Canal lit up at night
As I mentioned in my last post I found Amsterdam to be a bit chaotic and too busy with people, bikes and cars. Of course that is what you find with the centre. It is a constant bustle and people seemed to always be moving from one part to another. And just finding a place to sit that wasn’t already full, seemed to be a challenge. Perhaps I was not in the right mood, but I did find it all a bit frustrating. Also, because of the liberal laws in the Netherlands around pot usage, I would have to guess that a large number of the visitors there were there for the opportunity to smoke it freely as there are coffee shops everywhere which specialize in this service. So add to the over-congestion the fact that a lot of those people are stoned, which in itself is a very inward place to be, you get this bit of a low ebb chaos since people aren’t really paying attention to things outside of their inner world. As such, since pot smoking in itself is somewhat self-indulgent and turns you inward, I found that people were not as friendly.
A video I took sitting in a cafe to demonstrate the constant movement
- Bulbs bulbs and more bulbs – very dutch
However, lots of people rave about Amsterdam and love it. If I were to average it out, it is mostly younger people. Perhaps the novelty of everything being so freely available – soft drugs, sex and booze. But I guess I get a feel of – ya, been there done that – nothing new here. Anyway, I still endeavour to find charm in any place so I decided to walk away out of the city centre and head towards the Heineken Brewery for a tour because that is one thing that I always find fun. The Guiness Tour in Dublin was very memorable and given the prominence of Heineken beer worldwide, I figured this one would be too. And it did not disappoint. It is a self-guided tour which are the best because then you can take as long as you like or as short as you like. It is also filled with a lot of mixed media approaches including one “ride” where you get to be the beer. Basically you stand on a platform in a small dark room with surround sound and lighting effects and you watch a screen which goes through the process of beer making. The platform moves and you even get sprayed with water at certain spots of the experience. I have to say it was quite well done and quite fun. Here is the last little bit of it.
Me and the Heineken Experience
Yup - that's me
I also learned that it is bad to top up a beer like Heineken, because if poured correctly, with foam, the excess foam is skimmed off which creates a thin water layer over the foam helping to keep the COtwo in the golden liquid below the foam. Also you can tell how many sips a person has had because when they are done there is a line on the glass where each sip started/finished. It was all very information and was a fun way to spend about 2 or so hours.
All in all a good time. Then as I wondered about I just enjoyed finding the most creative designs on the houses, observed the masses of people and bikes and generally wondered around until it was time to go. I actually headed out early for my train to Brussels, since although I could have gone to another museum, I was finding the museums in Amsterdam expensive – generally about 15 euro a pop. At least in Germany the museums generally were about 5 euro a pop. So after spending money on two adventures for the day, and not really resonating more soundly with the city, I set off to Brussels for my house sit.
Some of the funky details on the houses
Hey - how'ya doin' that
This is just darn cute
To be clear – I did not hate the city, it is just that it did not resonate with me the same way other cities did. I didn’t find it as friendly and the general flow of people and bikes in all directions was not a relaxing experience. There are some neat things to see, although next time I think I would get out of this tourist trap and go to the smaller towns in the Netherlands where life ticks along in a more traditional manner.
The masses of people at the Palace Square
If it's too crowded to look big, focus small
Thanks for sharing your videos, which I always enjoy watching. After having watched the one showing the traffic, I just have one question: where are the cars? HAHAHA
Being a pedestrian myself, I think that I would be too scared to cross the roads. I mean, did you see some of those cyclists? They seem to be the kings of the road….
Just to let you know that my two favourite pictures are the one of the kitten/cat climbing up the house and you posing with the Heineken beer. By the way, how many bottles did you drink while you were in Amsterdam?
Ah – there were cars but not at that particular moment – in equally as narrow streets it is all that plus a steady flow of cars.
Yep, it’s me again….sorry, but you never answered my question regarding your first-hand (or is that first-drink) experience with Heineken.
I could tell you but then I would have to shoot you HA HA.