Tullips in the Keukenhof garden
Charming Amsterdam - eine schöne Stadt mit bunten und lebendigen Flair! :-)
My first day in Amsterdam was full of excitement, but not to exclude a tiny disappointment because I have had a pretty high expectation before the trip to one of the most favourite tourist attractive cities in Europe.
Before the trip, Amsterdam was actually not included in my travelling list for this year 2012. I was thinking about a hiking trip to Switzerland, or wandering the streets of Rome and perhaps other cities in Italy. But at the end of March, the travelling cost became the deciding factor for our travelling destination during the Easter holiday in the first week of April.
Returning to the first initiative, one of our Master colleagues brought us an attractive idea to spend the Easter days in Paris: we could have a small reunion. Paris - who could deny the city of love, romance and so much more? Nice memory of my first impression about Europe and a part of myself stays there. Just with a bit of bad luck, we missed booking the cheap tickets to Paris with the "Berlin Linien" bus, that would cost only 66 € both ways from Berlin. It is definitely the price that no other travelling means can top. Since no other options gave us a reasonable price, I initiated the idea to discover Amsterdam, mostly because the option of good priced bus ticket was available.
Amsterdam nights' attraction
The bus left Berlin at about 22.30 o'clock and arrived Amsterdam early at 7.00. Spending the night on the bus seat was not so comfortable - you could imagine for all types of budget travelling means - but I woke up with enough energy. On the way walking around from the bus station to the city centre, which was a little bit far away on foot, my first impression about the city was not so special. The weather also did a good job in preventing us to enjoy Amsterdam: it was much colder, windy and dark cloudy compared to normal weather in April as I thought.
Nevertheless, the more we walked around towards the centre, the more I discoved the charm of Amsterdam. Here are some photos of my first impression about the city near the central area:
First day in Amsterdam, I have discovered a charming, colourful, modern but also with much historical medieval flair city. And what's else: the city is really flooded with bicycles. Nice that there are often seperate wide traffic lanes for cyclists, which is kind of a luxury compared to Berlin. Some bikes look like they are in more than bad condition, and considering the damages on the bikes, which indicate they have been formed over some period of time, I was wondering if anyone here will remove them to the recycling or even garbage field or basically those old bikes are just left where they are with neither concern nor responsibility (!). ;-)
Multi-level parking garade designated specially for bikes at the main station
Free parking basement for bicycles
Well, I do not want to give an impression that I am making complaints about just some old damaged bikes. There are also plenty of modern bikes with a big bucket/ cargo in front to be designed for maximising carrying capacity including children or pets. It looks like fun. Nevertheless, the bike traffic sometimes did create some unease or unsafe feelings to me when walking around the city (which reminds me of my hometown traffic in Hanoi). Perhaps a suggestion is that one should really look around before crossing any street, the bikes sometimes appear out of sudden. Furthermore, the way of transporting sometimes can be also a little bit creatively unsafe. On the other hand, the unease feelings represent well the hustle and bustle of a very lively capital with a large number of young teenagers and tourists.
As Amsterdam centre comprises of a number of small streets, on which motor vehicles are limited, it is very common to see such cute mini motor vehicles not bigger than a bike.
A solution for energy-saving? ;-)
The beauty and medieval feeling charm of Amsterdam largely lie in the 17th-century canals together with their surroundings (in Dutch: 'Grachtengordel'). Being located in the heart of Amsterdam, the canals were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2010. If you look at the map of the Amsterdam centre, you will notice that the centre is formed as radii-oriented by a number of canals with different radius.
A little Venice flair
Floating boat houses with art decoration along the canals
Some information from wikipedia: Amsterdam's name is derived from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. Settled as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading center for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were formed.
A number of bridges can be lifted up in middle for ships and boats to pass through the canals
Occasionally a cafe/restaurant on a boat
Luckily sunny day in April
It was indeed lucky for our trip that on the second day, the weather got a bit warmer with some sun-shine. I got myself a bit busy capturing views of streets covered in the nice sun.
It was indeed lucky for our trip that on the second day, the weather got a bit warmer with some sun-shine. I got myself a bit busy capturing views of streets covered in the nice sun.
A street of Amsterdam
As Netherlands' commercial capital and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group, which means an important node in the global economic system. Amsterdam is also cultural capital of the Netherlands. It houses a number of famous museums such as the Rijksmuseum (national museum), the Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam Museum etc. Due to the limit time of my trip, I had not utilised much time visiting the museums though.
The Van Gogh Museum not far away from the Rijksmuseum
In front of Rijksmuseum - "I amsterdam"
Amsterdam museum
The modern Science Centre NEMO nicely lighted at night
Golden turtle near our renting apartment
Talking about Amsterdam, one can not forget mentioning the "hot" aspect of the city that is also one of the main attractions. I have to admit that I also got some fun looking into some erotic shops as well as walking pass by some viewing windows with sexy ladies in the red district.
Tempting chocolates, aren't they?
Made in Amsterdam ;-))
Red district at night with attractive window viewing
Amsterdam is very lively at night not only in the red district but throughout the central area with plenty of pubs, bars, restaurants and fast-food shops. It is also noticeable that fast-food restaurants are popular here, most likely for the tourists as a matter of cost. One can also find nice good food restaurants, seem like mostly for locals, in some not too crowded places with a relatively high price starting from 15 € per dish.
Amsterdam lively nights' life
Very nice Amsterdam's cheeses
Knife man with common red colour of Amsterdam, the red seen in many decoration and other products
An transportation hub - office building area and train station
Amsterdam modern aspect
Like in many big cities in the world, in Amsterdam there is also a China town district and a number of Chinese restaurants, which are not so much in my liking because it seems to destroy the charming medieval flair of Amsterdam. 
When visiting Amsterdam, it is also worth visiting the famous Keukenhof garden. It takes approximately
45 minutes by bus from the centre. The ticket can be bought in advance online at their website to ease the queuing matter (http://www.keukenhof.nl/). Although when I visited Keukenhof, nobody seemed to have to queue in front of the main entrance even tickets were bought on spot.
The garden is very beautiful with a variety of tullips and other flowers. It might be a little pity that early April is still cold, so the tullips were not in fully blossom. Walking through the garden is relaxing, there are also special decorations in several houses made from flowers and plants which are quite interesting and creative, for example lady fashion with different themes.
The garden is very beautiful with a variety of tullips and other flowers. It might be a little pity that early April is still cold, so the tullips were not in fully blossom. Walking through the garden is relaxing, there are also special decorations in several houses made from flowers and plants which are quite interesting and creative, for example lady fashion with different themes.
Nice plant decoration exhibition in the Keukenhof garden
Just some practical aspects and matters that should be taken in mind in planning a trip to Amsterdam such that accommodation should be booked far in advance, few months or at least three months in advance. As we planned the trip a bit late (less than one month in advance), we actually booked a room in a local private house through Wimdu, because almost all hotels were either full or too expensive. It costs 70 € per night, not extremely expensive like hotels here, but a bit far from the city centre, i.e. 35-40 minutes on foot. If a short trip of two to three days is planned, it is probably also beneficial to consider buying an "I amsterdam" card or "HollandPass" which can offer unlimited travel on public trams and buses as well as free or discounted entrance to some museums, because a single ticket is quite costly. Now that I know Amsterdam is not flat and there are many sites to visit, I would not recommend anyone to repeat my experience of going mostly on foot throughout the city in a short time, which resulted in my overworking legs. As a result, I actually had to rest myself in the afternoon of my third day before leaving the city, also partly because we had to carry with us all the luggages on that day.
Pillow fighting - yeah!!!
As one of my favourite things to do when visiting a new city - to have an overall look, I also climbed up to one bell tower of an old church, which is not anymore in use but only for tourists and only open in some afternoons, then enjoyed a view over the city. Amsterdam is not in a well-organised homogeneous arrangement and styles of housing - unlike cities like Paris or Prague, which gave me a thought that urban planning should have been improved; but certainly there are also difficulties with the probably weak and varying geological condition due to the canals. Despite that, Amsterdam is still charm in its own way.
View of Amsterdam from above
And on the last afternoon of my stay in Amsterdam, with some courage as my legs were aching relatively hard, I still tried to walk to a charming area to find an interesting building that I saw in a postcard.
An Amsterdam charming corner at Haarlemmerstraat
It took me a while and only on a second attempt to find out as it was kind of hidden, but eventually I have achieved my target to see this favourite building (for myself) in Amsterdam:
My favourite building in the junction Prinsengracht - Brouwersgracht
Saying goodbye to Amsterdam, we travelled back to Berlin by bus. Another night spent on the bus, but when we woke up seeing Berlin - sort of a feeling like being home again, we felt pleased and somehow appreciated the charm of Amsterdam in our interesting feel-like-in-a-race trip. Dragging our legs to the apartment, Amsterdam charm stayed with us at least as long as the physical aches throughout our bodies.
Back to some interesting events, by surprise, I have had chance to be in the main square when there was a, perhaps, strange pillow fighting festival. The festival was organised not only in Amsterdam but also in other big cities like Berlin etc. It was enjoyable to capture the emotions of people fighting really hard. Much energy had been spent, as well as joy.
Moment just before the pillow fighting festival started in the main square
So much fun, an interesting event indeed!
As one of my favourite things to do when visiting a new city - to have an overall look, I also climbed up to one bell tower of an old church, which is not anymore in use but only for tourists and only open in some afternoons, then enjoyed a view over the city. Amsterdam is not in a well-organised homogeneous arrangement and styles of housing - unlike cities like Paris or Prague, which gave me a thought that urban planning should have been improved; but certainly there are also difficulties with the probably weak and varying geological condition due to the canals. Despite that, Amsterdam is still charm in its own way.
And on the last afternoon of my stay in Amsterdam, with some courage as my legs were aching relatively hard, I still tried to walk to a charming area to find an interesting building that I saw in a postcard.
It took me a while and only on a second attempt to find out as it was kind of hidden, but eventually I have achieved my target to see this favourite building (for myself) in Amsterdam:
Saying goodbye to Amsterdam, we travelled back to Berlin by bus. Another night spent on the bus, but when we woke up seeing Berlin - sort of a feeling like being home again, we felt pleased and somehow appreciated the charm of Amsterdam in our interesting feel-like-in-a-race trip. Dragging our legs to the apartment, Amsterdam charm stayed with us at least as long as the physical aches throughout our bodies.
Amsterdam 05-07.04.2012
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