Well I promised the seedy side of Amsterdam, I must say than
the number of the sex establishments has somewhat dwindled and the Red Light
district seems much smaller now but I will say, either the quality of the
ladies in the shop windows has improved since I lived out here in the 70’s or
maybe I’ve just become less choosy!!
So you will all be glad to know that I survived the rigors
of Amsterdam having visited several places that I wanted to go to. I have
learned how to say Van Gogh and I was right all along, I took the Audio tour of
the Van Gogh Museum and during the tape his name was pronounced as: Van Go!,
Van Gough and at first I thought the museum directed told me to F..K off, but
he said Veck off!! So there we are, we were all right! I also visited the Hermitage
Museum where there was an exhibit of Rubens and Van Dick!I also visited the
Rembranthuis museum. They had no sense of humour here! I sat on one of the
chairs and was quickly told off, so I jumped up but lent back onto the wall,
setting off the alarms as I’d moved a painting, The 6 security men seemed
totally non plused!Then to the Aude Kerk where the News photo's of the year was being exhibited, the photos are all fantastic as well as thought provoking. The old church being the oldest building in amsterdam with some fantastic Stained glass seems a fitting place to show the new Photos against the old stories of the windows. Finally the dutch have a saying about money not growing on trees but they are a bit more graphic.
Crossing the road in Amsterdam took quite a lot of learning,
as you are all aware firstly the drive on the wrong side of the road, so, that
is easy to say which way they will come from! Ha! They come from all directions
it seem to make no difference to the drivers! But first I will illuminate you
all about one of the near misses I had. Just north of Dam Square I needed to
get across the road. First I was assaulted by 27 French Students who appeared
to drop from the sky just as I decided to go! Then there was the Cycle lane
with motor bikes and cycles going in both directions, next the road way. Here at
least there was a bit of order but the car that was overtaking the bus in a
single lane nearly took me and several others out! Next came 2 tram lines again
must be simple but no at the time they were reversing some of the trams up the
wrong way as there had been an accident! Surprise surprise! I am now half way
and all I needed was to cross the last lane of traffic, dodge a cyclist and
avoid any stray French persons who happened along. I had made it or so I
thought, right at the last minute and too late to avoid it, the street cleaner
with a power washer got me from the side. I was drowned but alive!!
