Amsterdam: the best window shopping in the world! (Amsterdam)

Member Name: stuff10

Product:	Amsterdam
Date:	27/07/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Boobs, boobs, boobs, Amsterdam ArenA, boobs

Disadvantages: Drugs not for me, some idiots about at the weekend

Mention the word Amsterdam to someone and they'll probably conjure up images of window girls and soft drugs. And to be honest, you're not too far wrong! Amsterdam is a great city if you like those sorts of things, but is also a great place to visit for the history and culture too (although I did concentrate more on the window girls, if I'm honest) ;)

I visited Amsterdam in March 2008 with my fiancee (at the time, we're married now). It was the 2nd and final stop of a one-week city break in central Europe, with Berlin being the other city we visited.

We arrived in Amsterdam by train and were quite tired after our 6-hour journey from Germany - which only cost 40 euros each... putting British train prices to shame!

Our first real view of the city was stepping out from Amsterdam Centraal station. It was mid-afternoon on a Wednesday but the place was absolutely heaving with people, cars, trams and dozens of bicycles! People were dashing around here and there and we had to stop once or twice to get our bearings and finally find our hotel. Luckily for us our abode was only about 5 minutes walk from the station.

Red Light District
----------------------
It's impossible to go to Amsterdam and not look at the lovely ladies. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam and it is possibly the city's biggest (and best) attraction. Ladies can be viewed behind glass on various streets around the city. Some will be fully dressed, but most will be wearing rather less hoping to coax you into their booth. Obviously I didn't sample any of the array of delights that were on offer (a: I was with my fiancee and b: I ain't paying!), but I'm reliably informed that it's around 50 euros for what known as a "suck and f***".

If you've never been to Amsterdam, you might think it somewhat seedy, but I can assure you it's not. The Dutch just seem to be more open about that sort of thing than us up-tight Brits and walking around the red light district is an absolute pleasure! ;) Even my fiancee enjoyed wondering round and seeing the sights! The earlier you go, the more couples you'll see before the stag parties come out at night.

Quick tip: don't even think about trying to take a photo of one of the girls. It is strictly forbidden.

Sex Shops
--------------
Littered within the red light district and within the central shopping areas are an array of adult shops. These shops sell pretty much anything and everything you could ever want as well as many things you wouldn't even dream of having! There's plenty of vibrators, dildos and other sex toys as well as magazines and masses upon masses of videos and DVDs. These aren't your soft movies either - it's proper R18 porn.

I was more interested in the DVDs than anything else and I must admit that we returned home from Holland with quite a few! ;) The prices are incredibly cheap when compared with the UK (or so I'm told ;) )... with some DVDs available for around 5-10 euros, compared with up to £35 in UK stores such as Pulse and Cocktails (which dooyoo won't add into their catalogue for me to review :( ). There's films for pretty much every taste, including ones which are illegal in the UK.

Sex Museums and Sex Shows
--------------------------------------
The red light district has several places that provide live shows. We did some research on this before we went, but the other half decided that she didn't want to see any of the shows. Reading reviews online, people weren't particularly impressed and it was around 30 euros each to get in, so we gave it a miss.

We did however venture into the two sex museums. The one on the Damrak (Amsterdam's main street near the station) was pretty good, but the one in the red light district is poor by comparison. There are several adult-related things on display, including a replica prostitute booth and a giant penis (and I mean giant)!

Drugs
--------
Besides the sex, Amsterdam is also famous for its legalised drugs. I can't give you much information on this side of things though, as I don't take drugs and didn't even think about it in Amsterdam. There's plenty of cafes dotted around the city where you can see people inside getting high - and you can certainly smell it as you walk past! There are some people at night who will offer you illegal drugs, but a polite "no thanks" will mean they won't bother you again.

Other Attractions
----------------------
Obviously there's more to Amsterdam than just sex and drugs... well, that what the Mrs said anyway! Here's a quick run-down of some of the other things we did on our trip:

Amsterdam ArenA
-----------------------
I'm a football nut and love visiting new grounds. Unfortunately Ajax were playing away from home while we were in Amsterdam, so we couldn't watch a match, however we did go on a tour of the ground. The Amsterdam ArenA is about 10 minutes train ride south of grand centraal station and really is an impressive sight. Tours run daily in Dutch and English and are very informative and friendly. You get to see the changing rooms and press room as well as standing at pitch level and sampling the seating in the ground.

Canal Cruises
------------------
To get a different perspective of Amsterdam we went on a cruise of the city's famous canals - actually we went on the cruise 3 times... we were there for 5 days and the other half was getting bored of looking at boobs - some people have no stamina! Cruises last around an hour and really show the city for how beautiful it is, with fantastic old buildings and some lovely architecture. You can board the boats from outside the train station, where the price is around 11 euros each.

Amsterdam Zoo
--------------------
Amsterdam has its own zoo that contains all the usual animals (elephants, lions, tigers, gorillas etc) as well as the star attraction for us - a polar bear! Well, he would have been the star attraction if we hadn't have just visited baby Knut in Berlin zoo a couple of days before. Amsterdam zoo was very, very poor when compared to the one in Berlin and it really isn't worth visiting. The enclosures seem small and run-down and it looks like it needs a lot of money spending on it - spend more time looking at boobs instead.

Anne Frank's House
--------------------------
Neither my fiancee or myself had ever read Anne Frank's diary and neither of us were particularly bothered about going to look round her house. However, we seemed to be in the minority as every time we passed there were large queues at the entrance. We didn't go in, and I don't really feel like we missed much.

Safety
--------
Before visiting Amsterdam we were a little concerned with how safe it would be to visit - what with the drugs and the prostitution, but it's not really much different to visiting any other big city. Sure, there's some idiots about but at no point did we feel unsafe - either when wandering round the red light district or when being asked for drugs. Just be sensible and you'll be fine!

Overall
---------
Writing this review has whet my appetite for another visit to this great city. If possible, we'll go mid-week next time as the place definitely livens up and gets a lot busier at weekends - where the main areas are full of English stag groups.

Summary: 5 days of boobs and porn shops... what a great holiday!