Amsterdam : The Social Experiment

What if we built a city and let everyone, within reason, do as they choose?  What would happen?  The answer, in a word, is Amsterdam.  Normally,  if we presented such a scenario of wide personal freedoms in a city, one would think that anarchy would reign supreme.  The display of sex and drugs would inevitably overwhelm any amount of charm or history the city could offer, right?  In the case of Amsterdam however you would be dead wrong.  This city has, in a miraculous way, organized the chaos of the many colorful influences that paint the landscape of the city that we see today.  It has quickly become one of our favorite newest, oldest cities.

We arrived into Amsterdam the evening of July 4th, to drop our bags, and take in the city.  We made our way down to a Lange Lidsedwarsstraat, an area of town that I can best explain as the Wrigleyville of Amsterdam, the streets are lined with outside bars, restaurants and cafes.  As we dined, we enjoyed  a tremendous display of people watching.  The city was buzzing.  As our friend Richard best stated (about a hundred times), "everything is happening."

This is the point in the blog where we give a massive shout out and thank you to our friends Kirk and Bre, who graciously allowed for the four of us to crash in their apartment during our time in Amsterdam.  Their place is wonderful, perfectly located and a much appreciated reprieve from our run of B&B's.

Over the next couple days we absorbed as much Amsterdam as possible.  We walked the streets (which for the record are really easy to get lost in as all of the streets curve into one giant circle), we ate, we drank and then walked the streets some more.

Take that Summer Shandy

Obviously we can't be in Amsterdam without renting bikes, which allowed for us to circle the city a number of times in an afternoon.  It's worth stating at this point that the traffic in the city follows the organized chaos I spoke of earlier.  There are seemingly 20 different lanes of traffic (cars, trams, mopeds, bikes, walking, stoned people walking), but yet we didn't see a single accident occur during our ride.  Just make sure to look both ways, about ten times over.

Jamie biking it up, in front of the Royal Palace

Is this how I do it?

Before heading out on vacation, Kirk and Bre connected us to their friend Paap for a private canal tour.   It was perfect.  We cruised thru the canals for an hour and a half (he cut us a deal for an extra free 30 min), taking in all the beauty of the city while Pap shared historical factoids of the city.  Paap, of course, lives on a houseboat in one of the canals.  He is substantially cooler than any of us.

Lunch and Prosecco on the canal? Yes please. 

My boy Paap.

Because just two pictures of the canals isn't enough.

I wouldn't also be doing this post true justice without making mention of our brief stop off at the red light district, which for the record was suggested by Jamie.  It was much more of a tourist trap than we expected but still a pretty hilarious place to experience.  I'll let the following speak for itself:

Literal marketing at its finest. 

In total we have loved Amsterdam.  Multiple times the comment has been made of how livable this city feels, it's truly a special place.

A couple last photos for your blog reading enjoyment.

There also happened to be this little soccer tournament going on, maybe you have heard of it.

She didn't forget to stop.

Fun Fact: You can buy green stuff at a Coffee Shop, not to be confused with a Coffee House or a Cafe, which serves actual coffee. Confusing.