About in Amsterdam

I had the good luck this week of attending two days of meetings in Amsterdam, a new destination for me.  I arrived very early on Sunday morning and without a room available at the hotel I dumped my bags and set off for a day of sightseeing.  I covered a lot of ground around central Amsterdam which has canals, curving streets and buildings that are over 400 years old.  It was very beautiful, even though the sun didn't burn off the fog until 4pm.  At that time I was doing a canal tour by boat and afterwards I pounded the pavements again to take more photos in the sunlight.  Also during the day I visited the Van Gogh Museum (great art), ate pancakes and poffertjies, visited the flower market (wrong time of year for tulips) and dodged the crowds on their bicycles.

A couple of "features" of Amsterdam were eye-opening (and eye-closing).  First were the "Coffeeshops" which are different to the Cafes and have a minimum age limit of 18 (because they sell cannabis, as well as coffee).  Walking past them one was treated to a sickly sweet smell and the sight of various stoned-looking individuals.  No mum, I didn't stop inside.  Next was the Red Light District which brought a different slant to the idea of window shopping. Both from the sex shops with all their wares on display in the window (no discrete stairways down to basements or blocked out windows here) and then there were the...um...young ladies...standing behind the glass windows in their bikinis...   And before you ask, mum, it is literally one of the tourist sites to see in Amsterdam, marked on the tourist maps, and I walked around on Sunday afternoon passing tour groups on bicycles or on foot also doing the sights!