Visiting Amsterdam: A Moron’s Many Memories

“I’ll never forget watching Amsterdam’s construction barges cleaning canals. A large backhoe scooped into the water, pulling out dozens of submerged bikes. Which leads me to wonder: Are tourists just awful people or profoundly bad at steering?” – Old Sean

Visiting Amsterdam Again

After some time spent in Germany, I took a bus into Amsterdam, revisiting one of my favorite places from my first Europe trip.

It was strange visiting Amsterdam. During my previous trip, the city had been absolutely crammed with visitors due to a series of concerts. This time, the city was twice as packed, but not due to concerts. Amsterdam has simply grown gradually busier as time goes on.

Navigating the Netherlands

The Netherlands are an absolute cakewalk to get around. It’s a small, impressively-infrastructure-competent country. Signs in English are plentiful and locals, despite their exasperation towards the hoards of tourists, are still accommodating.

Amsterdam is especially easy to navigate. For two days, it was a seamless transition between riding on a train, finding a tram to my hostel and renting out a bike.

Amsterdam has always been one of my favorite cities in Europe. I first arrived in the city unintentionally half a decade ago, tossed into an unexpected exploration experience.

First Memories for a Moron

The last time I was visiting Amsterdam, I was a randomized mess of uncoordinated plans.  I was only nineteen years old with absolutely no cash. 

I had lost a sizable bundle of money during my time in Hamburg.  Unable to afford a night in Germany and devoid of any friends in the area, I decided to head to Paris. My original plan was to meet with a friend in the French city.

Unintentionally, I hitchhiked to Amsterdam instead. My driver was initially heading toward Paris but had to go to Amsterdam instead for a family emergency.

I ended up making this impromptu trip with an Australian girl named Juliday.  Naturally, we washed up in the unexpected city with no plans and no friends.

Wandering With an Australian

Something I both respect and dread about Australian travelers is a sort of unshakable belief that everything will work out fine if they just chug along. 

Juliday was no exception. That morning, she led me on a wide, meandering tour throughout the city with only twenty Euros to our names. 

It was a lovely walk, and she chatted up people for an endless amount of advice but no solid solutions.  We had nowhere to stay and barely enough money for food.

At the time, Amsterdam was jam-packed due to a rave-festival. Lodging was in astoundingly short supply. 

Planning With Vodka

Finally, after a full day of fruitless wandering, Juliday gave me pointed nudges to come up with a plan.

I pooled our remaining cash, marched to a store and purchased a bottle of Russian Standard Vodka. I took our new bottle of liquor to a series of cabins and campsites outside of town. We poured shots to young party-goers until a few people invited us to stay on their cabin’s floor. Two shots later and we were showed with enough snacks to get us through the next few days.

Thank God for the altruistic currency of shared vodka.

This model of vodka-infused generosity lasted us a full three days in the Amerstanm.

Afterwards, Juliday had a friend take her onwards to France.

A Russian Savior

Despite being alone, I was in good hands. My father back in the United States had wired some money to a Russian friend of mine back in Germany. My Russian buddy would be arriving briefly visiting Amsterdam to hand off the cash.

Unfortunately, my Russian friend wasn’t going to Amsterdam, instead taking a train through Rotterdam. Our plan was to meet on the platform as he passed through the city.

However, our plans didn’t work out. I was unable to find my friend. In sheer desperation, I illegally hopped onto a train going to Rotterdam, praying it was the right one.

Luck was on my side. I miraculously found my Russian friend snoozing in a passenger car.

That essentially sums up my Amsterdam experience a half-decade ago.

A Modern Visit

Luckily for me, my current visit to Amsterdam is better funded and better organized. I had a nice hotel to stay at, a bike to explore the city and plenty of work to keep me occupied.

Amsterdam is a pretty place to explore. Canals lace the entire city center, making riverside walks and bridge crossings a constant experience. There are numerous large and beautiful parks interspaced throughout the city. Nearly every canal-and-street-corner has a small museum.

I ended up starting in the city’s center and gradually rotating outwards. Often, I would rest during the day by stopping at relaxing bars and other quiet space.

A Visiting Amsterdam Sights List

On this particular visit, I got the chance to visit the Salvador Dali Museum. The museum is home to unique light displays and a wide park area. The front of the Museum is notorious for it’s “City Sign” where people pose in front of large block letters spelling Amsterdam.

Further along, I spent time lounging in Vondelpark were I followed waterways and gardens until I reached a place to eat lunch.

Later in the day, I stopped by a retrofitted canal boat called De Poezenboot. This floating charity project is actually a cat rescue shelter with dozens of cats walking around inside.

Afterwards, I stopped at the Hortus Botanicus Garden for a beer and late-afternoon snack before heading to Amsterdam’s oldest bar Proeflokaal de Druif (for more beer).

Before the sun fully set, I stopped by for interviews and a small, private tour of the NEMO Science Museum located near the central canal area. The remainder of my evening was spent on break, visiting street markets. I enjoyed Turkish pizza rolls, spicy kebabs, spring rolls and blue slushies.

The Following Morning

The next morning, I woke up early to go visit some of Amsterdam’s morning markets. The first place I looked at was the city’s Flower Market. Despite the impressive number of flowers for sale here, the most impressive aspect was the number of cheese-platter stalls in the area.

Later on, I stopped by the popular park where the Rembrandt Statue stood.

As is tradition, I spent time idly hanging out with random strangers. There was a young lady named Vera from Portugal, a Londoner named Tom and another fellow named Alex from Pittsburg.

Amsterdam is such a popular tourist location, I hardly ever meet native Amsterdam people during my visits. I suspect that they avoid the plague of tourists, somewhat.

Tourism Thoughts on Amsterdam

One of the ironic things I’ve learned about Amsterdam is it’s ratio of tourism to locals. 

Apparently, tourists are such a hassle, that the tourism board of Amsterdam is far less concerned with promoting their city than managing the existing hoards. 

There are efforts being made to diffuse the tourist choke points and spread unique attractions across a much wider geographic setting.

Other Strange Thoughts

Whenever I’m traveling, seeing urinals fill me with an odd sense of relief (and not for the obvious reason).  The actual reason for this appreciation is my own illiteracy.

Often, I’ll visit countries where restrooms labels don’t have accompanying pictures. This makes entry a bit of an uncomfortable gamble.  But, if there’s a urinal attached to a wall, it means my instincts were good.

This isn’t an issue in Holland, where I see the word “Dames” a lot to imply female.  But I’ll admit, lettering often gave me pause while I was still living in China.

A Capital of Weed

Despite Amsterdam’s profound reputation as a drug nexus, the laissez-faire influence has lessened somewhat as the United States slowly relaxes it’s stance on weed.

Currently, there are a few bars which openly provide substances to visitors, but these aren’t nearly as busy as they once were.

For myself, I didn’t have time to check out Amsterdam’s most contentious lounges. Time was against me. But during my first visit, I did stop in with a man named Beau who had an odd reaction.

There’s apparently a phenomena where overindulging in cannabis causes a person to “Green Out.” This refers to a feeling of dizziness, nausea, passing out or sudden exhaustion offer an intense intake of the drug.

I’ve only ever seen it happen once before, five years prior in Amsterdam when my impromptu travel companion Beau sagged frightfully in his cannabis-lounge bench.

Regardless, I didn’t get to test the upper limits of that during this visit. Instead, I’ll be heading onwards to The Hague next, striking out towards the coast.

So until then.

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written June 11th 2018

Read more about visiting Amsterdam and seeing the world by visiting Leftfade Trails Destinations.

Affiliate Disclosure: Leftfade Trails contains affiliate links, so using services or products through these links supports the website, at no extra cost to the user. All links are to tested services and products designed to aid travelers on their journeys. Some links specifically connect to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate this website earns from qualifying purchases.