Amsterdam Riffs

Amsterdam is not a site, it’s a vibe.  

Our first day in Amsterdam, which was six days before our second day in Amsterdam (Okay, if it’s a little hard to follow along, we landed in Amsterdam the morning of July 22, the next day we flew to Milan, and spent five nights at Lake Maggiore, before returning to Amsterdam for three nights), we had a great time with our Tours by Locals guide.  Bart walked us all around Amsterdam, and did a fabulous job.

As interesting as the tour was, and the city is pretty neat – the canals are amazing, I didn’t really get why people raved about Amsterdam until we went back and spent more time there.  Renting the Canalboat in a close-in neighborhood, but not in city center, helped.  

The city has a fantastic vibe, almost as good as Barcelona (which will never be replaced as our favorite city in the world).  Loyal readers of the blog know we spent 32 nights in Barcelona in 2019 (phew, pre-COVID!).  First time readers of the blog, to bring you up to speed, we spend 32 nights in Barcelona, and it was the best trip we’ve ever done. . .and there is a LOT of competition for that honor.

(Editor: Well, I can’t believe it took you this long to bring up Barcelona. . .usually by now in the blog you’ve mentioned the month you stayed there a gazillion times.  What happened?  Blogger: Either you’ve harassed me enough about this, or I’m maturing.  You decide).

It is not true that pedestrians being hit by a bicycle is the top cause of death in Amsterdam, it only seems that way.  We each nearly got hit once, which would not have gone well for us or the largely helmet-less bike riders, many of whom were looking at their phones, engrossed in phone calls, carrying a baby, or carrying a dog.  There were also a lot of couples on a one person bike.

Q: How is Amsterdam like the NFL?  A: You’ve got to keep your head on a swivel, because you never know when you’ll get trucked by a bike from your blindside.  We didn’t see any accidents, but we did watch many near-misses.

We also were warned about the trams, but they were pretty easy to manage (most likely because we had been warned about them!).

We walked many miles in Amsterdam in less than four days, I would estimate we covered approximately 32 miles.  Other than the airport, we only took one cab ride, and that’s when we were exhausted and I was worried about a revolt by the woman I am related to by marriage.

Amsterdam is the second quietest city I’ve ever been in, only behind Venice.  The Italian city allows no cars, while Amsterdam has few cars.  Those that exist tend to be parked, or going 70 mph along the streets. It’s a city with more bikes than people, and walking across the bike lanes (which exist on every road) is more dangerous than jaywalking the car/tram streets.

It never felt overly crowded either.  A city of just 900,000, the only high-rises are outside the city.  The best thing about Amsterdam (besides the canals) are the cafes.  Mostly on street corners, they are charming, social, have good food, and allow you to people-watch whilst downing a beer or two, or, in Carol’s case, a gin and tonic. Gin and tonic was invented by the Dutch and taken by the British.  It’s not the only thing the British took from the Dutch.

The only time the city felt crowded was when one is trying to cross the streets and a horde of bicyclists is riding fast.  

Temperatures were perfect. . .Amsterdam was not sweltering like so much of Europe under the heat wave.  Highs were low to mid 70s with low humidity, and it dropped down into the 50s at night.  After Italy’s heat tried to knock us both out (me in Milan, Carol on the Borromean Islands), we very much welcomed the Amsterdam cool, both in terms of temperature and vibe.

When you go to Amsterdam, focus on seeing less (Editor: Whoa, the Iron Tourist said that!) and living more!  Because. . .Amsterdam. . .is a vibe.