It’s October 2021 and this past 18 months we have had a little something called a global pandemic (covid/coronavirus), I’m kinda hoping that the next time I read this it will be a distant memory. So many trips (including this one to Amsterdam twice now) have been cancelled. This is the first trip, the first time flying in just over a year. With the travel traffic light system (remember that) and fit to fly PCR tests (remember those) it feels like a pretty big achievement right now to have boarded a plane. Upon arriving I’m wondering why it’s taken this long in my life to visit Amsterdam, our local airport does daily flights, and the flight time was 50 mins. Although more expensive, it’s just as quick to get from Hull to Amsterdam as it is Hull to London!
Autumn 2021 
3 DaysI arrived in Amsterdam at gone 8pm on a Friday evening, being the end of October it was already dark, so I decided to head straight out and check out the red light district as I had heard mixed things and wanted to see for myself. It was certainly an eye opener! It seemed to me to be very touristy rather than a place where locals would frequent (but that’s just my observation). So many windows with half naked girls and women stood trying to entice men in. I saw one young guy trying to go in one of the doors with his mate, but his mate wasn’t having any of it, quite funny!
There were bars and a handful of places giving live sex shows costing around 40 euros. I had heard that you were not supposed to take pictures, but many people were and to be fair it was too good an Instagram opportunity not to miss!
On my first morning it was raining (quite heavily) so a canal tour was a no brainier really, and they depart from opposite the train station, which was also near my hotel, Damrak. Damrak is also the location of that “Picture Postcard Photo” of Amsterdam (see above).
One hour, around one of the canal belts, you get to sit down and find out some information about the city. I went on the same tour again in the evening, I had a bit of time to kill so a brought a couple of beers and sat on the evening canal boat, same route and commentary but seeing the canals lit up from below was nice.
This was the first place I headed for on my first morning, unfortunately though it was throwing it down with rain and quite dark and dull. I don’t think I really got to appreciate it, but I can imagine this to be a nice place in the summer.
Cheese, was ALWAYS going to be a highlight of my trip here!
There are quite a few Henri Willig cheese shops dotted around the main belt of Amsterdam and indeed many other cheese stores. Remember that cheese is a big thing here (along with Tulips, Clogs and Sex!).
Every cheese store has free tasters and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in! Having only taken hand luggage I didn’t think I could take cheese home, until the shop assistant told me that cheese was allowed in hand luggage from Amsterdam. So I brought some (let’s hope that wasn’t a ploy to make me buy cheese)!
Flavours range from Chilli to Pumpkin, Lavendar to Apricot. Some strange choices!
I knew that Amsterdam had a lot of people riding bikes, but I didn’t realise just how many there would be. They are literally everywhere. I heard that people leave their bikes and can never find the one they left so they steel someone else’s. That doesn’t matter because that person will just steel another. I don’t know how true that is, but I can believe it.
On the canal tour I went on, we learnt that 200,000 bikes per year end up in the canals and they have to have special machines that scoop them out! That’s a lot of bikes!
If you have read my other blogs, you’ll know I am not into museums, unless they are either modern or somehow relevant to today’s life. I saw that my friend had previously visited Amsterdam, as I went back through his Instagram feed to see what he did, I saw he visited here. I’m a big fan of Banksy which they heavily feature here and so I thought I’d make this my one museum visit of Amsterdam. Plenty of Banksy artwork and some infinity rooms by a Japanese artist I had seen similar at the Tate in London.
I wouldn't class this as a museum as such... Interesting to see how people would have (and still do) live in a houseboat, the cramped underwater spaces and yet very cosy. It was around 4 euros which wasn’t bad even though I was only in there for about 10 minutes.
This was a great way to spend a morning. You get to see both the home and away dressing rooms, press room and of course the stands and the pitch. I wasn’t interested in the history but there is something about impressive stadiums that I am drawn to.
The main reason I went, was to see where Harchester United beat Ajax in the UEFA cup first round 1999 (if you know, you know)!
Along with cheese and cannabis, there are a lot of clogs here, wooden shoes either being sold in gift shops or dotted around the city in various forms. They are all painted in bright colours. What are these and why are they so important here, I asked myself. Google says “Clogs date back to the early 13th century in the Netherlands. They were designed to protect the feet of factory workers, artisans, farmers, fishermen, and other trade jobs. Clogs were originally not made entirely from wood but had only a wooden sole with leather strapped over the top”.
This was a bit of a trek as it’s on the outer belt, to walk anyway. But it was well worth it, I spent two hours there eating my way through the food hall, with a couple of mojitos on the way. It’s here that I tried Cold Herring with Pickles in a bun, which is the National Dutch dish. I can’t describe how inedible this was, and I’ve had fermented shark in Iceland! One bite and I was done, but at least I tried it!
There is more to Amsterdam than getting stoned! Two and a half days here and I managed not to (which isn’t hard as I can’t stand smoke or the smell). I considered trying a brownie or something with cannabis inside, but I read that it takes around 5 hours to take effect (as it has to go through your digestive system) and having not really done it before (not properly anyway) I didn’t want to risk a bad reaction especially as I was on my own in an unfamiliar city.
I did, however, buy a packet of cannabis gummy bears, I had a few but to be honest they did absolutely nothing for me. There are “coffee shops” on every street, but frankly the smell of weed puts me off entering them.
So on the canal tour one of the fascinating things that we learnt was that many new buildings are now built purposely that either lean forward or give the impression they are sinking on one side. The council have guidelines and restrictions as to how far out a new building can be built to lean out. For me I find this a bit obscure, why would you want to replicate errors of the past (as building construction has changed and improved since over 100 years ago.
From the back of the train station, you get a free ferry boat over the river to A’dam tower. From the top you get a good view over Amsterdam. Obviously, it doesn’t compare to One World Trade Centre in New York or The Shard in London, but on a clear day there is a good view. It was too windy to go on the swing (which literally swings over the edge of the building), but I did go on the VR ride, which emulates a rollercoaster around the city!
To sum up my slightly long weekend here, I had a great time. For me personally I was well overdue a city break abroad (after a whole year of not travelling due to covid). The weather was a bit wet and miserable (being the last weekend in October) but it was never cold, very mild for strolling around and the weather didn’t ruin my plans. For me this felt a bit like Venice (in that once you had seen one street canal with bikes either side, you’d seen them all. A day seeing these, perhaps a canal boat tour and the red light district was enough for me. Saying that, the architecture has similarities to Copenhagen or Stockholm. Further afield, I did the Moco Museum, I did the Ajax football stadium tour, A’dam lookout and made the trek to the Foodhallen (which were my 4 attractions). I saw lots of clogs, sampled and purchased some cheese, saw a windmill and lastly tried their national dish of herring and pickles. That’s Amsterdam done!
