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My New Favorite Travel Pastime

When I was in Paris a couple years ago, my travel partner had a city guide by Rick Steves that turned out, despite my hesitation to be one of those kinds of tourists, to be really insightful and interesting. Being that I was back in his domain, I decided to see what he had for offer. What I found heightened my travel experiences in Amsterdam incredibly* and gave me a new way to explore on my travels (besides and aimless meandering.)

The Rick Steves Walking Tour podcasts are what the name implies: a podcast that leads you on a walking tour of various places. It points out architecture, talks about history, customs, etc., and leads you to areas of interest for tourists. Each seems to be about an hour or so and cover a distance between 1 and 2 miles.

For Amsterdam, there were 3 tours and after trying out the first one, I was hooked. My favorite, by far, was the Red Light District Walk. Along with architecture, history, and cultural context, it dove pretty deeply into the logistics of how the area's drug and prostitution worked, which I couldn't help but find incredibly fascinating. In fact, I would suggest giving it a listen even if you weren't walking the narrow canals of Holland's most notorious district.

So while I'm sure I'll continue my tourist meanderings just like always, I'm super stoked to have found another great way to get to know a city. Now if only Mr. Steves' empire expanded beyond the bounds of the world's most expensive cities. City Walk: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Now we're talking.

Wednesday May 22 2013

File under: travel, Netherlands

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Amsterdam Has So Many Bikes...

Okay, folks, it's time for your favorite pastime: audience participation! I'm here in Amsterdam and am totally blown away by the number of bikes. They're everywhere! It's actually quite comical. The task: to create the best "Amsterdam has so many bikes...." joke. Be as crass and creative as you like (Jule, I'm looking your way here). Here are a few to get you started.

Amsterdam has so many bikes, "bing bing" has become an accepted greeting in the local dialect
Amsterdam has so many bikes, the strippers in the red light district don't even have to go the gym.
Amsterdam has so many bikes and drugs, Lance Armstrong is consider a run for mayor.
Amsterdam has so many bikes, I score 75 points before even getting out of the rent-a-car lot.
Amsterdam has so many bikes, the hipsters have given up and now all drive SUVs.

I know you can do better than those. Let us have 'em!

Friday May 17 2013

File under: travel, Netherlands

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