Amsterdam

The Flying Pig advertises a free walking tour of the city, and the three of us managed to catch the first one in the morning after an awesome breakfast for some chocolate spread stuff on toast. I don't know what it was, since the label was in Dutch, but it was better than butter. I don't say that about many spreads.

But yes, the tour. We didn't realize it was going to be three hours long when we started it, but the time flew by. I learned so much about Amsterdam that I hadn't known about before (granted, I didn't know that much to being with) and really gained an appreciation for the city. Here comes a lot of history and info, so if that's not your thing, you might want to skim from here. I found it all pretty fascinating, though.

First of all, Amsterdam is well known for being a very chill city where gay marriage is legal, people smoke pot on the street, and for the red light district where prostitution is legal. They're a very tolerant people, and have three rules when it comes to deciding if doing something is okay. 1. If it's not hurting anybody 2. If it's good for business and 3. If it makes money. This was accompanied by a tale about how Christianity was illegal for a time in Amsterdam, but on Sundays, a rich merchant liked to hold church masses in his house for those who still worshipped. Their singing could be heard out on the street. When people went to the police to turn them in, they were reminded that it was a Sunday, and that the police didn't work on Sundays. And when the police finally went around to look on Monday, well, all the houses looked the same, and there was no singing going on, so nothing to worry about.

Then he moved on to the example of coffee shops, which do sell coffee, but are mainly known for their variety of marijuana. Everyone knows what goes on behind closed doors, but because there's at least a covert attempt, they don't care. After all, it's good for business, even if it's illegal.

Then there's the legality of prostitution, which is perfectly legal as long as you work for yourself. No pimps allow! The red light district is basically a bunch of glass store windows advertising their wares, which are barely dressed women. Apparently boys are also available, but you have to call special. No window shopping.



The Amsterdam crest

During the tour we crossed at least three dozen bridges, each with a picturesque view and bicycles locked to the sides. There are barely any places to park in the narrow streets,so bikes and buses are the main methods of transportation. If you hear a bell ringing, you'd better be getting out of the way! Our guide also said that you had to be sure to lock up your bike at night, because a lot of them seemed to find their way to the bottom of the canals with alarming frequency otherwise. Apparently it used to be horses that fell into canals the most and drown before that. And we heard a clever tale of a man who invented a rig to pull horses out of the canals, and if it was too late to save the horse, he'd make the owner a good deal for the dead horse and would have fresh steaks to sell in his butcher shop the next day.
We also learned about the history of Amsterdam's beginnings and how it was founded by a pair of stranded sailors and their dog, all of whom were drifting after a terrible storm. They promised to start a colony if they made it safely to land, and so Amsterdam began.



Anne Frank's statue

Toward the end of the tour, near the house where Anne Frank's famous diary was written, the guide painted a haunting picture of Amsterdam under Nazi rule; how things changed slowly at first, from a curfew for anyone Jewish to dismissing Jewish professors from the Universities, then how they could no longer ride buses or even bikes, because walking was supposed to be good enough for them. One night, some guards were hassling a young Jewish girl, and a bunch of Jewish boxers put a stop to it, chasing them deep into the Jewish district and beating them severely. The next day, the district was surrounded and bolted in, and 5,000 Jews were rounded up and put on trains to concentration camps. Seeing what was happening, some of the people of Amsterdam got together that night and talked. And the next morning, people ready for work stepped outside to catch a bus or train that never came. The strikers and those who didn't know what was happening eventually made their way to the center square where a massive protest was held for what was happening to the Jewish people. It was eventually shut down by the Nazis, but Amsterdam remains the only place where any type of protest was held against what was being done. It's called the February Rebellion now, and is celebrated every year.

We hid from the rain during lunch, then left when it cleared up to get some shots near the I AMstersdam sign, where I yelled at people to get out of the way so we could have a clear shot. Then everyone wanted me to yell for them. We also visited a few bars Mi wanted to see, including the oldest one in town. After that, it was to bed for an early morning driving to Germany and the romantic road.