90 Days in Europe: An Experiment in Culture Clash

Let's play a little game called word association. Ready? Ok, here's the word: Amsterdam. What comes to mind? I bet you said weed, prostitutes, tulips, windmills, and Goldmember. To be sure, these are all fine answers (and I would've said those, too), but after being in Amsterdam for about a week, I will forever associate that sleepy Dutch town with bicycles and funny looking cars. As soon as you leave the Central Station, there is a four-level parking garage filled with bikes.

Clearly, this is a bike-oriented city. I'd imagine, then, that driving is a hellish ordeal--with hard to find parking spaces and bikes and pedestrians all over the place, you need a car that can deal with these obstacles. Ladies and gentlemen, here is that car.

And here's another one.

Pretty awesome, huh? But, believe it or not, there is more to Amsterdam than these cars. And with a reputation as a lawless party spot, there's a lot that gets missed, such as the Vondelpark, a 120 acre park in the middle of the city. It had tons of walking paths, statues, and the best playground ever.

Another spot worth checking out is the Museumplein, a large greenspace that is surrounded by some museums, including the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. Both of these museums were great, even though a majority of the Rijksmuseum was closed, and had great collections.

Upon the advice of my couchsurfing host, Tim, I headed to the city's library, which has one of the better vantage points in Amsterdam, with fellow UVMer Jason. A really nice place to spend some time, the library is very modern looking and has everything you could possibly want from a library--including a bar.

After checking out the library, Jason and I climbed the steps of the science center. Another spot with good views of the city, the science center has a massive seating area with a life-sized Connect Four as well as some small waterways that cascade down the steps.

Unfortunately, I've got a debilitating case of writer's block going on now, so I think we're going to skip to the big finish--photo dump time. But before I go, I'd like to thank Tim for being such a great host and taking time out of working on his thesis to show me around Amsterdam.

Lots of houses in Amsterdam have a hook for moving large objects to the upper floors. As you can maybe tell, the city is just begging for some slapstick comedy involving movers and a piano.