Remember I said I was going to Amsterdam? Well, I did and it was cool! Cool apart from the weather, which was a bit less than just ‘cool’. More like FREEZING! The wind chill was so bad, it was already below freezing most of the time but then add to that blizzard like wind conditions and then you’ll understand why I am complaining.

I have been to a few places around Europe, but nowhere compares to Amsterdam with the number of people riding bicycles! They were the main hazard on the roads. Forget the trams or the taxi, watch out for the bikes! There are cycle lanes EVERYWHERE but they blended in with footpaths to the point that you’d only know you are on a cycle lane sometimes by looking behind you and dodging the bike that was about to run you over!

Cafes in Amsterdam were never far away, with certain smells clouding your nose when you walk past. I had to of course venture inside, even if I was going to suffocate. Its one of the things I guess you can’t go to Amsterdam without seeing for yourself. The smell of course was marijuana (weed, green, grass, cannabis - whatever you want to call it). After sitting inside one of them you realise there was no point putting any of that Hugo Boss on earlier, since now your clothes will smell as if you’d bathed in cannabis. It seemed that everyone was smoking and chilling out with a coffee and friends, completely different to how people would do it here in England. None of the under cover business, just straight to it in the cafes. I am not a smoker so I couldn’t indulge in this legal smoke relaxation but the fumes in the place were enough to get the point.

Red light district, yes we went there of course. Women stood in windows with red lighting wearing just their underwear smiling at people as they walked past in an attempt to ’sell themselves’. I must say it was possibly the most creepy place I have ever been to. So creepy I didn’t dare to take any pictures whilst there. I had heard previously that they don’t like people taking pictures of them in the windows anyway, but when we got there, it was just not right. The type of people there were definitely mainly guys (obvious reasons ), but there were also some mysterious people in suits and sunglasses stood there like some kind of ‘mafia’. Most likely they weren’t but it was pretty intimidating. When I was thinking about taking a photo, I thought - will that guy just storm up to me with about 5 others and destroy my evidence? So I just thought I’d rather not, just in case . You can do a Google search if you like though and see for yourself . Also, if you want to actually see this for yourself then you will need to get there asap because the government of Amsterdam is looking at cleaning up the amount prostitution going on there!

Food in Amsterdam, what food? I think I missed out on the real food of the Netherlands since most of the food I had was ‘foreign’ to the country. Names such as Wok to Walk, which is a well known name in Amsterdam and Pizza Hut another ‘foreign influenced’ food chain surely can’t be the best of Amsterdam cuisine? Obviously not, so I think next time I go I will have to take a prepared list of places to go and eat. Nothing wrong with what I did eat, but it would be nice to go somewhere and experience local style food.

One thing I would recommend when going to Amsterdam is going on a canal boat ride. When we went on the boat we saw so much of the city we wouldn’t have otherwise seen. The canals cover pretty much all of the centre of the city and people even live in canal houses costing around £1000 per month!

So, in my opinion Amsterdam is a cool place to visit but just make sure you check the weather before you go and book it in summer wherever possible! See the rest of the photos below.

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