A Dam good city

 Sorry for the delay in writing the first post from Amsterdam. We didn't get in until late Tuesday and yesterday was spent exploring the city. The contrast between Berlin and Amsterdam is quite stark. Berlin was more spread out and resembled a traditional city in terms of having roads and some what of a grid. Although there were a fair number of people on bikes in Berlin, Amsterdam is by far the most bike friendly city I have ever been to. In fact, I'm pretty sure that bikes get the right of way over people. The layout of the city makes for tough navigation, with streets curving around and cutting through the concentric canals. Despite a chronic lack of directional sense, this city seemed to induce a collective sense of calm as we walked streets lined with shops and cafes and dodged cyclists (or maybe it was the effect of ambient pot smoke).








We are staying at the Hotel Hortus, located in the eastern park of the city near the Hortus Botanical Gardens. The hotel has certain old world charm to it, but this is likely due to it having been built many years ago (not like when I would say this about my apartment in Philadelphia). In the main reception area is a vending machine that dispenses Heineken, one of the local beers. From our place, its about a 10 walk to the downtown area. Amsterdam is known for two things, which I will briefly touch on now. 1) Pot shops (aka coffee shops) are located all over the city. These shops usually contain a juice bar that serves soft drinks, smoothies, and milkshakes and a counter in the back for buying weed, hash, or spacecakes. 2) The red light district is quite the sight to behold. Imagine a setting where groups of men, most of them appearing to be quite creepy, gather together to solicit sex from beautiful/slightly trashy women dancing in windows. From what we observed, the process is a little like shopping at a flee market: You shop around, you find the product you want, you haggle over the price, and finally you get what you paid for. Taking pictures in this area will result in an incognito bouncer/bodyguard roughing you up and throw your camera in the canal.

Despite the Dutch having already been eliminated from Euro 2012, vestiges of football fandom could still be seen throughout the city. We ran into some bad luck during our adventures yesterday. First, we tried going to a pancake house that had been recommended by a friend (Patrick) and the tourism guide I had, but they were renovating until the 4th of July. Since pancakes are a staple of Dutch cuisine, we walked around some more and eventually found a suitable replacement in a nearby cafe. Second, we headed in the direction of the Anne Frank house (pictured on left). We did not stop wait to go inside the house, just snapped a picture and kept moving towards our real destination: De Poozenboot. However, we missed visiting hours in addition to it being closed on Wednesdays. No need to panic, we will be returning this afternoon.

Today's plan is as follows: 1) get pancakes 2) head to De Poozenboot 3) get bikes 4) head to Vondelpark 4) spend time at Leidseplein Square 5) head to the Van Gogh museum. The next post will likely occur while on a Mega Bus to Paris.