Days 3 & 4
I Amsterdam -Amsterdam city slogan
We decided to do as the locals and take our bikes to the train station, park them in the multi-level bike park, then take the train into the Big
I Am.
There is so much to say about this city...I have written this report under a series of topics, which are:
-Layout & Architecture
-People
-Bikes and More Bikes
-Red Light District
...so that if you get bored with any topic, skip to the next one.
Layout & Architecture
The old city itself is shaped like a series of concentric
U´s, with the port and the train station at the top of the Ü. Each U is separated from its parallel U by a canal filled with water, so that you have the buildings, the street, the canal; then the next U envelops that with another building, street and canal...and so on. Think of an onion with its crown cut off and you´ll understand the layout of old Amsterdam.
Many small streets intersect the legs of the concentric U´s, going from one U to the next. There are many, many bridges over the canals; these allow you to move across the city quickly. Most of the bridges are of very old stone construction.
The streets themselves were not made for cars, and it shows. Paved with bricks (most common), paving stones or flat rocks, all but the major streets are narrow...very narrow. The traffic is often 2-way but if you meet an oncoming car, you or he must go up on the shoulder and give way. Thankfully, this is not a problem as Amsterdamers use public transport a lot...and bikes. There are not many private cars running around the streets but there are
plenty of bikes.
The architecture is...amusing to me. Very narrow buildings which are also very tall. How narrow? I would estimate that the average downtown building is no more than 25 feet wide (8m) ...and about 6 stories high. Each building is stuck onto the next so that there is no space in between. The windows are all quite large, considering that most of these buildings were built in the 1600s...a testimony to the desire to see light! (As an aside, much of Dutch residential architecture follows this pattern. The home I am living in here is about 20 feet wide and 3 stories high. It is sandwiched between two other homes like it. The windows are ENORMOUS. On the bottom floor is the kitchen, dining and living rooms. Only the kitchen is small. Bedrooms are on floors 2 & 3. While narrow, Dutch homes are very long.) In the centre of the city, the bottom floor is usually a store or a cafe or some other business, with residences above. Homes are not decorated with window flower boxes, or anything else. Many homes have their huge windows wide open as heat in the city is stifling. Looking inside many homes, I could see that the Dutch favor a rather spartan look. "Functionnal" might be a less judgemental way of putting it.
There are also many houseboats on the canals. The canal water is pea-soup green; there is no smell to it. Many swan, geese and ducks use the water to get around and they are interesting to watch. Especially the youngsters who frolic while paying no mind to the tourists watching them!
People
The minute we got off the train, we noticed the people. Lots of them. If you have ever been to New York City at Times Square, Amsterdam is like that. Very wide sidewalks on the main street, throngs of people and lots of shops selling souvenirs of all kinds. Buses, tramways and trucks make up most of the motorized traffic. Private cars come next, then scooters. The Bicycle is King and Amsterdamers use it to go where they may: elegant ladies in long flowing dresses, handsome young men in suit & tie, teenaged girls cellphone-on-ear, angry-looking counterculture boys...everybody on bikes!
Tourists...lots of them. I saw Americans (or English-speaking Canadians - hard to tell the difference,) Russians, English, Poles, Italians, Spanish and even people from Latin America. I also saw Australians...easy to spot because they are loud and have that characteristic accent.
A lot of the tourists rent bikes to get aound the city. It sure is a lot easier than walking (what we did) or driving (not recommended for non-residents.) The city has many museums and everyone we walked passed looked fairly empty, save two: The Ann Frank House is one. I would have visited it but the 3-block-long line-up made me say "we´ll be back." The other busy museum was the Sex Museum. This one I did not want to visit and the only reason I noticed it was because we had to make a wide detour around the crowd waiting to get in.
There are a lot of outdoor cafes (coffee shops) where you can sit and watch the pedestrian and bicycle traffic go by. Marijuana is illegal (officially) but is tolerated so an odor of
pot hangs around many cafes. You can sit down and have your beer or gin and smoke your joint and it is OK. We wanted to do some people watching as well so we looked for a cafe where more "conventional" people were. They are easy to find: you just look to see if the clients are wearing nose rings or not! Seriously!
Bikes
Bikes are everywhere and I doubt I can even give you a feel of how important they are in Amsterdam. There are bike
parking lots with row upon row upon row of parked bikes (at the train station, at the supermarket, at large stores.) Each apartment building has a bike rack that is packed with bikes (if you have a family of 4, each with a bike...) There are underground and above-ground multi-level parking garages for bikes. You have to see this!
Protected bike paths are along all major roads. Bikes have priority over motorized traffic at intersections. Bikes have their own traffic light system, push a button and the light turns green for
you. You can go anywhere by bike very quickly and if I were an Amsterdamer, I don´t think a car would be necessary.
Scooters are also allowed on bike paths as well as a microcar called the Canta. (If you are interested, google "Canta car" and read up on the world´s smallest car.)
Daniel wrote:In what ways are the bicycles built there to make them sturdier?
Quality. The Dutch can´t compete against the Chinese and Vietnamese on price, so they have gone the quality route. The frame itself is bigger than a chinacyle, making the bikes longer and taller. Size matters if you have a young family: I have seen countless bikes with a child seat
and windscreen behind the handlebars; every once in a while I see a bike with such a child seat
plus another childseat behind the rider. These bikes are big. The seat is big. The handlebars are big. The wheels are big, too. The wheels of the Batavus I´m using are mounted on 32 inch rims, 5 inches greater than a chinacycle´s rims. Size also matters for comfort in day-to-day driving. This is why a Cadillac is more comfortable than an economy car.
All mechanical components are enclosed: the chain is completely shrouded, the gears and brakes are in the hub and not visible. No cables are visible, they are all within the frame. The components themselves breathe quality. The bikes are visibly rugged. They are also heavier than a chinacycle, but lightness isn´t a goal. Even being heavier, they are easy to pedal because ( I guess) the mechanical components are of better quality. There are only 8 speeds, not 27 like the chinacycles.
Red Light District
We happened upon this place by accident during the day. It is near the port...Amsterdam tourist brochures proudly proclaim:
...most of the prostitutes are not Dutch... Big Deal! The first hint we were in the Red light was the Sex Museum, then The Porno Supermarket. Look around: the people look odd, at least those hugging the walls and coming out of the businesses. Lots of tourists are here too, lured by the reputation of the place. During the day, The buildings look like any other Amsterdam building, with big windows...
At sundown, those windows are occupied. A prostitute (male or female, but usually a woman) poses scantily-clad in a red-lit room on the second floor. Look closely, you see a man (always a man) enter through a door downstairs on the street. The prostitute draws a curtain. A little while later, she opens the curtain. The light turns green for a few seconds and you see the man open the door to the street and stepping out.
Pitiful.
By the way, Amsterdam´s coat of arms is a red sheild with a black stripe down the center. On that black stripe are 3 white X´s...XXX.
FL
Have fun and enjoy Amsterdam
I should also add that this bike has handlebars that are adjustable without using tools (just flip a lever) and they come with a dasboard that indicates time, speed and distance.
)