Well as the Italians always joke, you have to come to Amsterdam for a smoke.
Best people-watching city ever.
We came in on a Saturday evening and we ended up sitting in a sidewalk café drinking a Heineken and watching all the crazy people go by while drunken guys sang football songs in the bar next door and the police on horseback and on foot patrolled the crowds.
Later in the evening we watched as some poor guy who drank too much flopped over at a table outside one of the big bar streets. A whole bunch of police and paramedics came and they restrained him on a stretcher and took a bunch of photos. As it was right by a huge outside bar where everyone was standing around drinking and talking, there were like hundreds of people watching this whole scenario. I’m sure the guy was totally embarrassed the next day.
I am surprised how relaxed everyone seems in this city. I thought it would have a more northern European tempo, but it seems more like a cleaner and more laid-back Venice or Rome.
In the afternoons and evenings, everyone is sitting outside in cafes drinking beer and smoking and laughing.
Best people-watching city ever.
We came in on a Saturday evening and we ended up sitting in a sidewalk café drinking a Heineken and watching all the crazy people go by while drunken guys sang football songs in the bar next door and the police on horseback and on foot patrolled the crowds.
Later in the evening we watched as some poor guy who drank too much flopped over at a table outside one of the big bar streets. A whole bunch of police and paramedics came and they restrained him on a stretcher and took a bunch of photos. As it was right by a huge outside bar where everyone was standing around drinking and talking, there were like hundreds of people watching this whole scenario. I’m sure the guy was totally embarrassed the next day.
I am surprised how relaxed everyone seems in this city. I thought it would have a more northern European tempo, but it seems more like a cleaner and more laid-back Venice or Rome.
In the afternoons and evenings, everyone is sitting outside in cafes drinking beer and smoking and laughing.
The Amsterdamers also tend toward tall. Monica kept saying "that girl is tall"..."wow she's taller than I am" over and over agian for the first cople of days until it becmae a kind of running joke between us.
There are beautiful canals everywhere so there are tons of house-boats and people going for little boat parties, hooting and hollering and drinking beer…and then when they come to some of the bridges they all have to duck down into the bottom of the boat so they don’t hit their heads on the bottom of the bridge. Hah-hah.
There are beautiful canals everywhere so there are tons of house-boats and people going for little boat parties, hooting and hollering and drinking beer…and then when they come to some of the bridges they all have to duck down into the bottom of the boat so they don’t hit their heads on the bottom of the bridge. Hah-hah.
Also...the absolute nicest aspect of the downtown of the city is all the bikes. Everyone is riding them. And there are so many fewer cars than in a city of a similar size and type. I am thinking about Amsterdam versus Vancouver. Amsterdam has everything but Vancouver's mountain views, but Amsterdam is such a quiter and more relaxed place to be - primarily because of the bikes.
I started writing a song based on my impressions of A'dam, so maybe if it's not too, too embarassing I'll post some lyrics here later.
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