After a quick 3 hour train ride from Osnabrück, we made it Amsterdam, the third stop on our 6 country tour. Amsterdam is initially a lot to take in as there are thousands of bikers, mopeds, cars, trams and pedestrians, whizzing in all directions on the skinny streets. While our hometown of Portland is a biker’s haven, it doesn’t even compare to the saturation of cyclists seen in Amsterdam. There are no highways anywhere near the center of Amsterdam, so it is dominated by cyclists and mopeds. The city is composed of streets and canals radiating in circles outwards. There are seemingly just as many canals as streets, so there is an entire other network of circulation via boat, and people living in house boats.
It’s difficult to summarize our four days in Amsterdam without a play-by-play, as it’s a city that’s hard to be bored in, even for a minute. Our stay was at a loft (our first AirBnb) right behind the Heineken Brewery, that was close to a plethora of markets, restaurants and shops. We had no real agenda, except to see as much as we could. Lucky for us, the common theme seemed to be, pick a direction to wander and you’ll be greeted with amazement. We started our days with croissants and coffee from local cafes, and enjoyed them by a canal. We made it to several noteworthy attractions such as the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the EYE Film Institute, and the Anne Frank house. The line to go inside the house was a 3+ hour wait, so this prompted us to skip it an grab a canal tour departing from outside the house. We highly recommend taking a canal tour as it was a great way to quickly see more of the city.
Amsterdam can be overstimulating and it’s incredible how much you can do in one day, so it’s nice to take rests. Luckily, there are countless cafes overhanging the canals, so you can kick back with a beer, and observe the parade of European life. Another source of relaxation is Vondelpark. It is a long, winding, friendly park, right in the city. We quickly realized that this is where all the locals go to escape busy city life as well. There is a great mix of couples having picnics by ponds, friends having BBQs, joggers and more. We spent two evenings here, laying in the grass, enjoying a bottle of wine. One other gem we experienced was the Hortus Botanicus, a huge botanical garden in the middle of the city. It’s a wonderland of every plant you could imagine, including giant beautiful greenhouses with public catwalks to explore. Definitely a great place to spend a couple hours.
Amsterdam has an innate ability to whisk away any heart fond of architecture. The city we know today is the result from a 16th century economic boom. Increases in beer imports and herring, made trade a tangible wealth for the Amsterdammers. Original wooden buildings dating to the early 1,300’s were torn down to make way for ornamented Dutch Renaissance brick replacements. In response to heavy taxation on storefront, the buildings became narrower and taller. Space saving inevitably made money saving, therefore all passageways were built unbearably small so that furniture, even luggage, has to be hoisted up the façade and in through double hung windows. An extruded ridge beam, or de facto crane, has become an icon of classic Amsterdam architecture. Most facades lean over the street, a seemingly haphazard teeter, preventing the hoisted items from ruining their lavish fronts. To our humor and amazement, row houses not only lean out over the street, but can be seen leaning in almost every direction, from settlement over time.
Amsterdam seems to have a balance of cool locals and many tourists. This city, as most know, has a reputation for it’s legal “coffee shops” and the red light district, so you see people from all walks of life. We made our way through the seedy areas that get publicity, but honestly, we couldn’t wait to get back to the countless other neighborhoods we found to be 100x more charming. There is an overwhelmingly large presence of youthful, beautiful people, who all seem fit, happy, and in love. It was an uninterrupted source of inspiration that kept smiles on our faces, and made us fall in love with the city. Amsterdam’s character, the intimate scale, and quirky makeshift amends, seem to define the charm. Our stay proved much too short to see everything, however the four days spent wandering was just enough to put us under its spell. We will surely return in the future.