The Amsterdam Experience

I give Amsterdam a 4/10. It was fun for a one time trip, but in my opinion, the bad outweighed the good. Lol. That's a punny! Of course the bad is going to outweigh the good; they tolerate EVERYTHING there.

"Coffeeshops" are where you smoke weed, not where you get coffee. If you want coffee, go find a Cafè. They honestly have "coffeeshops" everywhere. 

The redlight district is Amsterdam's prostitute central. They not only allow it, they regulate and support it. Ugh. I avoided that place so I don't have much to say about it in the way of actual experience. 

They don't want people putting erosive substances on the beautiful historic buildings, so guess what?! They have these super convenient urinals on the sidewalks! Who'da thunk? 

Also, I heard they have houses where a bunch of kids live and share a cheap rent together. I'm not sure how old these "kids" are, but I was told it was illegal and they tolerate  it in Amsterdam. It keeps them out of the streets. I still have to do a bit of research on that one. 

For anyone who wants to visit, this place is also a tourist trap. You have to pay for everything. I had €20 on me and wasn't able to do much. Just saying.

Another thing I wasn't too impressed by was how dirty it was. It wasn't unbearable or anything, but just coming from Germany where the streets are almost spotless it was a bit of a shock. The water itself was brown with all sorts of stuff floating on top and there was trash lining the streets. It could be so much cleaner. 

Some interesting things about it were that EVERYONE rides bikes. Bikes have the right of way on almost every street. Pedestrians get run over by them if they aren't watching. I almost got hit a few times! Not because I wasn't watching, but because they just appeared out of nowhere and they were going so fast! 

Also, in all honesty, the canals are very pretty. They are everywhere in the city. My sisters and I took advantage of that and we did a little one hour canal cruise to see the city. Beautiful. That was the highlight of the trip for me. If nothing else, I would recommend that. 

I saw the Grim Reaper in the Dam Square. Lol.

View of one of the canals from one of the bridges. Notice all the bikes.

See all those hooks lining the tops of all the houses? They used the pulley system to get their furniture inside the house. So most of the houses lean a little bit forward. 

Notice more bikes?

A view of the trash in the streets. This is actually not that bad. 

One of the "kid" houses. Kids did that. This wasn't the only one.

Floating down the canal. :D

A view of the seven bridges from the cruise boat.

View from the cruise.

See how dirty the water is?

The lovely urinals. This is not my photo, but its a perfect example of the urinals. :D