Day 27 - High Holland

Bikes are such an awesome photographic subject

It was at about the time that I was arriving in Amsterdam that an integral piece of information made itself clear to me: in the Netherlands, they speak Dutch. I do not speak Dutch. As a result, I felt like a right arse approaching members of the public service and expecting them to go out of their way to speak my language.

What an arrogant anglophone, I am.

Fortunately, it seems that the near totality of the population of Amsterdam has a very good understanding of English. In fact, I heard English on the streets more often than I heard Dutch. Interestingly enough, the most common accent I heard was Australian.

Despite the linguistically accommodating nature of the Dutch, I was still required to try and pronounce the name of the street on which my youth hostel was located. Luckily it was on an easy-to-remember-roll-off-the-tongue street: Leidsekruitstraat.

It's not pronounced the way you'd think.

Moreover, for future reference, do not confuse this street with the street immediately adjacent to it named Leidsestraat. They are definitely not the same street.

In any case, though, I eventually made it to the hostel in one piece and took my baggage up the three flights of stairs to room number 15, where I installed myself and got comfortable. I met some awesome folks and went for a walk around the centre of the city (which is absolutely beautiful, by the way).

There are hundreds of bikes everywhere. You can't walk a few metres without hearing the ding of a bell behind you. Amsterdam is the first place I ever encountered bike-rage. If you don't believe that a man can be intimidating just by the insistent and aggressive ring-ring of his bicycle bell, I beg you to re-evaluate.

In a chain of stores called "Australian Ice Cream and Chocolate" you can buy delicious.. ice creams and chocolate. They have nothing to do with Australia, they don't even pretend to have anything to do with Australia. It doesn't matter, though, because they are delicious.

Under the bridge in Vondelpark

Unfortunately the weather for most of the days I was in Amsterdam restricted the profitability of my busking. I set myself up under the bridge in Vondelpark. Wonderful acoustics, but unfortunately the rain meant that not too many people were interested in going for a walk in the park. It was fun nonetheless, and I did get some generous donations.

All in all, a beautiful city.

The next stop on my trip is Berlin, where I am sitting now. A blog post to come (with photos) in the next few days :)

Tim