Europe, The City of Bicycles

We are relocating to Amsterdam with Flixbus. The road takes about 40 minutes.

The final stop is at the bus station, which is located on the suburbs of the city. So, we had to cover 5 kilometres on foot to get to our new place of residence. Nice walking, but it was a little bit tiresome, taking into account our heavy backpacks, loaded with the Belgian chocolate.

When we were passing by the central station we felt the strong smell of cannabis. And this smell followed us all the time, because people are burning on every street corner. I think, Amsterdam will be always associated with this unpleasant odour.

So, our first point of destination is the boat hotel, which is moored in the dock Oosterdok. Honestly speaking, it was the only affordable type of accommodation in Amsterdam for these days, in terms of money and proximity to the city centre.

To tell the truth, it was the smallest room I have stayed in so far. What's more, it was shared with my friend, and, literally, there were only 1.7 square metres per one person. Cramped, damp and dark. At least we had a decent breakfast included.

Anyways, we are here not to stay at the hotel, but to explore the city. And having left our backpacks we went for the introductory walk.

It is a well known fact that tulips are one of the recognizable symbols of Holland. Though, few people know, that originally tulips were cultivated in the Ottoman Empire, and were imported into Holland only in the sixteenth century. However, these days, Holland is called as "flower shop of the world" quite deservedly.

There are so many bright flowers on the local markets of Amsterdam, so I wished to buy them all and to bring home. One of such markets is called Bloemenmarket, and it is located on the floating platform of the Single canal.

Nevertheless, I have not bought any bulb, because there is a strong opinion that it is extremely difficult to grow tulips from Holland's markets in Russia. At least, I would prefer not to get disappointed about my gardening skills.

Honestly speaking, I have not experienced "the love at first sight" with Amsterdam. Actually, I liked the Hague more. The reason is that the Hague is not so crowded with tourists, it is quiet there, and you may find there everything, what people are usually looking for in Amsterdam. For example, in the Hague there are the same canals, the same bridges and the same red-light district, not to mention coffeeshops with more affordable prices. Probably, the only thing, which would make me visit Amsterdam once more, is the Van Gogh museum.

Of course, we tried to enter the Van Gogh museum as soon as we arrived, but a security guard, advanced in information technologies, told us that "the tickets must be purchased in a cloud above us". In other words, we should have bought a ticket on the Internet for the specific time, because there are so many tourists who would like to see the masterpieces of the great artist.

Unfortunately, another museum, which was also worth visiting, was inaccessible as well. Simply, we were late. The museum is called Rijksmuseum, and its working hours are from 9am till 7pm.

As compensation for the failed attempts to learn the art, we set off for the night excursion around the district of red lights. I still have the conflicting impressions from those streets, illuminated by red lamps. Actually, it was both curious and disgraceful.

And one more amusing thing about Amsterdam for today. It is estimated that there are approximately 881 thousand bicycles in Amsterdam. However, the more ridiculous fact is that many bikes quite often end their lives being thrown into a canal.