First Weekend in Amsterdam

Spent most of my first weekend trying to get my body used to the new time zone. Being 7 hours ahead of Arkansas time, my mind doesn't really want to sleep when it should, but the body is tired. Guess it will take a few days to really get both in sync.

Went out and did a little sight seeing in the area of the apartment. Bicycles and more bicycles, they are everywhere. Very strange to see older couples riding bicycles and even see couples on their bikes holding hands just as if they were casually strolling down the sidewalk. The sidewalks are even color coded...red is for bikes and gray is for walking. You have to look for bikes when walking or you will get hit as they have the right of way... or at least they act like they do. :-) There are bicycle parking just about everywhere you look. There is even an underground garage for bikes just on the other side of the train station from where I am staying. This garage even has a special escalator to take the rider and bike up and down.

Everywhere you look there are canals. Some are larger and well kept and there are others that look like large ditches and run behind buildings and across the fields. The water table is so close to the surface that they need these to move the water around. Apparently, this level requires that most all buildings are actually built on pilings that are driven deep into the ground until they hit something solid and in some cases it may be as much as 10 meters.

The architecture in this area is really neat. I have a few pictures of some of the buildings in the area to let you see what it looks like here.

I had dinner from Burger King on Saturday night and Jon, it tastes just like the Burger King in the US. Will try that Big Mac you asked about when I get a chance.

Next weekend I am going to venture into the city central where the museums and other historical spots of A'dam are and will share experiences and pictures of these.