We pulled into the station without incident. I stepped into the frigid air (this place was the coldest place thus far -- it had to have been in the 40s -- a stark contrast to the perfect weather in Brussels), and entered what I quickly deemed "Fog City." Walking out of the station, and heading to my place in the Museum District (about two miles from the train station), I was struck by a couple of thoughts.
First, for the amount of tourists that milled along the streets, the city was really, really clean, and absolutely beautiful. Canals lined with bicycles lied on almost every other block.
[Yes, those are large lizard sculptures in the park. There were a couple more next to the tulips. Weird.]
Secondly, I've never experienced anything quite like walking through Amsterdam and seeing so many people obviously stoned on any number of different things. The smell of weed engulfed and gripped the city. The smell was similar to a "U" shaped curve. Just as the scent faded a bit, a few minutes later, the weed odor returned twice as strong.
Particularly comical was when I entered my hostel. I made my way to the basement receptionist desk and was told through a murky smoke cloud that I needed to wait a few minutes before I could check in. Ok -- no problem, time to hang out for a bit in the attached bar. Four 20 year old stoners stared aimlessly at a television showing a National Geographic documentary, and none talked to one another, nor seemed to notice the tri-colored cat that stepped through the room in slow motion (presumably stoned, too). I turned my head slowly through the smoke and saw the "smoking room," a tiny, smoke filled room where bongs, pipes, and other assorted paraphernalia were available to use. About 10 people crammed into the room and gazed at each other while fairly mellow music slowly trickled through the room. Everything seemed to be moving at half speed. Not surprisingly, the "five minutes" I was asked to wait to check-in turned into over 20 minutes. ;p
[This is the street with my hostel ("The Flying Pig")]
[This park was directly across from the hostel -- really nice place.]
Also, once I grabbed a map from the receptionist desk, I was surprised at how small the city was. The 2 miles or so that I walked from the central train station represented nearly the outer edge of central Amsterdam. In other words, I had been a little concerned about my hostel's location when I originally booked it (I thought I'd have to walk a ton), as it turned out, the city was small enough, that it wasn't a problem to navigate the city exclusively by foot.
Finally, it was amazing to see the vast number of bicycles. I had read that the Dutch like to cycle, but this was insane. I had now officially graduated from the scooter culture in SE Asia to a bicycle culture. Even as chilly as it was during my stay, bicycles were by far the most often used form of transportation (most of the cyclers just wore a scarf and a heavy jacket). In fact, other than taxis, buses, and street-level trams, there were virtually no other motorized vehicles. Bike lanes were paved literally everywhere -- this clearly was a viable form of transportation. What got to me though, was that all of the bikes were these beastly monstrosities that looked like they would weigh a ton compared to normal road bikes in the US. The only thing that I could figure was that the bikes' design allowed for transporting small boxes (or passengers). Weird.
[Yes -- those are hundreds of bikes lining the left side of the canal.]
First, for the amount of tourists that milled along the streets, the city was really, really clean, and absolutely beautiful. Canals lined with bicycles lied on almost every other block.
Secondly, I've never experienced anything quite like walking through Amsterdam and seeing so many people obviously stoned on any number of different things. The smell of weed engulfed and gripped the city. The smell was similar to a "U" shaped curve. Just as the scent faded a bit, a few minutes later, the weed odor returned twice as strong.
Particularly comical was when I entered my hostel. I made my way to the basement receptionist desk and was told through a murky smoke cloud that I needed to wait a few minutes before I could check in. Ok -- no problem, time to hang out for a bit in the attached bar. Four 20 year old stoners stared aimlessly at a television showing a National Geographic documentary, and none talked to one another, nor seemed to notice the tri-colored cat that stepped through the room in slow motion (presumably stoned, too). I turned my head slowly through the smoke and saw the "smoking room," a tiny, smoke filled room where bongs, pipes, and other assorted paraphernalia were available to use. About 10 people crammed into the room and gazed at each other while fairly mellow music slowly trickled through the room. Everything seemed to be moving at half speed. Not surprisingly, the "five minutes" I was asked to wait to check-in turned into over 20 minutes. ;p
Also, once I grabbed a map from the receptionist desk, I was surprised at how small the city was. The 2 miles or so that I walked from the central train station represented nearly the outer edge of central Amsterdam. In other words, I had been a little concerned about my hostel's location when I originally booked it (I thought I'd have to walk a ton), as it turned out, the city was small enough, that it wasn't a problem to navigate the city exclusively by foot.
Finally, it was amazing to see the vast number of bicycles. I had read that the Dutch like to cycle, but this was insane. I had now officially graduated from the scooter culture in SE Asia to a bicycle culture. Even as chilly as it was during my stay, bicycles were by far the most often used form of transportation (most of the cyclers just wore a scarf and a heavy jacket). In fact, other than taxis, buses, and street-level trams, there were virtually no other motorized vehicles. Bike lanes were paved literally everywhere -- this clearly was a viable form of transportation. What got to me though, was that all of the bikes were these beastly monstrosities that looked like they would weigh a ton compared to normal road bikes in the US. The only thing that I could figure was that the bikes' design allowed for transporting small boxes (or passengers). Weird.
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