Amsterdam & it's Suprises

Amsterdam wasn’t as quant as I imagined it to be. Being July it was packed with tourists all over the city. This meant if you were planning on going to any of the museums there might be a long wait also. I arrived in Amsterdam with no plans (and I hadn't actually made plans to come to Amsterdam, it just happened!) and when I looked at brochures of things to do, there were so many options, but options that weren’t free. There are many things that I would of liked to do but narrowed the choices down to 2 muesuems: The Rijksmuseum & the Van Gough Museum.

Outside the Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum

Outside gardens of the Rijksmuseum. There were also many statues by Henry Moore in a free exhibition in the garden.

Both Museums were around 20 euros to get in. There are other places you can visit also such as the Stedelijk Museum, Rembrandhuis & Anne Frank Huis but it can all add up to a couple hundred euros if you did them all at once. After seeing 2 museums I'd had enough anyway. I read most of the plaques by the exhibits in the Rijksmuseum and it can easily take 3-4 hours to get through the entire Museum and you still feel as though you have rushed through. The good thing about this museum is that you get a lot of Dutch history and features many Dutch well known artists such as Rembrant and a couple of paintings by Van Gough.

I was a little let down by the Van Gough Museum. I expected a lot more of his most famous paintings. I think I would've seen more at the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne when they had a Van Gough exhibition there. If you take time to read about how he developed artistically it is interesting though. There are things I never knew about Van Gough such as his self made perspective grids he used to enlarge his sketches onto canvas. There was a lot more of his earlier work also before he was influenced by the Impressionists creating some of his most famous paintings.

Being alone with you travel can sometimes make you lazy. Sometimes when I am somewhere new alone I forget that there may also be people I’ve previously met there. I thought long and hard and remembered that Rob lived in Amsterdam – if he was traveling that was another question. Lucky Rob was in Amsterdam and keen to catch up at a coffee house.

I met Rob about 3 years ago with my ex boyfriend on a 3 day rafting trip on the Holy Ganga with my Indian Family Red Chilli Adventure. Rob was a client who had turned up to Rishikesh on his own and was looking for some adventure. Rob, Bjorn and I instantly got on like we had all know each other for some time.

The way you interact with people you barely know can be interesting. With Casper there was that traditional element of awkwardness when you are not quite sure what to talk about or what to do, but gets easier after time when you feel more comfortable around each other. Rob still is like that long lost friend that you don’t need a background story for, you are instantly chatting to about random events that may have no meaning but seem amuzing to yourselves. Sometimes it can feel like you are in an episode of Seinfield.

I have come to the conculsion that Rob is possibly a King or worshiped somehow in many villages around the world. I suggested he should right a book about his travels around the world and the hyposthesis I had come up with. Rob reckons he should go back to those places in search of statues of him, but I think that could be the sequel.

Rob also understands my theory about the Amsterdam Prositutes and we came up with a lot of silly ideas that kept us entertained. I want to know what it is like when a client sees one of these prostitues if they are really like ‘how are you, take off your clothes and what would you like today’, if they have proper shift scehdules, employee of the month etc.

After mentioning the prostitutes I do have to talk about my expectations of the Red Light District. I think that almost every major city would have their own version of Amsterdam's Red Light District but it's somewhere you would never go to visit willingly (well might appeal to some people) or make a night out of going there. In Melbourne, St Kilda is well known for the prostitutes and pimps standing along Grey Street, Inkerman Road etc. When we were younger whilst driving through there instead of playing 'yellow car' or 'punch buggy' it would more be like 'spot the prostitute'. Because it's 'Amsterdam' people from around the world go to the Red Light District everyday in large numbers. I've had many friends visit Amsterdam before coming back with stories and how they went to a live sex show featuring acts that were so bizarre it makes the next person curious enough to go to one of them. Many male friends who have been to Amsterdam also comment on how beautiful or hot the prostitutes are standing in the windows beaconing customers to come over for their services.

I guess all of these tales painted a picture in my mind that there would be tall glamourous women in designer lingerie standing in the windows looking fairly classy or the 'hot' prostitutes would be somehow kitted up in something like a pvc cop outfit. It is not like that at all.

The tourist map I had of Amsterdam was pretty poor that it was hard to navigate around the city. I was thinking I was in Niewmarkt and walked down a lane way and heard a banging noise, looked over and suddenly realised I was in the Red Light District when I saw a girl in a black bra and undies grinding up against the window in broad daylight. It wasn't very impressive, lots of girls looked like they had been dressed by Supre and seemed fairly bored, texting on their iphones. I felt sorry for the girls because some tourists will point and laugh or try to take photos even though it's prohibited.

I begged Rob to walk me through the district at night which he was reluctant to and it's totally different. The better looking ladies come out at night and clearly have had a lot of cosmetic surgery such as breast implants, botox and collagen. Each window is lit up by red lights, some have disco lights inside with music blaring out, girls dancing, blacklights with girls wearing coloured lingerie to glow etc.

Even though I joke about the Red Light District there is the serious side I wonder about. They say Amsterdam has been cleaned up a lot and that all girls are working legally etc. I have seen TV shows about girls from Eastern Europe being abducted, having their passports stolen and being forced into prostitution. It makes me wonder if this still happens or even if the girls are working legally, is it something they enjoy or was it their only option.

Here is an interesting video from YouTube that is part of an Anti-Trafficking campaign. You need to watch it until the end:



Funny how all the men react to the girls dancing and then you see how their faces change after the anti-trafficking statement when they have a chance to think about it.

I overheard from a tour group that this was one of the oldest houses in Amsterdam. It's now a small shop below but I thought the shutters on the windows were inspiring for the next ginger bread house I make for Christmas.

I also got to visit my friend and coworker from Coast Mountain Photography – Harry in The Hague very briefly. The Hague is where Harry grew up and lives now. Harry and I were paired up on the mountain a lot that winter and endured many cold days together at Harmony. When you work with someone all day over most of winter you get to know each other fairly well. 

Harry is now a barrister and loves his coffee therefore he simply had to take me to his favourite coffee (well cafe) place in The Hague. Don't get cafe's and coffee houses mixed up in Amsterdam (you might end up feeling embarrassed) as a coffee house will not serve you your chai latte with soy milk or whatever it is you want. Cafes will do that for you but coffee houses serve joints, space cake, weed and hash! 

Harry and I meeting for the first time since winter in Whistler 2011/2012. We thought our friend Colin in Whistler would be wishing is was with us!

The Hague

The Hague

The Hague

The Hague

The Hague

It can be nice to just be a tourist for a change but after a short while I felt tired of it and needed to relax which I managed to do with a girl Racheal I met in the hostel I was staying at. We both agreed that our ‘all girls’ hostel was very girly and not to our taste but it did grow on you after a while.

Vondelpark

Vondelpark

Racheal fascinated with all the ducks coming towards her in Vondelpark

I liked Amsterdam and will need to visit this ghetto, indie, artsy city again sometime. Next time I would like to see some more exhibitions and also come with friends so I can have a night out. If I compare Amsterdam to Copenhagen I do love Copenhagen more because of the culture and the parks are so much cleaner than in Amsterdam (lots of cigarette butts in the grass!). I would also not have the nerve or feel safe riding a bike around Amsterdam due to the mopeds, cars and people everywhere. Even though there are bike lanes there is still a lot of traffic cutting into the bike lanes and people walking across or along them. In Denmark people seem to respect the bike lanes and if they are not on a bike they stay off them.

After Amsterdam it was the end of my summer holidays and I drove straight to the ferry to get back to the UK for some more work. I do wish I could still be out kayaking and taking photos but as you grow up you feel as though you have a lot more responsibilities. In some time there will be more traveling and out there adventures but until then I will find new adventures to be had in the UK.