On my way to Canada I had an 8 hour stopover in Amsterdam. That's a ridiculous amount of time to sit in an airport, so I checked my carry-on luggage and hopped the train to Central Station to revisit a city I had once spent another 8 hour stopover in - 13 years ago!! (I'm getting old!)
Last time, I was travelling with my mom on my first-ever trip to Egypt. We spent the day visiting Ann Frank House and bobbing along the canals, snapping pictures left and right.(OK there was also a bit of drama which involved boarding the wrong train back to the airport, lovely scenery involving tulips and windmills, a heart-stopping realization we were on the wrong train, and a frantic last-minute dash to the gate. This whole episode is burned onto my mom's psyche and makes her reluctant to travel with me to this day.)
The day was shaping up to be sunny but a bit on the cool side, (for me.) I wandered around and while looking for the Chinese temple, (closed) I stumbled upon the "Red Light District".
This part of Amsterdam is kind of wasted on me, as I'm not a big fan of "the herb". Yet even at 8:30 the "coffee shops" were full and doing great business according the aroma that wafted through the streets. A couple huge, yet scantily clad women called to me from their window display cases, their business must have been getting off to a slow start!
What a great little city! I love the bicycles, canals and architecture. The empty streets were such a contrast to the barely-contained-chaos of Istanbul. I was lucky that although it threatened to rain - it didn't, and the threatening clouds added drama to a few of my pictures.
But that was a long time ago. I'm a bit more travel savvy these days.
Since nothing was open by the time I reached downtown, (7am!), I wandered the empty streets admiring the architecture and little canals. I found a coffee shop and spent some quality time with a perfect latte and memorably delicious peach cake. (Melly's Gourmet Coffee and Cookie Bar comes highly recommended!)
The day was shaping up to be sunny but a bit on the cool side, (for me.) I wandered around and while looking for the Chinese temple, (closed) I stumbled upon the "Red Light District".It was the day after the Gay Pride parade, which is done up Amsterdam-style! Floats were created on boats and floated around the city's canals. There were still several balloons and flags being cleaned up the next morning. As I entered the red light district, people started to fill the streets.
This part of Amsterdam is kind of wasted on me, as I'm not a big fan of "the herb". Yet even at 8:30 the "coffee shops" were full and doing great business according the aroma that wafted through the streets. A couple huge, yet scantily clad women called to me from their window display cases, their business must have been getting off to a slow start!
What a great little city! I love the bicycles, canals and architecture. The empty streets were such a contrast to the barely-contained-chaos of Istanbul. I was lucky that although it threatened to rain - it didn't, and the threatening clouds added drama to a few of my pictures.Can't wait to do it all over again on my way back home to Istanbul!
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