Amsterdam

How to describe Amsterdam........ Its fairly hard to articulate what Amsterdam is like, after having a couple of days back at work we will attempt to describe the city that is the most alternative city you can imagine.

i) bikes.... they reckon there is about 600,000 bikes in the city, not hard to believe there are bikes everywhere and where as in London, car parks are gold, the same is true of a bridge rail / lamp post / rubbish bin, anywhere you can lock you bike to. They say bike theft is a problem in the city .. don't really understand why when they appears to be six bikes for every person.

ii) Coffee shops - A new meaning for 'coffee' indeed. If you want to see 80 year olds having a reefer or a quiet pipe with their newspaper, Amsterdam is the place to be. Needless to say across the road from every 'coffee shop' there is a munchies bar - this means on every street there is a coffee shop and kebab shop!!!!! . A coffee shop should not be confused with a cafe which serves actual coffee... so they call it - it was crap.

iii) the red light district - Not much you can say, that's not actually true we could write alot but in keeping with the R13 rating of the blog we will leave it and say it needs to be seen to be believed.

iv) Trams - the trams share the roads with bikes, people and the odd car. There are no road rules and if you think crossing Willis street at lunch is dangerous, try crossing the main road in Amsterdam.... combined with the 'coffee shops' one of our favourite things was just watching folk go about their business and trying to cross roads. Controlled mayhem that is self regulating - it just wouldn't be allowed in the land of the long white cloud. ACC and OSH would be all over it.

We also managed to knock off the Heineken experience (entry buys you a tour, 3 beers and a gift... go figure it was a bottle opener in a bottle of Heineken). Fourth form history also came alive with a visit to Anne Franks house -a surreal experience. Kudos to the foreign folk who lent us they umbrella while we waited in the pouring rain to get in...

Still don't really know what to make of Amsterdam, nothing can prepare you the laxed feel and acceptance of what the west generally term unacceptable - not a place that is forgotten easily.