Money, Money, Money

Americans traveling to Europe typically find things to be expensive relative to home.  With the conversion rate currently $1.30 for 1 Euro, the exchange isn't all that favorable.  To gauge the relative level of cost, I compare the cost of a Big Mac Combo at McDonald's.  The Golden Arches are universal around the world, and if there's one thing they do well, it's the consistency of their product around the world.  This is the best apples to apples comparison I can find.  The current price of a Big Mac combo in Amsterdam is 5.95 euros.  Converting to dollars, this equates to $7.78 -- probably what you'd pay at an airport in the U.S.

Gas on the other hand is a different story.  It's not a good comparison because of taxes and other factors.  The current price per liter in Amsterdam is around 1.80 euros.  When you convert liters to gallons and apply the exchange rate, it comes to $8.96 per gallon.  This is probably why everyone rides bikes.

At the grocery store, you can buy really good bottled beer individually (you don't have to buy a six-pack) for 70 euro cents which is less than a dollar -- about 91 cents per bottle.  I guess it's not so bad.

Living like a Local

We're renting an apartment in Amsterdam for the week instead of staying in a hotel.  If we had not done this, we would need two hotel rooms since there are four of us.  Given our location on Reestraat near the Prinsengracht canal in the "9 Streets" neighborhood, the apartment is just as economical as two hotel rooms.  Plus we get a full kitchen which we have used extensively to cook meals instead of eating out all the time.

Our apartment has three levels above a store selling ladies clothing.  We found it on the internet and the information said narrow steep staircase.  This picture in no way captures how narrow and steep the staircase actually is.  This is the view from the street through the front door up to the first floor.  We're probably going up about a 60 degree angle.  It's like we're climbing a 20 foot extension ladder -- except with a landing in the middle.  Getting our luggage up the stairs was quite the challenge.  The stairways to the top two levels each turn 180 degrees like a spiral staircase going up about 10 feet with 12 steps.  The steps themselves aren't wide enough to fit your entire foot.  If you are looking closely, you will see that there is a definite lean to the left --it's not the angle of the camera.

Our first floor has a small living area with large windows looking down on the street.  There is also the kitchen and built in table.  The top two floors each have a bedroom and full bath.  The stone atop the gable indicates our building was built in 1897.  We've noticed that all the row houses and canal houses have similar narrow staircases, which begs the question--how do they move furniture or other large items into these houses?

The answer is hoisting hooks.  Every building in central Amsterdam has one.  The ones hundreds of years old have them and the ones built ten years ago have them.  The white posts sticking out from the top of each building have hooks where you can fasten ropes and pulleys to hoist up most anything and pass them through the windows.  In addition, all of the buildings are built leaning forward so you don't hit the front of the building when raising and lowering items from the hooks.  Between the intentional lean and the fact that most if not all of the buildings are built on reclaimed land, I doubt there's any row building or canal house in Amsterdam that is plumb and square--but it does make for great architecture.

Bicycle Ubiquity

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike;
I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like.
-- Freddie Mercury and Queen (1978)


Ubiquitous.  Omnipresent.  Bicycles.

To say there are a lot of bicycles in Amsterdam is almost like saying there is a lot of water in the ocean.  Bicycles are all over.  I believe it is a prerequisite for living in the city.  Amsterdammers ride their bikes everywhere -- to work, to shop, to school, to eat.  While I certainly don't know any numbers, I would wager the ratio of bicycles to automobiles in central Amsterdam is at least 20 to 1.  There is even a multi-level garage at the central train station strictly for parking bikes.  Almost every street in the city has a dedicated bike lane and there are even electronic signals for bicyclists to follow much like the signals at crosswalks for pedestrians.  Bikes are parked and locked everywhere -- including along the railings of every canal bridge in the city.

We've seen bikes of all shapes and sizes.  Most bikes have baskets and saddlebags for transporting groceries, briefcases, pets -- you name it.  Men in suits, ladies in skirts and high heels, young, old -- everyone rides a bike.  It's simply the best way to get around.  What you don't see -- overweight people riding bikes.  Everyone here appears very trim.

Another ubiquitous item in Amsterdam?  The rrrring, rrrring of the bells telling you to get out of the way or else be run over.

The Secret Annexe

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is probably on every high school required reading list and has been read by millions around the world.  It has been translated in over 70 languages.  About two blocks from our apartment, along the canal at 263 Prinsengracht, is the Anne Frank House where she and her family hid from the Nazis from July 6, 1942 until the house was raided on August 6, 1944.  The family hid in a secret annex at the back of the building, accessible only through a landing hidden by a movable bookcase.  Touring the house provided, at times, a stark reminder of the impact the hiding had not only on the Frank family, but on those trusted individuals of her father's business who were helping to hide them.  Anne was planning on writing a book she titled The Secret Annexe, but she died of typhus in the concentration camp at Bergn-Belsen only a few weeks before the camp was liberated by Allied forces.

Seeing the house gave each of us a new appreciation for her diaries, which each of us plan to re-read once we get home.

I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young, and know that I'm free.
--Anne Frank, 24 December 1943

So true.  We rejoice in our freedom.

Touring Canals by Bus

The central portion of Amsterdam is ringed by four main canals, with numerous offshoots and smaller canal that crisscross the city.  While I've never been to Venice and cannot begin to make a comparison, the canals certainly help define this city.  Amsterdam's canals are dotted with numerous small boats that residents dock near their homes -- then there are the houseboats that line some of the canals where people literally live on the water.

The Canal Bus company offers a hop-on/hop-off tour of Amsterdam via three different routes through the canals of the city.  Of course, you're not actually on a bus, but a flat-bottomed boat designed to pass through low narrow openings under most of the City's 1,250 bridges.  This is a great way to see Amsterdam, as you pass by many of the City's major sites.  We really enjoyed the perspective of seeing the City from water level as well as the convenience of getting to some of the places we wanted to see.

I think this picture captures the essence of canal life in Amsterdam.  Homes line the narrow streets along the canal with boats docked along the side.  This scene repeats itself throughout the city, which only adds to its appeal and charm.