Quirky Amsterdam

One of the fun things about travel is finding what's unique about the new places you go. Here's what we noticed about Amsterdam.

Mike and I were confused about this sign. Mike thought it might mean to wear sunscreen? But I looked it up, and the "DNA-Spray" is actually DNA spray. If a crime is committed they will spray this DNA-like spray which will identify the person as being at a particular spot at a particular time. Then days, weeks, or months later they will be able to detect this spray on a suspect and supposedly make the case stronger. I'm pretty sure we didn't come home with any DNA spray on us.

I'm showing this very unflattering photo of my backside to try to show how super steep the staircases are in the traditional Amsterdam row houses. See Mike's feet hanging off the edge of the stair? I now have more sympathy for those people on House Hunters International who don't want to buy a third-floor walk up.

Aren't their trucks adorable? This isn't the only one like this we saw. They're all over the place. And what's also interesting is that the Dutch are TALL. I wanted a picture of some 6 foot 5 inch Dutch fellow bending into one of these.

I guess I'm entertained by small things. I just thought it was cute that the Coke "Share a Coke with..." campaign went from names like George, Abigail and Simon in England, to names like Wouter in Amsterdam.

I made Mike take that top picture because I couldn't believe how skinny that house is. Then we saw the skinniest house in Amsterdam. Camille's arms are literally spanning the width of the house. Those edges are the beginnings of new houses. I would so love to go on a skinny house tour and see how those places are set up inside.

I looked it up, and Amsterdam has very low bicycle accident rates. I guess that's what having separated bike paths everywhere and such a high rate of bike riders that cars know to look out for them will do for you. But coming from America their bike riding habits seem crazy! It's very common to see two adults on a single bike, usually on a side seat on the bike like in the top photo. Also common to see people texting while biking like in the next photo. Or texting, riding a bike and holding an umbrella. And then it's more cute than crazy to see all the young families getting around town by bike. They'll have one or two children in the bucket thing in the front of the bike, plus another child on a back seat, or they'll have bikes with a child seat in front and another on the back, or two babies on one bike with an older child on a side seat on another bike. It was entertaining imagining the young families we know trading in their cars for a set of family bicycles.

We saw many of these tiny cars. This one is driving along a walking/biking path, but we also saw them on the road. Not only do the Dutch seem to be fearless bikers, they appeared to be fearless drivers. We saw one of these cars that looked so small you weren't sure who'd come out better in a car-bike collision playing a fearless game of chicken with a tram and truck out on the road. The car backed down the tram and truck and motored along its way.

One day we went to the beach, which we found a little different. In general, the crowd was young families, but from the looks of the place we felt like we'd landed at a hippie commune in the 60's.

All the buildings in Amsterdam have a hook at the top of the building, like in the top picture. We thought it was fun to see people moving furniture out of a building window using the hook and pulley system. If all the staircases are as steep and narrow as the one we used, there would be no other way of getting furniture into and out of a building. The staircase route is not an option.

So this has me thinking, what do you think outsiders would find entertaining about your hometown?