Amsterdam Hitch - Amsterdam!

Amsterdam is an interesting city. Its not classically beautiful in the sense of places like Prague or Česky Krumlov but it has a quirky beauty with its tall, thin houses and their large windows and the canals running through it. And there was a really nice friendly atmosphere about the place. Its also quite surreal. Walking through the Red Light District (which we were staying just by) I would see the prostitutes in the windows through the corner of my eye and, forgetting I was in Amsterdam, assume it was mannequins in shop windows. But then i'd look over and realise they are actually women trying to entice men in. I have to say we had a lot of fun walking up and down the many streets and alleyways of the Red Light District looking and laughing at all the prostitutes and their attempts to tempt men in. One of my friends got freaked out at one point by a scary prostitute giving her an even scarier face as she walked through the thin side street, as if to say 'this is my turf, how dare you venture into it!' We saw many museums (not just the sex museum or cannibis museum, there was an interesting one to do with Holland's colonial history and the history of beads though i'm not fully sure how the two things linked together). In fact I went to more museums in Amsterdam than i've been to in years. And I got to go to the Anne Frank House which I really wanted to see and was glad I went to despite the long queue to get in.

The weather in Amsterdam wasn't too bad whilst we were there, in fact we had good weather for the whole of the hike/time in Amsterdam/journey back. It rained quite a bit and hailed at one point heavily but, being a fan of rain, I don't count that as bad weather. In fact I felt it added to Amsterdam's charm.

Another thing that got me about Amsterdam is the amount of bikes everywhere. Obviously you hear about bikes being a major form of transport in the Netherlands but its still weird seeing it. I kept almost getting run over by cyclists as they have priority and expect you to get out of the way of them rather than manoeuvering around you. So whenever i'd hear the bicycle bell ringing at me (with the cyclist coming up behind me) i'd forget to get out of the way as i'm not used to hearing bicycle bells.

We stayed with a really nice family. They were extremely friendly and even took us out one evening to 'the best chinese restaurant in Amsterdam'. Whenever I've gone to a chinese restaurant in another country I've usually found it disappointing (with the exception being Malaysia). However I was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me of the chinese restaurants I go to back home and, having not been out to a good chinese since the christmas holidays, I scoffed the food down, enjoying it immensely.

I finally got my coat back after leaving it once again in Prague (I think this was the 4th time i've done that in the last year and a half). I met up with my friend who i'd gone to visit in Prague just before christmas. Luckily she'd brought my coat with her when she'd returned to Holland. We had a nice dinner together, catching up and reminiscing on the Dobruška days.

I'm writing this blog entry almost two weeks after going so i'm sure i've left a lot of stuff out. But I have to say I really enjoyed my time in Amsterdam. Its the surrealest place i've been to in Europe but definately in a good way. I've also discovered that I am now jealous of my coat since not only did it go to Holland before me but it also had almost 2 months there whereas I only got 3 days.