In Amsterdam

Going back to São Paulo from Sweden I got stuck in Amsterdam. At Arlanda Airport there was some electrical issue and not a single check-in desk was open in Terminal 5 for several hours. This caused a delay and at Schipol I missed my connection and no other flights were available so KLM gave me a hotel voucher and said "Sorry, come back tomorrow!".

At first I became angry but then I realized I was actually stuck there so I made the best of it! The weather was great and I met a colleague so we decided to go out on the town together as one-day tourists.

Amsterdam is crazy. The traffic is dense and not only with cars, no, you have pedestrians, cars, bicycles, mopeds, tuc-tucs (i.e taxis from Thailand?!) and trams sharing the same transiting space. With all the bikes in this town it is the strongest contender for the title "Beijing of Europe". I wonder what the accident statistics look like, I saw a number of close calls during the few hours I visited the place.

Prostitution is legal here. The red light district is in the city center and impossible to miss. The hookers sit in their window displays offering their goods to clients that pass outside together with big eyed tourists with cameras, mothers pushing baby strollers, workers going home, old people with grocery bags etc. Incredible.

Most people have heard about the Amsterdam coffee shops. To me it was still a shock to sense the sweet smell of marijuana out in the streets! The coffee shops are abundant and almost all souvernir shops sell items with mariuana leafs on them. Since I had to stay the night and did not have any clean underwear I decided to by a pair of white boxer shorts with green leafs stamped on them. "When in Rome...".

Another argument why Amsterdam is crazy; the house fasads are not straight! The different houses are actually leaning away from or against each other as if the architects had been creating blue prints in coffee shops! Amazing.

The final conclusion is that I like Amsterdam a lot. People are friendly, the food is great and it is great fun to view the spectacle that evolves in front of you while sitting down with some Pommes Frites with mayonaisse and a Heineken at hand.

Beautiful canals everywhere.

Tuc-tuc taxi from Thailand in Holland.

Another canal view.

By the canal.

The perfect way of relaxing!

Outside a coffee shop. Passive smokers are happier here than elsewhere, I wonder why?

Mariuana boxer shorts. For the guy that already has everything!

A hooker on display! It is like chosing lobsters from an aquarium in a restaurant (and the fishy smell is about the same I guess, hehe).