After a stop in Brussels for lunch, we were off to Amsterdam.
Derek and I feel in love with Amsterdam immediately. There is a sense of ease to the place. In 1275, Amsterdam was declared a city. The motto of the city was tolerance in anything people wanted to do.
In the 14th century, Spain declared Amsterdam free from paying taxes and the city exploded as one of the primary trading ports.
It fascinated me that this city / country has no natural resources. It exports nothing. Never has. Amsterdam has made all of its wealth by having traders come and sell their goods. This did attracted people that knew how to transform goods so eventually they had something to trade besides trade itself. For example, they had a sugar mill. They would bring in sugar, mill it and bag it, then ship it out.
It is no wonder the first stock exchange was created here. The people were experts at trade. It is believed that Amsterdam is the city that has had the largest impact on capitalism in the world.
In the 17th century, Immigrants from all over Europe came to Amsterdam to escape religious persecution. It exploded in size. It’s policy on tolerance continued on. Today, Amsterdam residents represent 185 different nationalities.
It is amazing to think about how many people live in Amsterdam yet they have lost over half their people in three different natural disasters: the great floods, the great fire, and the Black Plague. The Amsterdam city flag has three large black “X”s. The locals say it is a coat of arms since they got stronger after each disaster.
I love the fact that early Amsterdam had no real military. Their defense was alway to flood the lands and get behind the walls. This worked until World War II when Germany threaten to bomb them. Needless to say, the gave up without a real fight. They resisted for something like 3 days.
Amsterdam would not be complete without talking about the Red Light district. Derek and I accidentally walked right through it when we got off the bus on day 1. We thought it would be a much bigger deal. The people were just hanging out having a good time. Very relaxed atmosphere. One group was actually barbecuing on the sidewalk.
When we took our guided Red Light District tour, we found out that prostitution has only been legal since 2000. Even though it has always been a part of Amsterdam, it was covered under their tolerance policy until the year 2000. The prostitutes are all registered small business owners. They work for themselves. Each of their rooms have panic buttons installed in case they get scared. Police arrive in under 2 minutes. Talk about look the other way.
The marijuana industry is much different. The sale of marijuana in “coffee shops” has been legal and taxed for many years but you can only grow 4 plants. As our guide stated “the math just doesn’t work out”. There is a big push to legalize the growing process so they can tax it. I was actually asked some questions because I was from Washington State. Yes – we are on the international radar.
In our 3 days in Amsterdam, Derek and I walked everywhere. Over 14 miles a day. We did do a 4 hour bike tour of the city which I highly recommend if you are ever in Amsterdam.
Foundations for homes are still settling. Top floors are never flat…
Coolest water bottle filler ever…
Since Brooke had visited Amsterdam last fall, she gave us a list of must do’s which we were able to tuck in.
We toured Anne Frank’s House (Thanks to Brooke for telling us to buy tickets online. Saved us several hours of standing in line).
Anne Frank’s Diary is the second most selling book after the Bible. I loved seeing it in the gift shop in so many different languages. The tour of the Frank’s secret annex is incredible. Derek and I both had wet eyes after the hour and half audio tour. Made for quit the reflective day: how lucky we are and the impact one girl has had on the world.
We enjoyed the swing over Amsterdam from the A’Dam Lookout. Derek recommended we enjoy a beer from the observation deck prior to hanging out over the city. Definitely made for a more relaxing swing.
And “stuffing our faces with pofferjies”. These are little pancakes covered with butter and powdered sugar. I haven’t eaten a pancake in 10 years but we ordered 4 servings of these little gems. In the end, Derek wouldn’t share his last order with me.
To cap off our trip, I talked Derek into one of my favorite activities: climbing the church tower. I love doing this in old churches. The stairways are steep and narrow. You bend, stoop, and move through the passage ways trying to avoid hitting your head on the bells. And in the end, you enjoy a beautiful view of the city.
