Amsterdam

Thursday 28^th July 2011

We don’t tend to go on ‘proper’ summer holidays anymore – the joys of self-employment and a lot of pets maybe?  So when Mark bought us a ‘bargain basement’ weekend in Amsterdam recently (my birthday present, actually), I was really pleased.  I’d never been and I’m not much of a traveller, so going to an airport is an adventure!  Humour me, you know I don’t get out much. Whatever images I had of Amsterdam before I went were partially true, plus a whole lot more.  To get into ‘town’ from our hotel, we had to walk about 2 miles each way through pleasant, normal suburbs – which because it looked so foreign to me, and involved walking alongside canals and dodging bikes, seemed quite exotic.  By doing this (4 times!) I learned these things:

• people do cycle everywhere, on unbelievably heavy ‘butcher-boy’ style bikes, with kiddies trailers on the back, huge baskets on the front, often festooned with plastic flowers or other decor.  It was lovely.  Here in the UK, cyclists can be seen as pariahs by busy motorists and if a cyclist goes on a pavement in fear of his life on the roads, that’s wrong too.  In Amsterdam, they have a very cool ‘shared space’ concept, with special cycle lanes but if there is no room for these, then that’s fine, pedestrians, cyclists and even motorists seem to cohabit in peace and harmony.  ‘Giving way’ is normal, not a sign of weakness, I observed no aggression, even towards the dazed and confused tourists, dodging the bikes, cars and people.

• This attitude seems to characterise the folks we met.  The cafes, bars and shops all welcome you.  It’s really friendly!  You read that this is a very tolerant society – it is, in a structural and legislative sense.  But in fact what I felt that phrase really means is this:  it’s not judgemental.  You do this, I do that, but that’s fine. 
• So many smokers!  Oy – but hey, that’s fine (see how Dutch I am becoming?) I can walk on the other side of the canal.
• It’s an incredibly beautiful city, where whenever you gaze upwards, you see even more simply stunning architecture.
• There are at least 3 yarn shops in the central area, none of which I had time to locate.
• It turns out that I am not a massive fan of museums…Amsterdam does them very well but I just get bored.  I embrace my shallowness though and Amsterdam just smiles tolerantly at me, it does not take it personally.

And I knitted in the cafe at the Van Gogh museum – which was a very good museum – before we left for our flight home.  That was lovely.