Amsterdam culture & snarls

The flight across went above Iraq and Turkey. It went quickly and on arrival into Amsterdam we were greeted with out-of-order escalators and only four customs officers to process over 500 passengers. Our patience was tested.

The pre purchased train tickets worked really well and in no time, we had moved from Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam Central station. At this point we had a choice of the underground or a taxi to get to our Airbnb, so I recommended a taxi as we were lumping around 50kg of luggage.

Being a taxi driver in Amsterdam has recently become a nightmare. Our taxi on the rank asked us if he could take another elderly lady with us and share the fare also so it was worth his while. I knew it should have been about a 10 minute trip but I was politely told no it was an hour and 45 euros. The mayor of Amsterdam is implementing significant changes to the CBD. The latest is all the downtown is car free, so we had to drive all around the lock out zone in the worst traffic imaginable. We weren’t conned, it is just a logistical disaster.

There has also been controversy over closing coffee shops in the red-light district. The mayor wants to clean up the image here.

Trains for us now!

We found our Airbnb and we are right downtown in a basement studio below street level. It was precarious getting in, but we are here now, and it will do for a few nights.

We have to stay awake now and set our body clocks. Sharon booked tickets at the Moco Museum which has a permanent Banksy exhibition and many other “out there” artists on display. It was a decent 30 minute walk there and back so now we are tired. We grabbed a nice Italian feed on the boardwalk cafe. It was lovely watching the pushbike traffic. Everyone seems to own a bike. So many here but no helmets.Read more