Amsterdam

First Impressions and grumps.

Our first impression of Amsterdam was not very good. An overcrowded and dirty railway station, a taxi driver driving worse than I drive and lodgings in a dive of a place that smell. ... We have had fun but it does seem like a dirty city with a lot of rubbish lying about. It also lacks public toilets! ...... but that's enough grumps!

A Gay place to be.

When we arrived at the railway station we did notice some people wearing costumes and pink hats. I thought nothing of it, this is Amsterdam after all. Our speedy taxi driver, however, informed us that we had just missed the Gay Parade! There was a gay festival in town and many shops and cafes were decorated with things pink! (Balloons and streamers) It has been an interesting experience walking around amongst same sex couples holding hands. A couple of guys walked past and one had a tee shirt on with an arrow pointing sideways and the words, "I think he's gay!" I also heard a couple of couples (men) having a domestic like a husband and wife. ...."Where are we going now?" .. "I don't know it's your day." "My day.. is it! How come it's my day?" ... and so they went on. People are people, who ever they are. Anyway, the whole thing has added to our experience of Amsterdam.

An interesting mix

Another interesting thing... we walked around an old protestant church. Within spitting distance of it's walls were windows where near naked prostitutes were showing off their bodies in the hope of selling themselves and earning some money from men leering at them as they walked by. I could not help asking myself, "If I were minister of this Church, what sort of ministry could I offer in this setting?" If Jesus were there, how would he react? What would he offer?

Bikes Rule!

We have walked for miles around Amsterdam, but as a pedestrian you soon learn that bikes rule here. There is a part of the footpath bikes use, and woe to you if you walk on it when a bike is coming... which is just about always. They mostly are old looking (though they are new) 28 inch bikes with their riders looking regal sitting bolt upright on sprung seats. Even cars give way to them. They are everywhere! There are all sorts of adaptions for carrying kids, your shopping and you can double your girlfriend with her sitting side-saddle on the carrier. Parked bikes invade the foot path and we saw a parking building today which houses 25,000 bikes! Many buildings have eyelets attached to their footpath wall so that you can lock your bike to them. All sorts of people ride them. Children ride small ones sometimes attached to their parents'. Fat old men ride them. Matronly women, men in business suits and gorgeous looking fashionably dressed younger women. Sometimes the bikes are decorated with artificial flowers or have the pet dog sitting in the basket. Bikes are simply EVERYWHERE!

English speakers.

We have been impressed when we go into a shop, cafe or interact with people in general, they will easily slide into very clear English. They will come up to you speaking their mother tongue, but as soon as they realise you speak English they have this ability to speak it fluently also. I visited a brewery today. I walked in looking for a toilet. This lovely lady came up to me as I started to go down a hallway toward where I thought there was a toilet. She asked in dutch what I wanted. I said, "I speak English". She immediately said, "How can I help you?" I said I was interested in going on a tour .... she began to spell out how I could and what it involved in perfect English...I interrupted, "I WILL do the tour, but I first want a toilet." She grinned, and explained where to find one, then as I thanked her and headed away, she flashed a smile and said, "You will come back and buy a ticket?" "Yes" I said... "Promise?" "I promise!" I replied. ... As I dashed away I could not help but be impressed with her ability to give cheek in this way in English. I am sure I would be so much slower! But we have discovered all sorts of people able to do this. We are impressed.

United nations gather...

In each place we have been we have been asked directions. We were heading home from our adventures yesterday and stopped at a corner consulting a map. Two women came up to us. "Do you speak English? Do you know where Rembrandt Square is?" They were from England. We admitted that we did not know, we had been in town for a whole 24 hours, but we did have a map. As we sat there another guy came up, and talked saying he had just found a supermarket. He was from New York. We laughed.... Two from the UK, two from NZ and one from New York all struggling to find their way. We shared a few moments chatting, consulting the map then said goodbye like old friends.

How dare she!

We have had a couple of evening meals at a cafe around the corner. They can speak in English and they even have a menu they can give you in English... they also have good food and the nicest beer I have ever tasted... brewed by "Amsterdam Brewers" I am told. There is a waitress there straight out of a James Bond movie. Nice figure, olive skin and blue eyes. The way she wears her black jeans and tee shirt (unbuttoned of course) with her electronic waitresses gismo slung on her hip like a gunfighters side arm, sets even my old pulse racing. She is friendly and has chatted to us about our adventures. Tonight, however, she broke my heart. We had been talking about where we had been and where we were intending to go yet. "How marvellous, " she said, and she gushed about "Paris" (said like the french do) "It is sooo good," she gushed, "that you, at your age are brave enough to do such things, to go so far." I had stopped listening. "AT YOUR AGE!" How dare she! ... anyway there have been some perks of looking old. We get into everything at pensioners rates!... so there!