Day 3 (Proper) - 15 June 2014 - Amsterdam Free Walking Tour and Evening Stroll in Jordaan - One of our favourite ways of translating Map to Life when we first visit a new place is to get our boots on the ground and explore on foot. So off I went to get the down-low on Amsterdam to share with James back in Sydney (sigh) and our legions of other followers. I'd been warned on the Sandemans New Europe Walking Tours site, that these tours were popular - complete understatement - roughly 120 people turned up so 30 per tour guide. Way back when, the river Amstel was dammed on the spot where Dam Square lies. Thus Amsterdam... but you saw that one coming. One of the sayings here is that God made the Dutch, but the Dutch made Holland. Referring of course to the damming, canals and land reclamation. In the first part of the tour the entire group got high... Not from one of the 100s of coffee houses (that's for marijuana - need a cafe for coffee). No, in fact we got high quite unawares as we walked through some back alleys from Dam Square to the Red Light District (De Wallen) where we were at 1.3 metres above sea level - the highest point in Amsterdam. I was so busy chatting on the way, I actually missed seeing the sex workers in the famous windows - Just means I'll have to go back for a proper look-see. Smack in the middle of De Wallen is the Oude Kerk (or Old Church - one of many examples of Dutch naming practicality). A patchwork of different bricks and wings it is beautiful - and it turns out all the renovations and additions over the years were in fact funded by its location so to speak. Back in the 1600s when the ports were buzzing, no one wanted to go to sea and die with sins on their souls - so a quick trip to the Church prior to a night of sinning was in order. Had to be prior to the sinning, because the overworked priests would be asleep at 4 am after the sinning had occurred and prior to the ships departing. Thus the pre-indulgence! Dutch business practicality and Catholicism combined. We strolled over bridges and past canals and were enjoying the sunshine - apparently the big glowing orb in the sky is quite rare, even in Summer - so many locals and tourists alike were sitting on open air terraces catching the rays. One of the things the guide emphasised was the concept of looking through the fingers... That's why the red light district has thrived for decades - even though the industry was only legalised in the early 2000s. That's why when Catholicism was completely illegal after the Reformation (or Alteration) they were still here in vast numbers and worshiping at secret churches such as Our Lord in the Attic. The concept encompasses - "Keep Quiet - Do no harm to others - Contribute to Society". Though it took probably a bit of "hear no evil" as well given the secret church in the attic was up 200 odd wooden stairs and they would have been singing hymns on Sundays... It's the same "looking through the fingers" that allows the completely illegal sale, purchase and use of weed to flourish in the coffee shops of Amsterdam. If anything the stoned folks are quiet and harmless especially compared to someone drunk as a skunk on strong beer. And of course the coffee houses all have to pay taxes! (Apparently, Amsterdam is such a safe city, girls cycle home alone from night clubs and tax evasion is the most common crime. Hmmm) On through China Town (quite quickly) and we were at The Weigh House or De Waag - now a thriving cafe, it was the customs house, then a guild hall where surgeons performed the world's first public autopsies - a 3 day event and only in winter for obvious reasons. A small market in Nieuwmarkt will have to wait for another day because it was on to the birthplace of capitalism. The headquarters of the Dutch East India Company is now the home to the Politics & Economics departments of the University of Amsterdam. Really the first limited liability company concept, they figured out there was no point having all your coffee in one ship and losing it to a storm or a pirate. So the Dutch built fast ships and then put 5% gold / 5% coffee / 5% spices etc into each ship. If one was lost then 95% survived and was sold for a fortune upon its return. Spread the Risk and Share the Wealth. The Dutch West India company was also mentioned briefly (slavery... so unpleasant). Their main claim to fame was buying an island for not very much called Manhattan - the settlement of New Amsterdam which became New York (after the Duke of York) after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the English. So much history - so little time. We moved on to The Rokin for a pit stop at La Place - lots of yummy delights both hot and cold. We strolled through the main shopping street and ended up in Spui near the Begihnhof - once a secret church area, now a home to lay women who've taken a vow of silence. Must go for a look by myself as tour groups aren't particularly welcome. Through the Amsterdam Museum and we saw several examples of interesting gable stones (see today's photos). We moved west towards my hotel and saw the narrowest house in Amsterdam - only 1.8 m wide - in fact the owner is taller than his house is wide. We sampled some Gouda from a cheese shop (it most definitely doesn't taste like that in Sydney) and moved on to talk about the canals themselves. Clean and fresh even in summer due to the water being filtered every 3 days. Apparently they are 3 metres deep - the first metre is water - the second is mud and the third is bikes. Not kidding - 18,000 are pulled out of the canals every year. Crazy. A couple of years ago during a very nippy winter (-20 Celsius!!!) the canals froze and people took up ice-skating to work. The cafes with tables on the bridges actually put the chairs and tables down on the ice - must have been a wonderful sight. Quite coincidentally, the tour ended near the end of the queue for the Anne Frank Huis (gosh - more to add to my list of to-dos). I headed around the corner for a well-deserved lunch at a placed called Jennifer. The owner of the hotel recommended it as very cheap - and having just checked out prices all over Amsterdam Centrum, it appears he was right. Falafel burger for lunch followed by an extensive afternoon nap (4 hours... is that too much?) I spent a couple of evening hours strolling the nearby neighbourhood of the Jordaan (that's with a "Y"). (Pictured is one of the pretty canals in the area). Tomorrow I pick up my Amsterdam pass and start going crazy on sightseeing - it cost 67 euros for 3 days... so of course I'll be aiming to recoup that on Day 1. That's all folks.