Amsterdam PART 1: Things I Did, Stuff I Saw & Other Things You Might Not Care About

I recently had the pleasure of visiting that beautiful exemplar of quintessential minimalist Western European living and it was with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart that I boarded the plane back to America. This was my fourth visit to Amsterdam (get that smirk off your face) and I can easily sum up what it is about the city that is so special - the architecture, the slowed down pace and the Dutch way of life. Part 2 of this series will be all about the things I ate, but here, I will focus more on what I saw.

Typical Side Street

Red Door

The Architecture

If you've been to Amsterdam you know that the city is formed by several rings of canals and all the streets sort of radiate out from Central Station. The canals obviously make the city very beautiful and very unique. Narrow brick and cobbled streets line the areas between these waterways and provide passage for the millions of bikes and handful of tiny cars that navigate the city streets.

View of Nieuwmarkt

Happy Boat

Chinatown

Much of the architecture in the old city center (centre for you Europeans) is from the 17th century and that's what people typically think of when they see photos of old Amsterdam. These houses are very narrow - usually around 30 feet wide - and have huge windows lining the front, gabled facades at the roof and large hooks up at the top which are still used to transport large furnishings into the upper floors. This is because the stairs are so narrow you'd never get a king sized bed or baby grand piano up to the second floor... though one has to wonder if you'd own stuff like that if you lived here. I can't imagine how you'd ship it.

The streets are so narrow in parts that if a car (or moving truck) has to stop for any amount of time, it literally can block traffic for hours and for blocks because there is nowhere for people to go. I saw this happen near our hotel and I wonder if they actually close streets when a big moving truck is going to take up prime real estate for any amount of time.

Typical Canal Houses

Cool Stairwell

Different Perspective

Lamp Post

Herring Stand - Nieuwmarkt

There's a lot of great new architecture in The Netherlands as well, but this is mainly what you see throughout the city center and red light district and it's what makes the city so beautiful - like it just popped out of an old storybook.

Dam Square at Twilight

Dam Square at Night

The lack of space necessitates a sort of minimalism seen throughout these types of old European cities. I'm not talking about aesthetic minimalism in fashion or housewares although you see it there as well - but generally speaking - it seems the Dutch (and probably most Europeans) just don't purchase or consume the same amount of crap that we do. You see people leaving the grocery store and they're not shopping for two weeks. They buy enough for two days maybe - whatever they can walk with or transport on their bikes. A few loaves of bread, some cheese, fish, coffee, milk.

Laurel Wreath

You just don't see the super stores like we have here - Costco, Best Buy. People don't have two or three flat screen TVs, they don't buy mountains of plastic crap for their kids to play with. They probably produce a whole lot less garbage and they live a more simple, whole and uncluttered type of life. For this, I am supremely envious. It's something I aspire to.

The Dutch "Way of Life"

It's hard to explain but in general, people here just seem to prioritize things a little differently. It's not that people don't work hard, take their jobs seriously and focus on accumulating wealth. However, there seems to be a greater balance that forces people out into the streets, into the many grand cafes for coffee and out for dinner with friends more regularly than in the U.S. Part of that might just be the accessibility of everything. Hop on your bike and you can be anywhere in this blissfully flat little metropolis in a matter of minutes. Additionally, even with the Euro and exchange rates what they are, dinning out is less expensive - at least when compared to Boston.

Nieuwmarkt Square

But on any night of the week you can find the good people of Amsterdam imbibing at their local watering hole, getting dinner with friends or taking in local music. These aren't tourists - the city turns into a different place on weekends when throngs of Europeans from neighboring countries descend on the city for stag parties and general debauchery. But on any Monday night, the pubs are full, the restaurants overflowing and the cafes are alive with happy chatter - and this is winter. The pace in Amsterdam is just a little slower. People seem to take a little more time to sit and read the paper, enjoy a Dommelsch and some bitterballen and spend time with friends.

Peeking Through to the Damstraat

This visit to Amsterdam was different than past excursions when I have been with friends or at least had Dana with me during the day. I was on my own during the week as Dana was putting in very long days in Hilversum. He would typically leave before 8AM and I usually didn't see him again until after 7PM. This left me with several hours to occupy myself.

Dark, Blurry Photo Inside Alto Jazz Cafe

I hired a bike for part of the trip and spent afternoons cruising around and working up an appetite. Luckily, I love to read and can't get bored exploring the spiderweb of streets crammed with boutiques and independent shops. I spent hours in places like Cafe Luxembourg reading and drinking coffee or beer (depending on the time of day) and jotting down lists of things I think would improve our quality of life in America.

View From the Luxembourg Terrace; Daytime

View At Night

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List of Things We Need More of In the U.S.

• Good coffee and places to enjoy it - I'm not talking about Starbucks but smaller, independently owned cafes where they make a proper cup of coffee with steamed milk and you can sit for a few hours and read the paper; I guess the problem with this is that the vast majority of Americans simply don't make time for such an activity.

• Fresh baguettes - there's something so wonderful about just having a chunk of freshly baked bread for breakfast with a slice of cheese and a boiled egg. I live in East Boston so there are few places you can get a nice loaf of bread baked fresh - mainly at Italian bakeries but again, our fast paced, over processed culture demands bagels with a shelf life of 10 years and foods with so many ingredients they look like nuclear weapons development instructions.

• Independently owned stores - shopping is so much more enjoyable when it's an experience. With the independently owned boutique, owners take pride in how they merchandise and display their goods. We're seeing our independently owned stores make way for Target, Walmart and mega malls so we can buy more stuff packaged in plastic that will later gorge our landfills.

• Food carts & windows - I'm not necessarily talking about the NYC hot dog cart but something a bit more evolved. In Paris it's crepes sold out of a store front window, Amsterdam has places you can get vlaamse frites right on the side of the road and millions of little bakeries with open store fronts so you can be tempted by the waffles, doughnuts and savory snacks.
  

• Small, independent bookstores - I love shopping for books but I go out of my way so I don't have to shop at Borders or Barnes & Noble. These places serve a purpose and many people have no problem buying books there, but I love the small, independent bookseller who makes recommendations and creates a warm, hospitable environment for book shopping.

Outskirts - The Eastern Harbor

During the weekend I was there, we biked outside the city to the Eastern Harbor area to check out some interesting modern architecture and see an old windmill. I'll post photos of what we did the rest of the weekend in Part 2 but we went to a cool dinner/nightclub on Saturday evening with one of Dana's coworkers, did some shopping and generally just toured around.

If you go to Amsterdam, don't be intimidated by all the bikes. It's the best way to get around so rent one and keep it for a few days. I will say that cycling after a few beers is... interesting and probably very dangerous. As is letting your husband drive you around on the back of Dutch back pedal bike two times too small for him.

Sloten Windmill

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Bridge Near the Windmill

Bike Shadows


Python Bridge; Eastern Docklands Area

I Think This Is Called The Whale Residence


Cool Perspective on a Field of Crocus

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Clearly I Liked Them

Little Boat; Lots of Stuff

Public Art

Dana - Dutch Style


Swans in the Canal

Anyway... we are what we are which is less than a 500 year old culture - much younger than our European cousins and we have designed a life here that depends heavily on highly processed foods, absurd amounts of material possessions and lots of disposable goods made of hard plastic and durable cardboard derivatives.

Awesome Storefront Display

Bar Scenes

I Think This Must Be the Oldest Bar Ever

I'm not saying I'm any less guilty. There's a 50 inch plasma hanging in my living room. And it's not that I don't think Europeans don't buy this stuff too... I just think that in certain places in Europe there is a more deliberate attempt to live life simply, to buy quality goods that will withstand the test of time and to recycle rather than throw out.

Part Two with lots of photos of food and drink... coming soon.