Post by Dave on Sept 13, 2010 17:30:39 GMT
Amsterdam
If you go to Holland then I’m sure Amsterdam is on your list of must visit places, even more so if you are a man, as it is famous for its red light district, a place that was not as I expected, it had real charm and character in a strange sort of way.
It is a place you must put your camera away before you walk around it, the pimps get angry and unfriendly if you try and take any photos in there, and I will come back to this later.
On the day we went into Amsterdam we went in the daytime, returning home in the afternoon to pick up Rolfs boys from school and then returned again in the evening. We drove a short way from Rolf’s home in his car and parked it in a car park at a block of flats his friend lives in, then a short walk to what was just a platform out in the open.
Here we caught the metro into Central Station, only we nearly went via the Amsterdam prison. Rolf had not used the metro for years and while he knew you could buy tickets from a machine once on the metro, he did not know it only took change and not bank notes.
So we were now riding without any tickets, when at the next stop on jumped 20 railway police, I can tell you I found it all a bit frightening at first, the thing is people riding the metro and trams for free is a big problem in Amsterdam and these nice boys hand out on the spot fines to all those who do have tickets.
Rolf being Dutch would never get away with an excuse as to why he did not have a ticket and at first I was a bit slow to catch on that he wanted me to talk with them as he did not want them to hear he was Dutch.
Well those on here who have met me know that talking is not a problem for me and soon I was telling them why I did not have a ticket and got on to the subject that Davybeat worked in a hotel in Torquay that only had Dutch guests.
They had not heard of Torquay, but I remembered the guests at the hotel loved the song Una Paloma Blanca, so I just burst into song on the metro and at that point we went past the Amsterdam prison and they said to me people with no tickets get taken to this place. Yes they were joking but let us off the fine as we promised we would buy a day ticket at central station.
On our return trip in the afternoon they came onto the metro we were on again and they sure remembered me from the morning, but this time we had no worries as we had done as we promised.
The first thing that takes you back in Amsterdam is all the bikes, they are everywhere, just left by any post or place they can be left, most are not locked up and as I said last week, they have their own paths to ride on and won’t stop if you are in their space.
Rolf was worried that as I was not a City boy I needed to be mindful of people as there is crime in the city, but I was very relaxed and saw nothing that gave me any concerns.I was soon riding on the trams and enjoyed them; I also wanted to find a street that I had often viewed before I went on the live streaming webcam that can be found on the internet. One shop called the Leather Shop I just wanted to have my photo taken at, as the webcam is often pointed at this shop. I thought it sold leather coats, but I got that wrong for sure.
Another must do thing in Amsterdam is go on a river boat through the canals; you would not want to fall into the water as it’s very dirty and unhealthy. Some parts are narrow and the boats have to do sort of three point turns nearly to get around some corners, you are always going under bridges and into small tunnels.
At some point you come out into a very wide piece of water (sure Rolf can tell us more about that) before heading back into the City by another canal. I think in all it took a good hour and I really enjoyed it.
The red light district as I said was not as I expected, it was not seedy or tacky, just a group of small streets with quaint buildings with widows with girls behind them. I thought so may of the ladies were really beautiful, there was a mixture mind you and all tastes were catered for.
As I walked around I was being smiled at by these pretty ladies and when one beckoned me with a hand gesture, I was walking toward her. Yes I forgot where I was for a second and Rolf was soon turning around and pulling me away. I swear I was only walking toward her as I thought she wanted to ask me something, well I do come from Devon you know.
You also have to walk past an ignore all the drug dealers on the streets in there, they just call out what they have as you walk past them, Rolf feels it can be a dangerous place at times but little Dave R had no problems and just found it all funny and did not have any problems.
There are so many live sex shows in the nighttimes there, I did not have any wish to go and see any, but I did want to just get one small taste of something. I went into this building and all it had was a row of booths arranged in a circle. You went inside one (very small so did not shut the door up) and put one euro in a slot machine.
Then a blind goes up and you can then look through the window, well what I saw had me laughing all the way home to Rolf’s house on the metro. There before my eyes was a turntable on the floor going around very slowly. On the turntable was a man giving a lady a portion, yes right before my eyes, what sort of job is that? They looked bored to tears.
I was surprise when I went into Mc Donald’s, people just smoke at the tables inside, maybe that has changed now, do they have the smoking ban. The only thing I did not like was in the alleyways between some buildings really stunk, as people just pee in them, dirty buggers I say.
