What Happens in Amsterdam

The city of islands, canals and bridges is one of the most common stops on the backpacker’s trail in Europe. Its promise of “coffee” shops, red light district and DJ scene lures tourists from far and wide. It got me too! I had 4 days to cram in as much Amsterdam as I could, but what I expected to be a crazy stop turned out to be almost the opposite. I say almost because sandwiched between relaxing evenings with a book or a movie was the Halloween pub crawl. I think it was the 3^rd pub crawl of the trip so far (or maybe 4^th but who’s counting), and probably my last. Halloween is usually one of my favorite days of the year but this year something was off. I usually spend the week leading up to it bunkered down in Colin’s art studio fabricating the costume that is to be unleashed on the world on all hallow's eve. This year I spent 30 minutes at a flea market and 30 more at a costume store trying to manufacture a costume without spending too many euros. It felt so wrong buying a costume after sporting the homemade creations that were the subject of great admiration for the past few years. Being without my usual Halloween crew of cousins and other friends felt as strange as spending Christmas abroad. I found a red plaid flannel shirt and decided it would become a stereotypically Canadian lumberjack. Although it was nowhere near the level of the group costumes constructed at the studio on East Hastings St I was still semi pleased with the result. I met a couple other Halloween orphans on my way to the first stop of the crawl and spent a good chunk of the evening with them. Later in the evening I was adopted by a group of English students led by the highly entertaining Hannah and Jade. Overall it was a good night out, and the usual slightly hungover morning. I will however rank it well behind the Halloweens I’ve spent causing trouble back in Vancouver. The majority of my time in Amsterdam was spent exploring the city on foot or by tram, which is odd given the amount of bikes around. My first image of the city was exiting the main station and staring directly at a 3 story parking garage that was filled with bicycles. It didn’t take long to realize that the bikes were in charge. Bike lanes were everywhere. Traffic and walk signals made sure the bikes had the right of way, and I learned quickly to stay out of the bike lanes and make sure to look both ways (twice) before crossing one. I took part in the walking tour of city which has no become somewhat of a tradition when I visit a new city. The coolest fact of this version of the tour was that they pull approximately 20,000 bicycles out of the canals every year. It’s apparently a tradition for drunken Amsterdamers to toss bikes that are not locked properly into the water. This means that if only the front tire is locked to the rail then they will leave it locked but toss the rest of the bike in. If the bike is locked but not the tire, kiss the tire goodbye. The moral of the story is make sure to lock your front tire AND frame securely to something! I did notice something in Amsterdam that I hadn’t seen so far on my trip. There weren’t any solo travelers. Everyone had traveled to Amsterdam to cause trouble in groups. I guess I’ll have to head back with a posse so I can experience the city in a different light. And for those who are curious…the brownies are delicious, but they make you feel kinda funny :p