Thursday, July 21, 2011

So many bikes!

It's our last day in Amsterdsm and I realized I haven't posted anything since our first day. So here's the overview of the last couple of days:

Tuesday we did a free walking tour though the same company that did the one in Paris. Our guide was really good, an Aussie who moved to Amsterdam for a girl, and we learned a lot about the history of the Netherlands and Amsterdam. What we learned is basically that they are very tolerant and really like money. Mostly you can do whatever you want as long as you are discreet and it doesn't hurt anyone. The reason weed is "legal" (it isn't actually, they just don't punish people for it) is that they decided it was more important to channel resources into fighting the war on heroin, which used to be a big problem here. Seems logical to me.

After the tour we did some shopping. We discovered in Paris that we aren't really prepared for cool weather, so we were looking jackets and tights to keep us warm. I picked up some tights but was otherwise unsuccessful. We tried to find a groceey store but everything closes at like 6 here so we grabbed a falafel and then headed to Vondelpark. During the 60s, Vondelpark was the site of a huge tent city full of hippies. My dad used to live there so I thought we should check it out. It's a really nice park, full of playgrounds and exercise classes instead of hippies, and we had a nice time wandering around.

Yesterday, we bought bikes and saw Amsterdam the way it is meant to be seen. Everyone bikes here and its definitely the easiest way to get around. The only thing that trumps bikes here are Vespas, which seem to rule the roads in all the places we've visited so far. We went a flea market where I finally got a jacket. We got awesome bagel sandwiches before heading to one of the closest windmills, which now happens to be a brewery. It wasn't open yet, so we road along the canal and back around Vondelpark. The beer, when we finally got it, was good and it was fun to get something brewed locally.

Last night we did a pub crawl. Lots of bars and dancing! It was fun but probably not the best so far. It was a little too big and since we went in not knowing anyone it was hard to meet people. Still it was a good night.

Heading to the Van Gogh museum today. We have our tickets already, so all we have to do today is check out whatever we've missed so far.

Bikes are everywhere here, but you have to be careful to lock your bike up. Not only can it be stolen, a drunk person might come along and throw it in the canal. Whoever tried to throw this bike in must have been extra drunk because they did not notice that the bike was actually locked. 
A typical canal, lined with boats and tall, skinny houses.
On my bike in front of the windmill brewery.
People lying about in Vondelpark.

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