Amsterdam is a beautiful city. Tree lined canals and old, narrow buildings squished together. It's hard to find straight, vertical lines in some areas as the old buildings are sagging and leaning onto one another. This is due to the soft, damp soil shifting underneath the buildings. A local friend tells us how many basements in the city get flooded after lots of rain as the water table rises. Coming from South Africa, where the buildings are solid, straight and steadfast, it takes me a little while to adjust to it all. Especially when our room rumbles each time a truck drives past.

The shops along the streets range from the obligatory souvenir shops, with their pot-leaf T-shirts and Rasta-colored Chillums to the street cafes where folks drink coffee and watch other folks walk by.
We walk down one of the main shopping strips and find some great clothing stores ... our credit cards run for cover.

Walking through the notorious red-light district is quite an experience. We find it interesting how it is divided up in sections according to preference ... one section has lots of blonde, European ladies, while another is rich with Asians, another with African ladies, etc. It is not nearly as sleazy as I'd imagined, with little kids walking around, just as engrossed as their parents, but then again, it was early morning. By nightfall, all the strange creatures will reveal themselves and I'm sure it won't look quite as wholesome.

Every now and then we pass a little park or garden with quaint statues or gargoyles doing silly things. We walk through colourful flower markets and smell the delicious aromas of the fast-food vendors. We decide to try one of the local specialties: Frites (french fries) with mayonnaise and sate sauce. Delicious. The street food in Amsterdam is generally good quality and very tasty - perfect for someone with the munchies. We stop at a cafe for some coffee and order a plate of poffertjes: another Dutch specialty which is similar to pancakes.

After our break we carry on walking, finding lots of interesting shops. There is one store that only sells holograms. We visit another store which has been made to look like an enchanted forest, selling all sorts of Fantasy paraphernalia. Of course, there are also lots of headshops everywhere, selling bongs, pipes, legal drugs and everything else a drug user can wish for. Nina and I buy a souvenir pipe and some magic mushrooms for later. You can buy shrooms either dried or fresh, professionally packed and labeled like a pack of tomatoes back home.

One thing Amsterdam is full of is Coffeeshops. Unlike cafes not all of them sell coffee, but they do all sell Cannabis. Each one has it's own theme, music, decor and atmosphere. One has rasta flags waving and reggae blaring, while others pump Eurotechno or display murals of Harleys and flaming skulls. The Grasshopper and Bulldog coffeeshops are the biggest and most mainstream, pandering to the tourists who amble past their central locations. However, if you walk a little further from the centre of the city, you will find lots of smaller neighborhood coffeeshops which have nicer atmosphere and higher quality Ganja. You will also meet more local people and get a better feel for the city.

The most amazing thing...