Amsterdam

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If there were any smaller and taller houses, I'd be quite surprised. Amsterdam - a town full of trams, canals, boats, and bikes. From your first five minutes here you learn one thing very, VERY quickly ... Don't walk in the bike paths! They can be somewhat difficult to differentiate at times, but if it looks good to walk on, it's probably for bikes!

Our bed and breakfast is right on a little canal, away from the crowds of tourists in the dead center of town, but still well in the heart of the old town. Since taxes were levied based on frontage along the canal (regardless of height or depth of the house), residences were built tall and skinny. Our B&B is an example of such a house, and climbing (yes, climbing) the ridiculously steep stairs from the street to the door, then from the door to the main floor, then from the main floor to our room was quite the workout. It was as steep as climbing a nearly vertical ladder - I've never seen smaller/steeper stairs. The owner of the B&B was in Barcelona, but his friend greeted us instead, and I spoke with him in French since he did not speak English as he explained the house to us. We had our own beautiful rooftop deck as well!

STEEP stairs from the canal and road up to the front door

Yes, the stairs are so steep you can open the door with that wooden handle (top right) so you don't have to descend all the way to access the door.

More super steep stairs from the first floor up to our room

Our room

 Original stained glass from when the house was first built

 Kitchen

View from living room terrace

From living room balcony looking over canal

Ladder stairs leading up to the rooftop deck

 rooftop deck

view from the roof deck

The tram system here is excellent and it's so fun to see busy pedestrian thoroughfares full of people parting only for a second to let a tram plow through the crowds. We simply walked everywhere since the main town area is covered quite easily on foot. Past shops of Gouda cheese (yum), tourist nick-nacks, and clothes perpetually on sale, we wandered all day.

The dark brown house is so old it's leaning forward towards the street!

 Skinny amsterdam trams

gouda cheese .. yummm

Lots of tourists here remind me of Prague, but there are definitely way more here. Everyone speaks English without hesitation (the most English we've encountered along this entire trip). We made our way to the south part of town to eat at an East African (Eritrian/Ethiopian) restaurant we had read about. I was so excited since it's one of my favorite types of cuisine ... so many delicious spices with spongy sourdough-like injera to eat it all with. Even more exciting was that Bryan had never had Eritrian/Ethiopian food before.

mmmmmmmm

The following day, we saw Amsterdam the Dutch way - on a bike! Bike lanes on pretty much every street, and on the rare chance there's not, biking on small neighborhood streets is no problem since cars are pretty good about yielding. Here, everyone yields for bikes (they pretty much rule the entire traffic system).

Great bike lanes and separated paths all over the city

Between the river and Amsterdam Centraal train station ... welcome to Amsterdam ... over 650,000 bikes in the city!

After passing the port area, we stopped at a tea shop that has been in the same location since the 1600s. It was hard to find since the sign was not very obvious, but it was a shop for the products of the Dutch East India trade company way back in the day. Pretty amazing to think that something as simple as tea was what helped to make the Dutch so rich and that there has been a tea shop in continuous operation there as a testament to such a history.

For lunch we stopped at a Surinamese cafe recommended by Bryan's friend who now lives in Amsterdam. Roti is the specialty, filled with lamb or chicken.

Delicious how all the flavors melt together with the buttery roti wrap and curry stew lamb and chicken. My first time having Surinamese was well worth the two rounds around the city on bike. There is a large Surinamese population in Amsterdam, probably due to it being a former Dutch colony.

 After returning our bikes, we slowly made our way through the central area and I came across another regional specialty: Vlamms Friets (flemish fries), served with a dollop of mayo-tartar frietsauce.

Clearly we are having very healthy snacks on this trip :-p We passed the university of amsterdam, beautifully located on the canals in quiet courtyards...

... then found ourselves in the famous red light district with prostitutes in red-lit windows. Although it sounds quite seedy, the neighborhood is actually quite expensive (in terms of real-estate value) and visitors in the area included lots of families. Of course there were British businessmen and even drunk college boys who may be more than just looking, but generally it was all very professional. You walk up to the glass door/window, negotiate a price, and the girl takes the client upstairs to a bed- quick and simple! The district came about originally as an area where sailors coming home could blow off a little steam. Today, the legalization of prostitution allows for regulation and protection of the girls themselves along. They are also tested regularly to ensure than any sexually transmitted diseases are caught and treated, so the system helps to protect public health as well. Too bad they don't have the equivalent of hot guys in windows to drool at as well! :-p That would be quite the sight - Amsterdam, please work on that. I believe the French phrase for "window shopping" is more appropriate here ... lecher les vitrines (literally, "licking the windows") haha.

We spent that last evening on the roof deck sipping drinks and staring at the stars ... I saw my first ever shooting star here :-)