After taking ages, filling in the content and saving to draft. Here is what Amsterdam was all about in our trip.
A trip with no itinerary, no preplanned spots to visit, with no wish lists to fulfill. A trip completely open to any change in plans as and when needed.
We land in Schipol, lay off our baggage at the hotel and catch a taxi to Amsterdam central. Even though we were fore warned and cautioned about the cheating taxi drivers in Amsterdam, we paid no heed and ended up paying 50 euros for the taxi. When the bill might have ended at 30-35 odd if the meter was running, So much for the people of foreign origin as taxi drivers. We headed towards the central station, i saw a coffee shop (coffee as in cannabis) and that was my first taste of Amsterdam’s openness. After some roaming about in the city, we entered Amsterdam’s famed RLD (red light district). Bhaskar commented the streets looked unusually empty and then we realized we were in the wrong street.
Entering the right Sex street. And seeing the people there going about business, i realized the openness of the Dutch - something synonymous with “putting the money where your heart lies” :-P, in both the cases of legalizing cannabis and sex. After some time of roaming around and having got enough of the sights and sounds of the street, we ventured into the artery roads surrounding the main streets and i was treated to a mini castle like building. It looked like one of those castles you get in cartoons where bugs bunny and elmer fudd keep running around to blow each others head off. i never found out what the building was and neither did i get my camera along that day, so there were no celebrity moments for this building. (more…)
