Cheese, clogs and cruises (9th September)

Our first full day in Amsterdam starts with another bike tour, arranged through Busabout. We met at the bike shed and see a lot of familiar faces as we roll out into the streets. It's good to be in a city where bikes are known, common and allowed for. Doesn't mean that it's any less scary zipping in and out of bike lanes, across tram lines and (finally) into the countryside. It's amazing how quickly you go from a built up city to the dykes and windmills of the surrounding area. We stop at one of the more picture perfect windmills for the obligatory photo stop and notice the difference between this and the Belgium style. The guide is pretty good at stopping at other points of interest as we make our way to the cheese and clog farm where we meet the other group. We get a run through of how to make cheese and clogs (separately... they are quite different processes) and Mike is once again struck by how awkward they are as a form of footwear. Clogs were invented by farmers and sure, they stop a cow from squishing your toes and granted, they are easy to clean... but the Dutch must have felt pretty silly when they first saw steel capped gumboots! Anyway - the cheese samples are really good so we buy a 1kg wheel of it to work our way through before we get to the NZ border. The interesting thing about Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general is that it truly is flat. A hill is bridge over a canal or up onto a dyke. The rivers are higher than the paddocks as they used the windmills to pump all the water out to the North Sea and to create more land area. They've even pumped lakes dry. We get back from the bike tour in one piece and having seen a lot more of the countryside than we could have by car or foot and 'relax' in the park near the hotel. We wonder if we're seeing things when we both spot 3 large colourful elephants on the street corner, however it turns out that there is an elephant parade in Amsterdam! These works of art are placed all throughout the city -and proceeds from their auction will go to the conservation of elephants around the world. Because most of Amsterdam (and indeed most of the Netherlands) is either reclaimed or under sea level, we figure is a good idea to go for a canal cruise around the very extensive network of man made waterways. It's the last boat out before dark and we once again get a different perspective than you would from the land, although it's fair to say that the canals are not as beautiful as those in Bruges. Right across the road from the cruise company is the Amsterdam Sex Museum. It's kind of an interesting place for 3 euro, even though it does have a significant proportion of very strange stuff. We learn that prostitution was expected in Chinese culture and that there has always been an industry in western civilisations even though it was banned for 5 years. Additionally in Roman times one of the Roman emperors was known for saying that if a man didn't have another man on the side, then something was wrong with him. e.g. he should have a wife and a same sex lover. It was interesting to see how opinions have changed over time. We grab a pretty weird snack to keep us going. We've already mentioned that frites with mayo are popular in this part of the world... well the top voted Dutch frites company serves theirs in a massive paper cone -and we see why these guys have been voted the best! To get home we wandered through Amsterdam's infamous red light district. It opens your eyes to see - doors with full glass windows and a red neon light at the top. Inside is a woman dressed usually in a bikini shifting from side to side trying to attract attention. Sometimes they are sitting on a stool or even on the phone. If they see a single man walking past they will knock on the window to try and get him to come over to discuss what can be offered. Sometimes you can even see bed behind them. Even though sex is blatantly on sale and you can see it, it doesn't feel as weird or creepy to be around compared to driving in the streets of Auckland and seeing prostitutes on the street corner. You get the feeling that the ladies are in control and are protected from random drive ups that can take them anywhere. Oh and did we mention that there are all types of ladies on offer - different ages (including fairly old), ethnicity's, chest sizes, butt sizes and even lady boys which have the blue light as well. So we can say we've been to the red light district and know what it is really like. We'll end with some interesting facts about The Netherlands: 1. It is illegal to smoke tobacco inside. But it is legal to smoke cannabis inside. If your joint is a mix of cannabis and tobacco, then it must be smoked outside. 2. They have the lowest rates of issues arising from alcohol and drugs compared to any other EU country. e.g. their kids don't go binge drinking like in NZ. 3. There are 17 million people and it is so densely populated that you are never more than 1 hour away from a camping ground.