AMSTERDAM
CITY INFORMATION

Remember this is not a comercial or profesional guide it's just "Me" trying to give you an idea of what Amsterdam has to offer and of course it keeps getting bigger and will be cumming soon!

Amsterdam is a great city in that it has all the advantages of a big city, culture, history, food, entertainment, Sex, Rock and Roll!!, a reasonably good transport system and with relatively few of the "Big City" disadvantages. It is physically small, beautiful, relatively quiet, and largely thanks to the canals, it has a peaceful yet vibrant atmosphere, often till late in the night. Amsterdam is also a late city. Many shops don't open until 10 in the morning, and recently a lot of them stay open until 9pm. The bars and cafés stay open till 1 or 2 in the morning and Clubs until the early hours.

WEATHER

Typical weather ranges from a little around freezing in the depths of winter, sometimes we are even able to skate on the canals! though usually with little snow, to typically pleasant sunny days of 20 to 28 degrees celsius in the summer. Spring and Autumn are pleasant, but can be wet! (and sometimes very windy like today!).

Exploring Amsterdam on foot is a pleasent way to spend a few hours, and it will help to understand how the city is laid out. Imagine a line running from Central Station in the North, via Damrak to the Dam square, then to the Muntplein and along the Amstel river out of the city. A quick look at a map of the city will show that it is not a very strait line .... but in as much as this line runs from north to south, it divides the city into eastern and western sections.

I keep updating and adding to this next section when I have the time and when I manage to find some information that I think might be of benifit to others, so it is in no way complete ...... but it's like the "Best thing in Life" ... It keeps Growing!! and it's cumming soon!

ARTIS ZOO

Plantage Kerklaan 38 - 40  Every Day - 09 - 17 hr

I think it's a great zoo and it's the oldest on mainland Europe (1838), well layed out design for the more than 6000 animals and easy to get to (tram # 9 to the door), and a great aquarium. Also a fun planetarium. The animals seem to be housed in good sized enclosures and in general I think it is quite well looked after. Nice on a sunny day.

BIKE RENTAL

Amsterdam is a city of bikes!, everywhere you look are bikes! new ones, old ones, broken ones and dead ones. I think that more than a half million of them must be on the roads at any one time!. You also have more chance of being run over by a bike in Amsterdam than by a car! ... so keep your eyes open!

If you want to rent a bike whilst you are here in Amsterdam then you should remember to take your paspoort for identification and usually you have to leave a refundable deposit (about fl. 100), I don't know the exact prices but they are not expensive and they are a great way of getting arround the city ......... however!!! .... hardly anyone seems to buy a new bike here in the city .... so, you will be given a good lock when you rent the bike and you should always use it (the best is to lock it to something!). You will see when you are riding arround that most of the bikes seem to go through red traffic lights, however it is a lot safer as a tourist to wait until it says that you can go! and unlike the native cyclist who also goes in the opposite direction to the trafic on the very narrow canals you can better stay on the correct side!

You can also take a Bike Tour from Yellow Bike on the N. Z. Voorburgwal 66 - Amsterdam

Some of the addresses for bike rental that I know are :-

Rent a Bike - Damrak 247 - Amsterdam

Rent a Bike - Damstraat

Mac Bike - Marnixstraat 220 - Amsterdam

CANAL TRIPS

Canal trips in "Rondvaart" boats depart from The Damrak by Central Station, and Rokin by the Spui. It's worth taking one of the canal boat tours to see Amsterdam from the water. They last about 90 minutes, and take you around the city and through the harbour. If you're feeling energetic, you can hire a Canal Bike from one of the several points through the city (Westerkerk, Leidseplein, Leidsestraat, Rijksmuseum), and choose your own route, they seat 4 persons and it's always good exercise for your legs but you could end up with a "pain in the arse"!

CAR RENTAL

Unless you are wanting to "Get out of the City" you won't need a car! I see the daily problems of trying to drive through Amsterdam. The canal side roads where never designed for cars, so as soon as someone decides to make a delivery to one of the thousands of canal side residences or offices then the whole system comes to a standstill. Parking costs a fortune in the city centre (which is where everyone wants to park!) and it seems as if there is one parking place for every twenty cars that want to get in to it! The "Heavy" charges start at 9am and you have to keep feeding the meter until 11 pm in the evening! ....... and if you don't give it enough to eat then the big yellow beast appears from nowhere and clamps itself on to your wheel !

However if you are a masochist then you can better wait until you get here and then look in the local Yellow Pages of the telephone directory under AUTO VERHUUR (Car Rental), most of the large companies are represented - Avis - Budget - Hertz etc. and you will need a credit card for the deposit.

CURRENCY

The Dutch currency is the guilder, expressed variously as fl (for florin), dfl, hfl, G, NLG, or just f .

The guilder is subdivided into 100 cents.

There are coins of : 5 cents 10 cents 25 cents 1 guilder 2.5 guilders 5 guilders & 10 guilders

There are notes of : 10 guilders 25 guilders 50 guilders 100 guilders 250 guilders & 1000 guilders

A lot of people won't accept 1000 guilder notes. Since there are no 1 cent coins, total amounts are rounded to the nearest 5 cents when you pay.

DRUGS

Everyone seems to think that Drugs are legal in Amsterdam! .... they are not!, some forms are "tollerated" but most of the hard drugs are illegal and you can get into big problems with the police if you are caught with them. I don't know enough about this subject at the moment but I hope to have more info in my next update. Smoking a "Joint" (Hashish, Canabis, Marijuana) is not usually a problem but if you are caught with amounts on you that are obviously not for your own consumption then you can get into problems. Another thing that a lot of tourists seem to think is that "all" coffeeshops sell drugs, well that is not the case. In some coffeeshops (Hash Coffeeshops) you can buy and smoke, I mentioned a couple in my guide page "Coffeeshops", these are ones that I personally know and you are not going to get ripped off in, other coffeeshops actually only serve coffee!!!! (and all the other nice things to eat and drink) so keep your eyes open when you go in a "Coffeeshop" and see if you can smoke before you light up!, and remember, just like you wouldn't take your own sandwiches and start eating them in a normal coffeeshop, you are expected to buy something from the place where you have a smoke!

Also !!! ...... Don't try to take anything back with you to your own country because you could be handed over to your own authorities! and I can imagine that they are a lot less lenient than here in Holland!!

LANGUAGE

Just about everyone speaks good English in Amsterdam, and is proud of the fact. Many speak German and French too. If you are English speaking, then you can better speak English (unless you speak Dutch too): you are more likely to offend than do anyone a favour by trying out your French or German.

MUSEUMS

There are three major museums, The Rijksmuseum .......The Stedelijk (modern art) and The Van Gogh. All three are situated around The Museumplein.

Rijksmuseum

Stadhouderskade 42  Tuesday - Saturday - 10 - 17 hr - Sunday 13 - 17 hr (Closed Monday's)

Large museum containing paintings by some of the Netherlands' great 17th century painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Hals. The Nightwatch by Rembrandt is their prize piece. Contains many artefacts as well as paintings including Dutch History and Asain Art.

ROYAL PALACE

Dam Square  Enquire locally (The Queen might have quests for tea!)

Originally built as the Town Hall it was started in 1648 and (nearly) finished in 1655. You can take a conducted tour. Worth having a look.

Stedelijk

Paulus Potterstraat 13  Every Day 11 - 17 hr

Major collection of modern art from around 1880 onwards. Paintings from Van Gogh, Monet, Bonnard, Cezanne, Picasso, Mondrian, and De Kooning, it also has a very good collection of the "Cobra Artists". The International Library that is housed here has a huge collection of books on modern art and you are allowed to make fotocopies from them.

Van Gogh Museum

Paulus Potterstraat 7  Tuesday - Saturday - 10 - 17 hr - Sunday 13 - 17 hr (Closed Monday's)

Category Art/industrial art Collection Painting (after 1850)

Languages Explanatory texts English, Dutch Walkman German, English, French, Italiaans, Dutch, Spanish

Disabled International Accessibility Symbol (IAS symbol) Wheelchairs available (upon request)

Surprisingly spacious, dedicated to Van Gogh and his contemporaries with over 500 of his sketches.

Universiteitsmuseum de Agnietenkapel

Category History/society, education/technology/science

Collection Schoolteaching/education. Languages Guided tour German, English, French, Italian, Dutch Explanatory texts Dutch

Nederlands Filmmuseum

Category History/society, education/technology/science

Collection Sound and image/photography, communications

Anne Frank Huis

Prinsengracht 263

Category History/society

Languages Explanatory texts English, Dutch

The war-time hiding place of the young Jewish girl and her family, finally caught by the Nazis, made famous by Anne Frank's diaries. Not to be missed. Go early to avoid the queues.

Allard Pierson Museum

Oude Turfmarkt 127

Category Education/technology/science

Collection Archeology/fossils/prehistory

Languages Guided tour English, French, Dutch Explanatory texts English, Dutch Walkman English, Dutch

Disabled Wheelchairs available (upon request)

THE BEGIJNHOF

The Begijnhof is not actually a museum, but it is somewhere that you should definatley see, that such an oasis of peace can be so close to the bustling heart of the city is quite amazing. There is a doorway in the row of houses on the Spui that leads you there, with its lovely English church (AD 1400) with pulpit panels designed by Mondriaan, and the oldest house in the city (1475), one of Amsterdam's few surviving wooden houses. Keep it quiet and keep it clean.

PARKING

DON'T BRING THE CAR !

Athough I am not a car owner, I see the daily problems of trying to drive through Amsterdam. The canal side roads where never designed for cars, so as soon as someone decides to make a delivery to one of the thousands of canal side residences or offices then the whole system comes to a standstill. Parking costs a fortune in the city centre (which is where everyone wants to park!) and it seems as if there is one parking place for every twenty cars that want to get in to it! The "Heavy" charges start at 9am and you have to keep feeding the meter until 11 pm in the evening! ....... and if you don't give it enough to eat then the big yellow beast appears from nowhere and clamps itself on to your wheel !

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

AMSTERDAM CITY TRANSPORT

Trams, Buses, Express Tram and Metro.

The basic form of inner-city public transport is the tram (which operates on 16 routes). Usually they are not so bad, but they can be very confusing! ..... even for the locals!! .... the reason being that some of the trams you must only get in at the back (unless you have a Month or Year Card) ... then you can also get in at the front, but on some of the other trams you can get in at the front, back or middle. If you need to buy a ticket (which you should have) then you can get that from the driver ....sometimes!! .... unless the tram has a conducter (which some of the trams have) .... sometimes!! .... Then there are the blue trams and in (some of them!!) you can't get a ticket from the driver but you have to get it from the automaat in the middle of the tram .... except when the tram goes onto the metro system, then you can't buy a ticket from the machine but you have to get it before you get in the tram!!! ....... CONFUSED !!! .. I certainly am and I'm not a tourist !!! ...... However, I have solved the whole "Confusion" problem ....... I just don't pay, stand by the door, and get out if the controllers get in!! ....... SIMPLE!! ... and the authorities wonder why they run at a loss!! ..... The suburbs are served by a network of city-owned busses (on 27 routes), a partly underground railway (Metro) line serving two routes to the southern area, and a new high speed (when it's running properly) "Sneltram" (quicktram !?) which also uses the Metro track for part of it's journey. My advice is to get a good map (when you get to Amsterdam) and then walk and at the same time you can see (and be seen!!) and enjoy the city!!

RED LIGHT DISTRICT

Prostitution is a big tourist attraction here in Amsterdam and a lot of it is concentrated arround or in "The Red Light District" where virtually naked women try to sell their wares from the windows and where every other shop has something to do with Sex. I live virtually in the "Red Light District" and in all the years that I have lived here I have never had any problems, I think because it is so busy that there are very few "Back streets"

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT

Under Construction ...... I'm working my balls off trying to find all the info I need to tell you about for this section, but like me it's "getting bigger" and ........ cumming soon!

TAXIS

Under Construction ...... I'm working my balls off trying to find all the info I need to tell you about for this section, but like me it's "getting bigger" and ........ cumming soon!

WATER TAXI

Under Construction ...... I'm working my balls off trying to find all the info I need to tell you about for this section, but like me it's "getting bigger" and ........ cumming soon!