, which were to be visited later in the evening when there was NO line. Next we veered out of the Jordaan district and into the heart of the city where we saw the once nominated 8th wonder of the world Palais (palace), National Monument, and flock of pigeons. Feeling a little hungry we searched for food, mind you there was literally every type of world cuisine available and discovered the sweetest (ha!) little waffle shop and opted to have healthy Dutch waffle lunch - yaaammm, full of vitamins.
We continued to walk around the city, waiting for something exciting to catch our attention since it was nearing dark, but the only strange thing we saw was my purse trying to strangle me as I took photos at unflattering angles. As the sun was setting over the canals, we finally went and warmed up and ate some real food then ventured briefly through the Red Light District and then back out into the cold towards Anne Frank's house. We left the Anne Frank house a little disheartened... humbled by her tragedy... but disheartened by the fact that the city has turned one of the most well known self-documented experiences of the Holocaust into a profit making little machine. I am willing to bet that the 9 Euro they charge for entry is far more than is required for the type of museum it is and that all members of the Secret Annex would be flattered at the number of people who care to see the place they fought to survive in, but shocked at the changes made to the building and money being made off of their suffering.
Anyway, that's enough of my opinions for one day.. till next time!
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| Palace of Amsterdam peaking between two buildings. |
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| Tot ziens! |
