Arriving in Amsterdam was much the same as most other airports with one curious exception. After we had disembarked the aircraft, there was quite a hold up in the gangway leading from the plane to the terminal. I soon discovered that the reason for the hold up was Holland’s answer to immigration queues. They put two immigration officers at the exit of the gangway and checked passports as you entered the terminal. No stamps, no questions, just a cursory glance at your passport and then you were on your way. Although they did pull one foreign national aside and request that he wait. I did not stick around to find out why.
Like most of the major cities I have visited in Europe there is an efficient train system from the airport into central Amsterdam. The train ride was uneventful if not a little crowded. There was a horde of English lads on a bachelor party weekend on the train and headed in the same direction. In addition to this I had arrived in Amsterdam on the weekend of SAIL 2005, an event that happens once every five years, more about that later. I suspect that Amsterdam is a popular destination for groups of British Lads.
I departed the train and navigated my way out of Centraal Train station, picking up a map of Amsterdam on the way, well old Amsterdam at least. Within fifty meters of the train station I was in love with this city. The city was clean, there was a tram system on the door of the train station, there were Canals… Canals and Canals. My hotel was very close to the train station, so I only had a short distance to haul my luggage. As soon as I had checked in I headed out onto the streets of Amsterdam to explore.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city, the building are quaint, cute and often a little left of centre. The ground on which the city of Amsterdam is built is not particularly stable, and the buildings seem to be in a constant state of movement – often sideways. More than once I came across a building that was being supported by huge pieces of wood acting as braces between the street surface and the front of the building.
Amsterdam has a number of museums which I ventured into, the Van Gough museum probably been one of the most notable. An artistic genius who not only mutilated himself but committed suicide at a very early age due to depression. I also visited the Rembrandt house, which was the residence of Rembrandt in Amsterdam and where he painted as well as collected artefacts from foreign cultures. Rembrandt was also an art dealer, selling the works of other local artists as well as his own. There was a large collection of Rembrandts etchings on display, but not a lot of his artwork, but worth the visit nonetheless. I don’t normally buy mementoes of places I go, but I did purchase a small Rembrandt etching – a unique piece as Rembrandt only every etched one, count again one still life, of the hundreds possibly thousands etchings he only did one still life. That fact alone was enough to make me buy the reproduced etching, a conch shell.
The Anne Frank has was also on my list of places to visit. It’s a very moving experience and one that at times bought me to tears. It was the second holocaust museum that I visited on my travels – the first been in downtown Alberqueque, which I found to be a emotionally intense experience as well as a very strange place to have a museum of this sort. The Attic where Anne and her family hid from the Germans was much larger than I was expecting or had been lead to believe. But it is also devoid of furniture – which gives a sense of more space than there might otherwise have been. Within the Anne Frank museum they have a very interesting experiment running. They put a scenario to the audience which is often the choice between freedom of one thing and freedom of another, for example freedom of speech vs basic human rights and you get to vote on which you would rather have. I was amazed at the number outcomes, that when taken to there logical conclusions would lead back to a state of dictatorship and oppression such as experienced in Nazi Germany – the world has not changed very much and we seem to be walking a very thin line ….
Amsterdam also has the Homomonument. Three pink triangles one raised, one on tiled into the ground and one is designed as a set of steps leading down into one of Amsterdam’s canals. A monument to thousands of gay men and women who were persecuted and sent to camps and their deaths, during world war two. It was a very sobering experience seeing this and the Anne Frank house. I had to sit for a while and gather my emotional wellbeing and be grateful for a world that for the most part is growing more tolerant – yet it constantly in danger of slipping back into the dark ages of thought and reason. Sadly there are still places on our small planet that execute and persecute people for expressing themselves freely.
Amsterdam is also a city of fun … and everything you have every heard about Amsterdam and its reputation as a city of sin is entirely true, although it really depends on your definition of sin ;-). Within the red light district almost anything goes, although it does seem to be contained to this area – my hotel was just on the edge of this district. In Amsterdam a coffee house means something entirely different, coffee houses are establishments where you can acquire all variations of marijuana you can imagine. In Holland it is legal to smoke and possess the weed. Although not kosher to walk the streets smoking, it is acceptable to consume in the privacy of your home or coffee houses. Other harder drugs I understand are illegal, but there are many hawkers on the streets offering you the sale of just about anything you could desire. Prostitution is legal and there are many young ladies and some not so young of all colours and nationalities enticing you from behind their glass doors. The hookers of Amsterdam sit, stand, gyrate, and entice you from their little booths with glass doors. Once they have snared a potential customer there are small rooms behind their window shop fronts (so I have been told). I had read somewhere that taking photo’s of these professional women is likely to end you up in a heap of trouble with their minders – so sadly there are no photo’s. I must say that the first few times I saw this it was startling, but you get used to it so quickly – it’s the norm in Amsterdam and no one blinks an eye.
The weekend I stayed in Amsterdam there was an event called SAIL, which I alluded to earlier. SAIL happens once every five years and is an event entirely devoted to sailing vessels and their ilk. The harbour of Amsterdam was jammed with every conceivable sailing ship you can imagine, from tall ships to short ships, with a few warships thrown in for good measure. Amsterdam was buzzing, the canals I suspect where more packed than usual and it was amazing to see so many boats of every size, shape and variety in one place.
I took one of the many tourist boats that wind their way around the canals of Amsterdam and more than once I thought we were going to be involved in a major pileup of boats and people. But amazingly we survived unscathed, there would appear to be some sort of gentle persons code for navigating the high seas or canals, ship captains gave way, boats skirted around one another, even a rowing team was given room to make its way through the throng of vessels.
While I was staying in Amsterdam the managers of the hotel asked if I would participate in a survey been conducted by the University of Amsterdam. It seems that Amsterdam is very concerned about losing its title as Gay Capital of Europe. As a result of other countries legalising gay marriage and becoming open and inclusive societies, gay travellers are choosing other destinations such as Madrid and Barcelona, Berlin etc etc. Amsterdam has recognised the economic impact that this is going to have and are trying to understand how they can stem the tide and lure back the gay and lesbian traveller to it shores. I am not sure the city of sydney is NOT undertaking any studies to understand the impact of Mardi Gras not been held in 2006
There was a lot to do and see in Amsterdam and i my stay of three nights was way too short, Amsterdam in short was a lot of fun and i cant wait to get back there.
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