When I met the guy from “Holland” months ago in an 8th floor Osaka Starbucks, he grinned and told me The Netherlands was very chilled-out and relaxed, that they typically work 36 hours a week. And that was the predominant vibe in Amsterdam….people seemed happy, content, and just minding their own business.
Amsterdam has more bicycles than cars, which I understood when I went out in the morning to find cereal and milk. Everyone was riding their bikes to work. There are bike paths and racks everywhere and it’s an amazing part of the culture. If you need to go around the city, you go by bike. They are the tall bikes that ride smoothly over the brick streets; they are locked up here and hardly anyone wears a helmet. There are 1.3 bikes per person, according to Wikipedia.
It’s the quietest city I’ve ever been in, even during rush hour. Everyone is just cruising along on their bikes. No one is wearing a suit or heels–casual Friday is every day here apparently, which is part of the reason the bicycles work. Occasionally you’ll hear a warning ting of a bicycle bell, otherwise the electric cars and even the trucks are quiet. There are some motorcycles and scooters, but no loud Harleys here. Even the trains are electric and so quiet you barely notice them cruising through the city.
Occasionally along the sidewalks there is a tall round aluminum structure that is for men to use to eliminate the public urination issue so common in other cities. Pretty practical really, but no option for the women who still have to pay here to use the restroom–50 euros is the going rate. I have not seen any homeless people and no one asking for money.
With another lucky weather day in store, Katie and I got going pretty early. The entire city is on a port and has lonnnnnng stretches of canals running in concentric circles everywhere throughout the city. Our hotel is marked with a black X, middle right.
You might think the canals make it hard to get around, but only occasionally do you have to go up and around, because there are so many bridges to get where you need to go. 
Our hotel is behind the large domed building (an event venue) on the left. To enter it, you go downstairs. In fact, when you are walking you have to be very careful not to step into the stairways some of which are right off the sidewalk. 
This is the pretty brick alley behind our hotel. Like all cities, structures are squeezed into available space. 
Katie pointed out that many of the buildings lean this way and that, like Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley haha! Online it says it is because of the old wooden poles they formerly used. It is all propped up with cement, but they lean drastically, which you can see in this picture if you look at the roof lines. It’s like that everywhere! 
We walked through the canals for hours. Somehow it was lost on me that this is where Anne Frank’s hidden house was. There was a small bronze statue of her and people put flowers around it. You can tour her house but it is very difficult to get tickets. It felt really sad.
Near her house there was an old church that was being used by painters and people selling postcards, in addition to holding church services. They hold concerts there at lunchtime several days each month and it was bright and cheerful inside. 
Pancakes are cheap (yippee!!) and yummy here, so we stopped for brunch at a huge place with all the windows open and lovely breeze. The service here was much more relaxed and maybe you get your drink, maybe not. We shared Dutch pancakes which are what we would call crepes. One had goat cheese, spinach, pine nuts and olive oil. The other had flavorful strawberries and chocolate sauce. We each got a tiny wooden shoe on a keychain from the waitress 🙂
Every street you go on has a corresponding canal. There are a few cars, but the bikes are everywhere in a pretty organized fashion. 
There are boats everywhere also. Tour boats and dinner boats move quietly through the city constantly. Smaller boats have people living on them–I even saw a few on AirBnb.
Rembrandt lived and worked in Amsterdam for nearly 20 years beginning in 1639. You can tour his house and museum. A huge square with statues and cafes was all dedicated to his life and work. 
Katie had been in Amsterdam 3 years ago and brought me back to this lovely church she and her girlfriend had found. The colors were different than any I’d seen in a church and it smelled wonderful, like old wood. Soon a small bell pinged and a service started in Dutch.
The Netherlands are famous for their tulips and flowers, of course. This entire street is lined with greenhouses and booths where you can buy tulips and tulip bulbs in any color imaginable–I even saw dark blue! You can also buy souvenirs and all things made of cannabis, even lollipops. 
This Roman Catholic church looked like it was in Eastern Europe, and really stood out along the skyline. 
In the evening, we walked toward the port, which was very active with cruise ships, dinner boats, and massive barges. 
The port is right behind the train station we would have arrived in if not for the train strike and the one we will take out. The building is remarkable in its size and fancy red bricks.
Across the street from the train station is a massive bike garage filled with bikes, side by side, row after row.
We walked through the famous “Red Light District” which really looked like the rest of the city, with lovely cafes along the many canals. There were more erotica shops and as it got later the girls were dancing in the windows, which are actually doors you can enter. There were people walking everywhere and hanging out on the canals and it just seemed fun! 
It was still fully light outside when we got home at 10 p.m. Since it was not the middle of the night at home we were able to talk to Todd and Mike in Orlando, and make our plan for Mike’s arrival later in the week.
Katie’s pollen allergies are still driving her crazy–just as they were clearing up in Japan we moved to spring in Europe. Our hotel does not have air conditioning which is not a problem because with the windows open it is perfect and no mosquitoes. But that means pollen all day and night. Hopefully our next location will be before or after pollen season!
Photo: Amsterdam
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