{"id":506,"date":"2015-07-05T17:39:31","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T17:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwihoods.com\/?p=506"},"modified":"2015-07-05T17:39:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-05T17:39:31","slug":"amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kiwihoods.com\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"AMSTERDAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back into the blogs, but since it is nearly a month ago we won\u2019t remember everything about what we did so bear with us as we try to recall our movements.<\/p>\n

Sunday 7 June<\/p>\n

We went back to Delft to have another look around.\u00a0 This is such a lovely town.\u00a0 We enjoy going into the touristy shops selling dutch foods and enjoying samples \u2013 particularly of the different cheeses, they have delicious gouda.\u00a0 I am sure Scot\u2019s doctor would be shaking her head at all the cheese he is eating and the potential cholesterol increase \u2013 but maybe it isn\u2019t doing anything.<\/p>\n

We were impressed with the Delft pottery \u2013 it is the blue and white pottery made locally, but they send the individual items off to many highly trained painters around the country who paint the strict Delft style on all their different pieces.\u00a0 Because each piece is individually done they aren\u2019t cheap to buy and having a look at very old pieces for sale around the town and in one particular shop the prices were extraordinary.\u00a0 Some were up for sale for over 10,000 euro \u2013 although most of these pieces were over a hundred years old.\u00a0 The painters are chosen based on their painting ability and are trained for a considerable amount of time before they are given pottery that is to sell.\u00a0 I had to buy a gorgeous little cat skilfully painted as my souvenir from Holland.<\/p>\n

We enjoyed the usual beer in the market place watching the happenings of people around us.<\/p>\n

We saw some boots I was particularly keen to check out so decided we needed to come back in on Monday morning before leaving to have a closer look.\u00a0 So on Monday morning we biked back into the town and discovered that virtually nothing opened on a Monday here.\u00a0 Strange, but I guess they open on a Saturday so Sunday\/Monday is their weekend off, so the boots were a no go.\u00a0 We did find a couple of charity shops open to have a look around though.\u00a0 On our way out of town I stopped to pat a pussy cat sleeping on an outside window sill.\u00a0 He was very friendly and as I was patting him a gentleman stopped and was looking at me like I was going to steal him or something.\u00a0 He happened to be the owner who was quite ok with me patting his cat and we had a lovely long chat with him before we took off back to the van.<\/p>\n

We then drove off to Amsterdam to stay in a camping ground \u2013 Gaasperplas \u2013 which is on the outskirts of Amsterdam amongst a large recreation area of parkland with a lake, and has a train station very close by.\u00a0 When we arrived there we couldn\u2019t go in as they had had a huge rave there on the weekend and they were still cleaning up and there were trucks still loading hired equipment etc .\u00a0 The rave had 60,000 people at it and 5,000 of them were camping in Gasperplas camping ground.\u00a0 When they did finally let us in we were led to our park.\u00a0 It was the only little piece of clean ground in the whole complex.\u00a0 Behind us was a hedge and on the other side a massive field that was completely covered in litter left behind by the partygoers who had been at the rave.\u00a0 We couldn \u2018t believe our eyes.\u00a0 We had to wander through as we were gobsmacked at the sight \u2013 and I know the photos don\u2019t really show what it was like.\u00a0 There were tents, blow up beds, food, balloons, thousands of the little balloon gas cylinders that they use to get high, chairs, clothes, drinks, colgate products given out as a promotion and many more things too lengthy to mention.\u00a0 The organisers were really slack in their clean up, instead of using large vacuum machines to pick up the rubbish, \u00a0they were using blowers to try and blow it all into one place to pick up.\u00a0 The problem with this is that it was windy and rubbish (tents included) was being blown away from the piles and into the waterways and even into our campsite area.\u00a0 I did find a few euro as we were strolling around the ground.\u00a0 Some of the campers were going picking up things to keep.\u00a0 The Frenchies next to us picked up food \u2013 yes it was probably ok as there was lots of stuff unopened, but I couldn\u2019t have done it, you never know what has happened to it.<\/p>\n

Tuesday 9 June<\/p>\n

We bought a 3 day train pass and headed into Amsterdam quite early so if we decided to do any of the touristy things we wouldn\u2019t be caught in the long lines.\u00a0 We found out from information on the inside of the train we caught that there are 177 different nationalities living in Amsterdam and it listed all around the walls which countries, how many people were from that country, the average wage from that country and the population, quite interesting really. \u00a0We got off the train in Central and started to walk the streets.\u00a0 Holy Shit \u2013 what an unbelievable amount of tourists everywhere and it was only 9am, it was so busy, Amsterdam would not survive if anything stopped these people coming, they must bring in a huge amount of income to this city.<\/p>\n

We decided to go on a canal cruise first thing in the morning to have a look around and know what there is to see.\u00a0 It was interesting.\u00a0 If you have a look at the width of the buildings, people used to be taxed on how wide their buildings were, so many of them are very narrow \u2013 in fact there was one building that was virtually only one door width wide, there is a photo below. \u00a0So when you see buildings that are very wide, you know whomever built that house must have been very rich indeed.\u00a0 Each building has a goods lift which is a pulley system with hook on the outside of the building as the staircases aren\u2019t\u2019 wide enough to take furniture so they get it through the windows on the front of each building.\u00a0 We watched one lady have her groceries lifted into her apartment via the lift.<\/p>\n

We decided that we wouldn\u2019t do the tourist things like museums etc (except the Rijk museum)\u00a0 as they cost a huge amount and how many museums can you see and are all the tourist traps really worth it.\u00a0 So based on that we started walking the different streets just looking at the canals, boats, houses, people etc, very interesting really.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t want to bike around this city as it was insane.\u00a0 With the trams, cars, scooters, bikes, tourists it was bedlam and most tourists didn\u2019t look out for bikes so there were a lot of near misses. We had a vegetarian pita pocket for lunch which was nice except for the olives that had pips in that Scot didn\u2019t realise and he nearly broke a tooth on one.\u00a0 We still aren\u2019t sure whether his tooth is ok or not yet \u2013 could have been a very expensive olive!\u00a0 We found that the same shop with the boots I liked in Delft was in Amsterdam so we started trying to find it.\u00a0 We walked for miles trying to find this shop, getting lost multiple times and went around in circles, but stopped at a whole lot of shoe shops on the way having a look at boots. We did eventually find it only to find the boots weren\u2019t right. We did waste a bit much time shopping.\u00a0 We did come across a scene where it looked like there must have been some famous star in town as there were girls screaming and running after someone who had got out of a limousine.\u00a0 When we went to investigate we realised they were just filming something for who knows what \u2013 maybe just a commercial or something and it wasn\u2019t really anyone important after all.<\/p>\n

We had walked for such a long time that my body was starting to ache, so we decided we would try some of the local legal substances to maybe assist in the pain reduction.\u00a0 I bought a brownie \u2013 guaranteed to help with the pain \u2013 but I think I was ripped off as there was no pain relief let alone effect at all \u2013 that was a buggar.\u00a0 However I wasn\u2019t willing to try the other local pain relief which Scot did and seemed to work quite well for him.\u00a0 There are sanctioned coffee shops which are really just drug dens where you can buy what you like and sit down and drink and smoke as much as you like.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t our scene so we didn\u2019t hang around in there, but did go into the most famous one in Amsterdam (the bulldog one) which was the first coffee house established there.\u00a0 Not everyone can sell the drugs \u2013 they are controlled by the government \u2013 but you can smoke virtually anywhere you like.\u00a0 When walking around the streets particularly the red light district you can smell pot everywhere being smoked.\u00a0 There are rooms where you can buy mushrooms and relax for up to 6 hours whilst the effects take place but they don\u2019t recommend this for amateurs.\u00a0 Locals are allowed to grow 3 plants here and can have on them 3 grams legally.\u00a0 But so far outside of Amsterdam we haven\u2019t seen (or smelt) anyone smoking, so it obviously isn\u2019t a big deal for locals.<\/p>\n

We saw the flower market area which is where they sell all the tulip bulbs and a lot of fake wooden tulips and other souvenirs.\u00a0 We also went into the nunnery which is a very serene area amongst the crazy city bustle.\u00a0 This place is now a haven for women who need sanctuary. \u00a0We came across the strangest sight just outside the nunnery.\u00a0 Someone had set up about 6 double beds in the middle of a street roped off.\u00a0 What happened was you paid 5 euro and got into bed and lay down and an actor got in beside you and then read poetry to you with discreet non sexual soothing touches for 5 minutes, like to the face and hands etc.\u00a0 When they finished you got up out of the bed, put your shoes on and left.\u00a0 Supposedly this is art?? \u00a0We decided to head back to the van early as we had started early and were buggared and could do the red light district etc the next night.<\/p>\n

Wednesday 10 June<\/p>\n

We went in late in the morning and got off the train a couple of stops before Central station.\u00a0 We decided to walk around an area where the Van Gough and Rijk museums were as it was supposed to be a lovely area and then we would walk into the heart of the city past some other tourist traps from there.\u00a0 We found a cute caf\u00e9 \u2013 the Amstel caf\u00e9 – on a canal boat where we stopped for our normal morning coffee fix, only to find their coffee machine was broken.\u00a0 So we had to have a beer instead.\u00a0 It was a beautiful day so this was very pleasant anyway.\u00a0 We got to the Rijk museum and then decided to have our lunch (home made baguettes again) and then went into the museum.\u00a0 This was the only attraction we visited.\u00a0 We saw some Van Gough paintings here, but I guess the majority of them would have been in the Van Gough museum, so we didn\u2019t see many of them.\u00a0 Personally I didn\u2019t think his painting were that great, but who am I to judge that.\u00a0 However there were some amazing pieces of art to be seen here.\u00a0 Hard to believe that after many centuries the colours are still very vibrant.\u00a0 I felt that after going through the Louvre nothing really compares, but still enjoyed the visit.\u00a0 We left the museum and walked up the canals to find the \u2018Anne Frank Huis (house)\u2019 just to see where it was and what it looked like.\u00a0 It was very disappointing from the outside \u2013 looked a bit like a factory type of building but at 7pm there were still queues of about 50 people even at this time.\u00a0 I had thought of going in here, but didn\u2019t know what there was really to look at.\u00a0 People we had talked to hadn\u2019t been very impressed and were mostly disappointed so felt that the 20 odd euro was a waste of money.\u00a0 On line others had posted there was really nothing much to see and was a waste of money.\u00a0 Afterwards we went to find the cat sanctuary boat called \u2018De Poezenboot\u2019.\u00a0 It was closed but was open the next day.\u00a0 On the other side of the canal you could see the cats wandering around the decking that was enclosed so the cats didn\u2019t fall into the water.\u00a0 We had tired legs so stopped in the market square for a drink.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t think about it, but just sat in a spare seat out front and ordered.\u00a0 We had a beer and a cider which ended up costing us 9 euro each (about $15) which we were horrified about but didn\u2019t think to ask the cost before ordering.\u00a0 You pay for the position and the view and really market squares need to be avoided for having drinks.<\/p>\n

We waited until about 9pm and headed into the red light district area.\u00a0 The ladies aren\u2019t in the windows at this time and don\u2019t appear until after 10pm.\u00a0 The windows are really a glass door that they can then open to negotiate with potential customers.\u00a0 The girls apparently pay quite a lot for their spots.\u00a0 Most of the girls looked like they were east European and definitely not Dutch and not always that appealing, especially the 50-60 year olds sitting in the window with their S&M gear on.\u00a0 According to statistics 80% of the windows were show casing men but we didn\u2019t see any so we were unsure where the men were.\u00a0 However one woman was re-arranging her package as we passed so it wasn\u2019t noticeable in the bikini briefs he\/she wore.\u00a0 I felt sorry for a lot of them though as there were that many tourists just there to look and not buy and they were getting in the way of the windows so the real punters couldn\u2019t negotiate.\u00a0 Some girls were knocking loudly on their windows to shoo away people stopping in front of their doorways.\u00a0 This area is absolutely buzzing at this time of night and is completely packed.\u00a0 We had a look in a couple of the sex shops which we were quite intrigued to have a look at.\u00a0 Amsterdam seems to be a major attraction for extreme fetishes and gay guys and the sex shops reflected this.\u00a0 I\u2019m no prude but there things in there that were gobsmackingly bizzare and sometimes just downright disgusting. \u00a0Who knows what people get off on.\u00a0 A lot of the shops had viewing rooms where you sample the product \u2013 go figure!\u00a0 There were the obvious sex shows on stage and peep shows for those who so desired.<\/p>\n

We sat at the popular\u00a0Old\u00a0Sailors Hotel on a busy corner of the canal and had a couple of drinks.\u00a0 We watched the world go by out the front.\u00a0 Scot befriended a young lady whilst I was in the loo \u2013 she was from France and she was on her own.\u00a0 It is a hard area to be in on your own so we had a drink and had an interesting chat to her for a while before having to leave for what I thought at the time was the last train back to Gasperplaas at 11.30pm.\u00a0 She had been to NZ and had worked there for a while but hadn\u2019t been able to stay.\u00a0 The great thing about being on holiday is this experience of meeting people from all sorts of places.<\/p>\n

Thursday 11 June<\/p>\n

We again left late in the morning after a good sleep in and leisurely breakfast \u2013 that\u2019s the advantage when it doesn\u2019t get dark until 10.30-11.00 at night.\u00a0 You don\u2019t feel like you need to get up early to take make use of the whole day.<\/p>\n

We went to De Poezenboot\u00a0 as a first stop as it was only open for 2 hours.\u00a0 We stopped there and patted the cats for a while and I got my cat fix.\u00a0 Its really cool how it\u2019s on a boat and the cats look out onto the canal.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t resist buying a t-shirt from there and giving them a donation.\u00a0 The organisation has been going since about the 1970\u2019s when a lady took in a stray cat and then a couple more and it grew from there.\u00a0 It is still growing strong.\u00a0 Our friend Di visited the boat in the 70\u2019s I think and it\u2019s still going strong to this day \u2013 supported only by donations.<\/p>\n

Afterwards we walked around other parts of the western side of the city where we hadn\u2019t\u2019 been before and eventually found a cute pub on a busy narrow road and had a drink whilst watching the passers-by.\u00a0 We had people from Leiden in the Netherlands sit down next to us and we got chatting as you do.\u00a0 They were there celebrating the mother\u2019s 80th<\/sup> birthday – a lovely family who were very curious about our holiday.\u00a0 Scot impressed them with knowledge of their home town but only because he had seen a painting at the Rijk museum the day before that had the description of a navy boat that had exploded in the docks and had killed 150 people and devastated the surrounding city in about 1850\u2019s.\u00a0 So it does pay to go and see museums and read descriptions of some of the paintings \u2013 it just so happened he read the most appropriate one out of the hundreds there were.<\/p>\n

We decided to have a nice sit down meal \u2013 just of pizza \u2013 for a change.\u00a0 I find it strange though that people seem to expect you to order a pizza each when I couldn\u2019t eat that much.\u00a0 Its almost as if they are pissed off that you are only ordering one pizza to share \u2013 but I don\u2019t see the sense in wasting food.<\/p>\n

We walked around the red light district for the last time.\u00a0 We came across the same double beds that we had encountered on the Tuesday, but this time they had been placed in the middle of the canals and the customers were taken there by boats.\u00a0 It was interesting to watch it taking place.\u00a0 Whilst watching we watched another scene taking place \u2013 a very angry older man who was running after someone who looked a bit feral.\u00a0 When he caught up with him he was confronting him about something and his mates were trying to calm him down.\u00a0 He was shaking his umbrella at the fellow.\u00a0 I would say the guy must have ripped him off or scammed him or something as he was really pissed off over something.\u00a0 I had thought they may have got the police involved as they are everywhere.\u00a0 The cops are on horseback, pushbike and on foot, and there are many of them all over patrolling the area.<\/p>\n

As we were walking along the canals we encountered a group of guys who were dressed as smurfs.\u00a0 They had blue bodies and faces with white hats and shorts.\u00a0 There were maybe about 20 of them and they were probably on a bucks night out.\u00a0 They were obviously intoxicated and probably stoned and having a ball.\u00a0 The crowd were loving what they saw and encouraging them.\u00a0 A little later we spotted one smurf on his own who was staggering and completely and utterly lost (let\u2019s hope he hadn\u2019t sampled the mushrooms) and did not have any idea where he was.\u00a0 We were on the other side of the canal and I was concerned he might fall into the canal as he staggered to the left then the right then back then forward and didn\u2019t have any idea where he was going.\u00a0 The canals don\u2019t have anything to stop you falling into them and there are few ladders or buoys to get out.\u00a0 We watched him for a bit but thought hopefully someone over that side would help him out if needed.<\/p>\n

We were tired after 3 days of walking miles and we had seen enough so we went back to the van.\u00a0 Friday onto Apeldoorn….<\/p>\n