Sin City

Amsterdam is awesome! I can't believe how liberal this city is with pretty much everything. It seems like anything goes here. Anything you can think of in terms of sex, drugs, and gambling they have it. There are 234 coffeeshops and magic mushroom shops. Also, there are people on every street asking if you want coke, or ectasy. There are many casinos. And of course there is the red light district with it's many boths with girls in them and the numerous sex stores, stripper bars, and live sex shows.

Alright, this is where I apologize to my parents and relatives. But I'm just telling what Amsterdam has to offer. I could go into further detail but I think it's best if I leave it at that. Amsterdam has a very relaxing feel about it. There was no setting the alarm at this hostel. Well, actually I lost my alarm but I wouldn't have set it anyway. To ease any uneasiness I did visit the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum. I can only handle so much sin :)

I think that everyone needs to visit this city though. It is so different than any other city in Europe and you have to see it to believe it. I really don't have much else to say about Amsterdam except one story that I learned on the free walking tour. It is especially intriguing to me because I'm a structural engineer but I think everyone else will find it wierd.

In the picture above you can see beams with a hook at the end of it at the top of each building. This were, and still are, used for moving furniture in and out of the house because the staircases are too small and tight. But while lifting furniture they had a problem with high winds and the load swinging like a pendulum. As a result windows were regularly broken during the process. What was there solution for this problem? Well, one simple option would be to extend the beam, right? Apparently this solution was not complicated enough for them. The city decided to build all the buildings with a forward lean (you can kind of see it in the picture). This gave the movers an extra foot or so of space to avoid window smashing. Maybe it is just me but the latter option seems absolutely ridiculous.

Anyway, that's the end of Amsterdam, and almost the end of my trip. I should just sell my airline ticket and stay over here. Next we are on to Rotterdam for a night and then back to London for 2 nights until we catch our flight on the 19th. This is probably the last blog entry from Europe. I hope you enjoyed it thus far.