Amsterdam, Bike Tour
Jan. 17th, 2011 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebRobin wanted to rent bikes and ride them everywhere. I didn't like how it would be so easy to get lost and so hard to talk to each other, plus being in a foreign country I didn't feel comfortable, plus I don't like riding bikes. So we decided to start with a bike tour. This was my favorite part of the whole trip.
We picked a place that was easy to get to. Just leave the hotel, turn left, go two blocks, turn left, and keep going until we get there. Turns out it was not so easy to stay on that street and we ended up way off course. We saw some nice things, though.
At one point, we knew we wouldn't make it in time for the tour, but then we decided to try anyway, and we made it after all.
History of the Netherlands
First we got a brief history lesson. The following is how I interpreted the tour guide and has not been confirmed and thus should be taken with a grain of salt.
The whole area is naturally boggy. If people stopped trying to keep the water out, all of Amsterdam would be under water.
Originally people came for the fishing and the bog peat (which makes a good fuel). It's always been a center for trade. And it's always been a shipping center. The people tend to be daring. They made bigger ships than the others, and this led to their hey day.
The Dutch are not creative with naming things. You have the Amstel River, the Amstel Dam, and the town, Amsterdam. You have the Old Church and the New Church, the East Church and the West Church. You can tell where they colonized by the names: South Africa. East Indies.
Britain and Spain cut them off, so they lost power, but they stayed out of World War I (though reputed to have started it). They helped move food around and got rich.
They tried to stay out of World War II, but Hitler bombed one city to the ground over five days. They learned the lesson and didn't resist. They were occupied many years and, being a haven to weirdos (like Jews) (remember all that bit in history class about people escaping to Holland back when America was a colony because of the open mindedness?), they suffered huge losses (1/4 to 1/3 of the population). The Canadians finally came to their rescue, but when the Nazis left, they took all the bicycles with them. You'll still hear creative cheers at sporting events against the Germans such as "Bring back my grandmother's bicycle!"
Hippies were big in the Netherlands, taking over all the parks. In the 1970s, real estate was down, so speculators bought it up, but they let it get run down. Meanwhile, there were lots of homeless hippies. So a law was made that if your property was vacant for over a year (as pointed out by a potential squatter and confirmed by neighbors), squatters could move in. After that it became difficult, though possible, to get your property back. It would take 1 1/2 to 2 years to get through all the paperwork.
Without these squatters rights, Amsterdam would not be what it is today. The squatters moved in, had the plumbing and gas turned on, and would start businesses. Being not being very entrepreneurial, they would have art galleries. Or collect things and become museums. Amsterdam still has a lot of art galleries and museums.
But letting all the hippies come in led to drug problems. The Dutch once had the highest rates for hard drug addiction. But the main drug was cannabis. Cannabis was decriminalized so you could consume it without being exposed to hard drugs. The Dutch had the first free needle exchange program, methadone clinics, and drug counseling. Fifteen years later, the Dutch were at the bottom of the list for hard drug addiction.
Cannabis is not legal, though, and is imported, so who knows what the money supports. The West (especially the US) is pressuring them not to make it legal. So in the future, tourists will not be allowed. You'll have to become a member, and to do that, you'll have to be a resident.
Canals
After the history lesson, we got lessons on how to use our bikes and then we rode all over the place. It was a three-hour tour with one pub stop.
Our first stop was on a bridge over a canal. All the canals have locks and these are managed to create flow. So although there is no tidal flow, there is very little smell, even in summer (unlike in Venice where the canals cannot be controlled).
Architecture
Salt water is part of the canals and is needed to preserve the building foundations which start, on the bottom, with wood (from the tall, straight poplar) and clay. Then layers of leather 1 meter thick and of sand 2 meters thick are added. The sand traps the water water as it rises and falls to keep the moisture balance needed to preserve the foundations. Of the 400-year-old foundations, 30% are still in good shape, 20% need fixing, and 50% have been repaired. There weren't really any problems with foundations until cars started tooling around the city--those vibrations were more than the foundations could tolerate.
When a foundation fails, the building on top of it may lean on its neighbor.
The houses are small and tall because they are taxed yearly based on their footprint. This leads people to politely save land for their neighbors. Small bricks are used because they have more flexibility; big bricks are more likely to crack.
Brackets are also used to help hold buildings together. (I first noticed these brackets, which look like giants staples, in Belgium. It's cool to finally know what they are for.) (I also learned that Belgium used to be part of the Netherlands.)
Hooks near the top of the building let you winch your things up and put them through a window so you won't have to bring them up the stairs. Having the top of the building lean out gives you more leeway on windy days.
Houseboats were introduced to house the people who helped with rebuilding after the war. They were made cool by hippies. They have no footprint tax but there is a limit of 2,600 houseboats allowed in Amsterdam. That limit has now been reached so, due to the laws of supply and demand, houseboats now cost as much as regular houses. They are just as comfortable (if not more so because there are no steps inside).
Zoo
Our hotel is on the old Jewish side with the tax-free docks. A lot of ships would arrive from distant lands with pets or mascot animals that they dropped off in Amsterdam. So the area became known for the mystical creatures that roamed it. And this led to what is now the oldest zoo.
Windmills
There were once 800 windmills at the harbor. Why windmills? They couldn't build water mills because the land was so flat that the water flow was too slow. But flat land is good for wind and thus windmills.
These were used to pump water. First, you build some high ground. Then start the perimeter walls. The top section of the windmill turns--the wheel does not make contact with the deck. Set up the sails so they cover the trellis. (These are rolled up at the edge of the trellis in the pictured windmill.)
The wind turns it which turns a vertical cog which turns a horizontal cog which powers an Archimedes screw which pumps water up when suction is created. Once the islands were formed, some windmills might continue to pump water, but the others were converted to other uses. The one pictured above is a brewery. Maintaining a historical windmill reduces your tax, so you can charge less for your beer.
Old Entry Harbor
We also saw an armory/naval headquarters, at the old entry to Amsterdam. If you attack, they will defend.
Now there's a science museum that looks like a sinking ship. Cruise ships dock here. And there's a library that's considered one of the top five libraries in the world even though it's only five years old. It has great technology, the space is fantastic, and it's basically everything a library should be.
St. Andrew's Crosses
We saw a church with a St. Andrew's cross on it, which is tilted so it forms an X (see the top window below).
We've been seeing X's everywhere, usually in groups of three. It turns out that the three X's are for protection from the three scariest things. Want to guess what the three scariest things were to the Dutch in the olden days? Remember, it's at sea level or below. Also, the houses used to be made of wood.
One of the things was fire. The entire town has burned down. Twice. You used to have to pull your house down when it caught fire by using a hook to pull on loops in our walls to hopefully save your neighbor's houses.
The second thing was flood. Other Dutch cities have been completely flooded in the past.
The third thing was disease. This was quite prevalent before they learned not to throw their waste into the canals.
Calvinist churches like the one shown above were traditionally round so the preacher wouldn't be in front of and above everyone.
Brown Bars
Brown bars are green but full of wood panels inside. To impress the locals, order a jenever (the Dutch word for juniper).
Tram Tickets
At the end of the tour, Robin got our tour guide to tell us how to deal with trams. He said you can buy tickets, for cash, at any news agent. Such as the one just up the street. Which we easily found. And we bought five-day passes which turned out to be a fabulous idea (except 7-day passes would have been better). Our maps showed the trams, and we never really got lost again the way we would have with bikes or with only walking.
Spui
After getting tram tickets, we went back to our favorite part from the tour: Spui (pronounced sort of like "Spow"). I really wanted to check out the almshouse courtyard. Anyone can just walk right through that arched wooden door.
Then you are here.
Check out the floor.
And all this is inside.
Did you know that some people have a hobby of touring almshouses?
We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around town.
We had some street food. Robin had the famous raw herring ("haring" in Dutch).
We also had pastries. (Sorry about the terrible lighting--these were actually good.)
I don't know why everyone is bent over (except the kids) in this mural.
This was very sparkly, all done up for Christmas.
I really liked the ceiling in this shop.
Then we took the tram back to the hotel and collapsed.
On Biking
If we lived in Amsterdam, we would be bicycling everywhere. They have more bikes than people. They have bikes lanes everywhere, separate from the sidewalks, the streets, and the parking. Bicyclists have their own traffic signals--so if they have a green light, cars will have a red light and won't turn right in front of you. Most of the lanes are wide enough to pass people on. The only confusing thing is that the bike lanes look sort of like sidewalks, though a different color. If you do accidentally walk in a bike lane, an approaching cyclist will ring a bell (natives only once, tourists, perhaps more). (I'll show you some pictures later.)
I had no trouble biking during this tour because things were so flat (except the bridges). For a while I was panting and having real trouble keeping up, but it turned out it was because my tire was going flat. After that was fixed, it was easy again.
In the US, avid cyclists say it's safest to ride in the street with the cars (at least at the intersections where drivers tend not to notice anything in bike lanes or on sidewalks). I think people in Amsterdam would be just as horrified by that idea as I am.
But while we were in Amsterdam, we went with trams. We were still clueless tourists, after all.
We picked a place that was easy to get to. Just leave the hotel, turn left, go two blocks, turn left, and keep going until we get there. Turns out it was not so easy to stay on that street and we ended up way off course. We saw some nice things, though.
At one point, we knew we wouldn't make it in time for the tour, but then we decided to try anyway, and we made it after all.
History of the Netherlands
First we got a brief history lesson. The following is how I interpreted the tour guide and has not been confirmed and thus should be taken with a grain of salt.
The whole area is naturally boggy. If people stopped trying to keep the water out, all of Amsterdam would be under water.
Originally people came for the fishing and the bog peat (which makes a good fuel). It's always been a center for trade. And it's always been a shipping center. The people tend to be daring. They made bigger ships than the others, and this led to their hey day.
The Dutch are not creative with naming things. You have the Amstel River, the Amstel Dam, and the town, Amsterdam. You have the Old Church and the New Church, the East Church and the West Church. You can tell where they colonized by the names: South Africa. East Indies.
Britain and Spain cut them off, so they lost power, but they stayed out of World War I (though reputed to have started it). They helped move food around and got rich.
They tried to stay out of World War II, but Hitler bombed one city to the ground over five days. They learned the lesson and didn't resist. They were occupied many years and, being a haven to weirdos (like Jews) (remember all that bit in history class about people escaping to Holland back when America was a colony because of the open mindedness?), they suffered huge losses (1/4 to 1/3 of the population). The Canadians finally came to their rescue, but when the Nazis left, they took all the bicycles with them. You'll still hear creative cheers at sporting events against the Germans such as "Bring back my grandmother's bicycle!"
Hippies were big in the Netherlands, taking over all the parks. In the 1970s, real estate was down, so speculators bought it up, but they let it get run down. Meanwhile, there were lots of homeless hippies. So a law was made that if your property was vacant for over a year (as pointed out by a potential squatter and confirmed by neighbors), squatters could move in. After that it became difficult, though possible, to get your property back. It would take 1 1/2 to 2 years to get through all the paperwork.
Without these squatters rights, Amsterdam would not be what it is today. The squatters moved in, had the plumbing and gas turned on, and would start businesses. Being not being very entrepreneurial, they would have art galleries. Or collect things and become museums. Amsterdam still has a lot of art galleries and museums.
But letting all the hippies come in led to drug problems. The Dutch once had the highest rates for hard drug addiction. But the main drug was cannabis. Cannabis was decriminalized so you could consume it without being exposed to hard drugs. The Dutch had the first free needle exchange program, methadone clinics, and drug counseling. Fifteen years later, the Dutch were at the bottom of the list for hard drug addiction.
Cannabis is not legal, though, and is imported, so who knows what the money supports. The West (especially the US) is pressuring them not to make it legal. So in the future, tourists will not be allowed. You'll have to become a member, and to do that, you'll have to be a resident.
Canals
After the history lesson, we got lessons on how to use our bikes and then we rode all over the place. It was a three-hour tour with one pub stop.
Our first stop was on a bridge over a canal. All the canals have locks and these are managed to create flow. So although there is no tidal flow, there is very little smell, even in summer (unlike in Venice where the canals cannot be controlled).
Architecture
Salt water is part of the canals and is needed to preserve the building foundations which start, on the bottom, with wood (from the tall, straight poplar) and clay. Then layers of leather 1 meter thick and of sand 2 meters thick are added. The sand traps the water water as it rises and falls to keep the moisture balance needed to preserve the foundations. Of the 400-year-old foundations, 30% are still in good shape, 20% need fixing, and 50% have been repaired. There weren't really any problems with foundations until cars started tooling around the city--those vibrations were more than the foundations could tolerate.
When a foundation fails, the building on top of it may lean on its neighbor.
The houses are small and tall because they are taxed yearly based on their footprint. This leads people to politely save land for their neighbors. Small bricks are used because they have more flexibility; big bricks are more likely to crack.
Brackets are also used to help hold buildings together. (I first noticed these brackets, which look like giants staples, in Belgium. It's cool to finally know what they are for.) (I also learned that Belgium used to be part of the Netherlands.)
Hooks near the top of the building let you winch your things up and put them through a window so you won't have to bring them up the stairs. Having the top of the building lean out gives you more leeway on windy days.
Houseboats were introduced to house the people who helped with rebuilding after the war. They were made cool by hippies. They have no footprint tax but there is a limit of 2,600 houseboats allowed in Amsterdam. That limit has now been reached so, due to the laws of supply and demand, houseboats now cost as much as regular houses. They are just as comfortable (if not more so because there are no steps inside).
Zoo
Our hotel is on the old Jewish side with the tax-free docks. A lot of ships would arrive from distant lands with pets or mascot animals that they dropped off in Amsterdam. So the area became known for the mystical creatures that roamed it. And this led to what is now the oldest zoo.
Windmills
There were once 800 windmills at the harbor. Why windmills? They couldn't build water mills because the land was so flat that the water flow was too slow. But flat land is good for wind and thus windmills.
These were used to pump water. First, you build some high ground. Then start the perimeter walls. The top section of the windmill turns--the wheel does not make contact with the deck. Set up the sails so they cover the trellis. (These are rolled up at the edge of the trellis in the pictured windmill.)
The wind turns it which turns a vertical cog which turns a horizontal cog which powers an Archimedes screw which pumps water up when suction is created. Once the islands were formed, some windmills might continue to pump water, but the others were converted to other uses. The one pictured above is a brewery. Maintaining a historical windmill reduces your tax, so you can charge less for your beer.
Old Entry Harbor
We also saw an armory/naval headquarters, at the old entry to Amsterdam. If you attack, they will defend.
Now there's a science museum that looks like a sinking ship. Cruise ships dock here. And there's a library that's considered one of the top five libraries in the world even though it's only five years old. It has great technology, the space is fantastic, and it's basically everything a library should be.
St. Andrew's Crosses
We saw a church with a St. Andrew's cross on it, which is tilted so it forms an X (see the top window below).
We've been seeing X's everywhere, usually in groups of three. It turns out that the three X's are for protection from the three scariest things. Want to guess what the three scariest things were to the Dutch in the olden days? Remember, it's at sea level or below. Also, the houses used to be made of wood.
One of the things was fire. The entire town has burned down. Twice. You used to have to pull your house down when it caught fire by using a hook to pull on loops in our walls to hopefully save your neighbor's houses.
The second thing was flood. Other Dutch cities have been completely flooded in the past.
The third thing was disease. This was quite prevalent before they learned not to throw their waste into the canals.
Calvinist churches like the one shown above were traditionally round so the preacher wouldn't be in front of and above everyone.
Brown Bars
Brown bars are green but full of wood panels inside. To impress the locals, order a jenever (the Dutch word for juniper).
Tram Tickets
At the end of the tour, Robin got our tour guide to tell us how to deal with trams. He said you can buy tickets, for cash, at any news agent. Such as the one just up the street. Which we easily found. And we bought five-day passes which turned out to be a fabulous idea (except 7-day passes would have been better). Our maps showed the trams, and we never really got lost again the way we would have with bikes or with only walking.
Spui
After getting tram tickets, we went back to our favorite part from the tour: Spui (pronounced sort of like "Spow"). I really wanted to check out the almshouse courtyard. Anyone can just walk right through that arched wooden door.
Then you are here.
Check out the floor.
And all this is inside.
Did you know that some people have a hobby of touring almshouses?
We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around town.
We had some street food. Robin had the famous raw herring ("haring" in Dutch).
We also had pastries. (Sorry about the terrible lighting--these were actually good.)
I don't know why everyone is bent over (except the kids) in this mural.
This was very sparkly, all done up for Christmas.
I really liked the ceiling in this shop.
Then we took the tram back to the hotel and collapsed.
On Biking
If we lived in Amsterdam, we would be bicycling everywhere. They have more bikes than people. They have bikes lanes everywhere, separate from the sidewalks, the streets, and the parking. Bicyclists have their own traffic signals--so if they have a green light, cars will have a red light and won't turn right in front of you. Most of the lanes are wide enough to pass people on. The only confusing thing is that the bike lanes look sort of like sidewalks, though a different color. If you do accidentally walk in a bike lane, an approaching cyclist will ring a bell (natives only once, tourists, perhaps more). (I'll show you some pictures later.)
I had no trouble biking during this tour because things were so flat (except the bridges). For a while I was panting and having real trouble keeping up, but it turned out it was because my tire was going flat. After that was fixed, it was easy again.
In the US, avid cyclists say it's safest to ride in the street with the cars (at least at the intersections where drivers tend not to notice anything in bike lanes or on sidewalks). I think people in Amsterdam would be just as horrified by that idea as I am.
But while we were in Amsterdam, we went with trams. We were still clueless tourists, after all.