Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Amsterdam: Your "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" City

One city that offers two different, yet equally entertaining experience to its visitors, that's Amsterdam.



It's very funny that I had just one full day aside the Keukenhof visit, to explore Amsterdam. Having my flight to and fro Amsterdam, I thought I'd have enough chance to visit the place in between my flights to somewhere but, my body caught up with the schedule and my eyes voluntarily closed and I slept during my stay in Holland. As it would have been way too weird not to visit Amsterdam, I've decided to tour the city alone on my last full day in Europe and dang, it would have been a miss on my end if I didn't push through with it. Amsterdam's crazy beautiful. 




The canals are absolutely beautiful, they give the city the uniqueness different from the other cities I've visited in Europe. They are like streets, with boat tours and privately owned boats sharing the water to navigate the whole city( I even saw one guy that day, sailing his own boat along the canal and I thought it was so cool, it looked like he was driving a sports car. Well, probably, owning a boat in Amsterdam, and not the king of the streets, the bicycle, is much like owning a Ferrari in a city full of Toyota Corolla).


But owning a bicycle in Amsterdam is necessary too when living in this city. I am so sure this guy owns a bike he can use when navigating real streets in Amsterdam. Because, who doesn't own a bicycle here? These wheels are dominating the streets, no wonder bike theft is the number one crime in Amsterdam. 




Aside from the awesome transportation, of course, Amsterdam offers beautiful neighborhood and city squares. Dutch houses are scientifically designed to survive thru years even if their soil is soft. Yes, the houses together with the water level of the dams are designed to sustain forever. Pretty amazing isn't?




And then after my eyes have feasted on the beautiful structures and neighborhood, the sky turned dark and Amsterdam became excitingly different. Of course, there's this one thing which is legal here that I needed to at least get a taste of, but don't worry, I didn't indulge. Some devilish cupcake with an ingredient I'm certain I couldn't get from anywhere else legally. 


And as the sky grew darker and darker, the happy lights went on with streets full of men admiring the displays on the windows. Of course, taking photos was prohibited, but seeing the district completed my authentic Tourist experience of the city of Amsterdam. 


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