Photos where I'm not ready/paying attention often turn out better. I think I may have a new technique. Perfect. The fall colors on the trees beside the canals were really gorgeous! I think the grey skies made it feel more like Europe.
The church you can see in the background is the Old Church, which happens to be located right in the middle of the Red Light District. I decided to go on the free walking tour at 8pm and I'm glad I did. The history behind the RLD and the church and sailors is really interesting.
I think when people who have never been to Amsterdam think of the RLD they think of a dirty place thats probably infested with druggies, sex, and everything thats sinful and wrong with the world. I will admit, I kind of had this impression before I visited it. I quickly learned that it's acutally the safest area in the city. There were cameras absolutely everywhere (mostly to protect the ladies working there) and cops walking around, and even riding horses. I saw people of all ages, cute older couples walking together, middle aged tourists, even people with their kids. If you ever get the chance, I totally recommend going.
So, back to the beginning. The RLD and the church have always kind of existed side by side. Ships full of sailors who had been at sea for months, working in harsh conditions would dock at the port of Amsterdam. Sailors, happy to be free for a while would go out and have a good time, have a few drinks and partake in some other activities that they would regret in the morning.
Ladies in the area learned that they could make good money from this and were some of the riches people back then. Imagine you're a sailor, you wake up from a night out and think, what have I done?! Being somewhat religious people, they would go to the church and pay for an indulgence. This made the church extremely rich. They made so much money that the church made it possible to get an indulgence in advance of sinning for a little extra money.
As you might have guessed, Amsterdam is a very laid back city. One of my tour guides said, "If you can't stop it, find a way to tax it." That's exactly what they did with prostitution. Each lady is registered with the Chamber of Commerce and pays taxes on income. This laid back attitude also applies to marijuana. A few years ago Amsterdam was having some serious problems with heroin use. So, they decided to relax the rules on weed a little bit in order to put more effort into fighting heroin. This plan actually worked and it made the streets safer.
Today was the last day with my friend Arabella, she had to take off to get back home to Austria! :( It was so good to see her though, and spend time exploring the city. We went on a canal tour that lasted an hour and showed us the canals and some important landmarks around the city. There are 165 total canals in the city. On our walking tour, Tim told us that on average, 35 cars per year fall into the canals.
During the Red Light tour I went on I noticed these green structures that were made of metal and located next to the canals. They were a little smaller than phone booths and guys were sometimes lined up to go in. I asked the tour guide and he said that every year there is a number of men who may or may not be drunk and try to use the canal as a toilet. Unfortunately, they fall in and are usually found with their zippers down, that's how they can guess the cause of death.
Canals are dangerous because there aren't really ladders or stairs to get out and they get pretty dark at night.
Friday was my last day in Amsterdam before catching my early morning flight to London. I had done a little research and found a cute little village that was only about 40 minutes by bus from Amsterdam. The bus only cost 5 euro, so that was even better.
Zaahse Schans is the name of the village, it had 4 old windmills, a small cheese factory, a chocolate factory, a few little restaurants, a wooden shoe workshop and many other buildings full of souveniers. On the "touristy" scale it was probably a 10, meaning it was pretty swamped with people wearing huge Nikon cameras around their necks and there were about 7 or 8 coach buses in the parking lot. I'm still glad I went though, it was a good way to see a lot of traditional Dutch things at once. The countryside was beautiful too. Of course it was raining, is that even a question?
I thought about buying a pair. I'm not so sure I have many things in my closet that would match though.
After a fun day, I headed back to the hostel to pack up and take a shower. My flight left at 8 in the morning, so I was up early. I got lucky and a girl was leaving at the same time as me, so we walked to the train station together and even went to the same airport terminal. She is from Knoxville, Tennessee but is living and teaching English in France. So cool to meet people when traveling.
I also spotted a postcard from Northwestern College, in Orange City, Iowa on the wall at the hostel. Whoa.
Amsterdam is probaby close to one of my favorite places I've ever traveled to. I would like to visit a few other cities around it like Rotterdam, The Hague, or Zwolle in the future. Everyone there spoke English perfectly and they were so incredibly friendly. For the first time in a little while, I didn't totally feel like I was in a different country. I talked to so many people on the streets or in restaurants and they seemed like friends right away. Architecture is so intriguing and every street in Amsterdam looks totally different than the previous one. I will definitely make the effort to get back to the Netherlands in the future. Loved it!
