Discovering the Craziness of "Mokum" (aka Amsterdam)

Now, Amsterdam. I couldn’t let Nabila come and not have her visit Amsterdam, which is really not too far from Brussels. Although, really nothing is too far from Brussels. Even Paris is only 1hr 22min on the fast train. Anyway, we decided, why not spend New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam? It is known as the # 1 party city (and craziest city) in Europe. Well, we really didn’t realize HOW INSANE this city gets, especially on NYE. Let me just say, I have never had so many close calls with death in one night as I did in Amsterdam. Now this is why I chose the name for this blog entry. The nickname for Amstedam, Mokum, is the Yiddish word for "safe haven." How ironic is that? I think whoever came up with that name for the city must have been high while doing so...

 We arrived at noon on Dec. 31^st, and already we could hear people setting off firecrackers. We were walking down an alleyway, and suddenly I caught something out of the corner of my eye flying through the air over our heads and landing on the street. Before we could even think about what it was, it blew up with an ear-splitting BANG and smoke flew up in the air. We jumped and scream and then quickly ran out of the ally, my ears ringing. We couldn’t believe it, the thing literally blew up a meter away from us…someone had thrown it out of their window over our heads! After that we were very wary of any sign of someone about to throw a firework or firecracker. People were going crazy with them, throwing them in front of cars and trams.

Anyway, while the day was still relatively sunny, we grabbed a map and tried to find our way to the center of the city to do a bit of touring. We visited the tulip market and all the strange shops around it, walked down the canals, found windmills and rode in a Dutch clog.

Bikes take over the streets in the city

On a bridge going over one of the biggest canals

Can't go to the birthplace of Heineken without going to it's own personalized merchandise store!

Just the one of hundreds of "coffeeshops" in Amsterdam where you can purchase and smoke marijuana. 

And another interesting named cafe (during day)/club (at night).

One of the many Dutch cheese shops in the city. Nabila and I enjoye them very much because they offer free samples of every kind of cheese, and who doesn't love free food

The flower market (the ceiling is covered with dried tulips, which are probably alive in summer).

The city has a number of beautiful  brightly colored murals on the walls of buildings. 

Inner square of nunnery in center of city. Perfect representation of typical Dutch architecture. 

Diamond factory (the building with the windmill in front)

Another canal!

Told you we rode in a clog!:)

Part of Dam Square (the main square)

You can't really tell in this picture, but almost all of the traditional buildings in Amsterdam tilt forward a little bit. Why, you may ask? Because, back in the day, these buildings were warehouses where goods would be hoisted to different floors. Those warehouses were built with a slight tilt to prevent the goods from damaging the building’s facade on the way up or down. That just shows you how important the fancy (but strange looking) architecture was important to the Dutch.

Central train station at Dam Square

Boat ride on the canal

 Also, not sure if you noticed this, but their are bikes photo-bombing 90% of these pictures. Welcome to Holland:)

This was only Part 1 of our over-night adventure in this exciting city. Soon comes Part 2!