The capital of the Netherlands turned out exactly as I expected. Nice) Plus some unique features. Right away, I’ll say that I didn’t party with courtesans in the Red Light District, didn’t smoke weed, didn’t consume any other cookies, tabs, or whatever…
Moreover, Amsterdam became the place where I had my last sip of alcohol (some kind of 21-year-old single malt whiskey).
And by “features” I mean perfectly innocent things like cheese, which turned out to be so delicious and diverse that I’ll talk about it more below. And of course — bicycles. Despite having and using a bike regularly in Moscow, the summer 2017 weather there wasn’t great for riding, so I really enjoyed cycling through the Dutch capital. While eating cheese 😉
But let’s take it step by step.
The visa was arranged via http://www.vfsglobal.com/netherlands/russia//a>, no regrets. For the future – you NEED to take visa and application photos in advance, not at the visa centers. I knew that but somehow forgot. As a result, I ended up standing in a long line for the photo booth. For example, one elderly lady, despite help from others, managed to get her photo taken in about 20 minutes at best. There were a couple of other unpleasant moments, but those are minor and not worth mentioning.
Anyway, I got the visa. I had to urgently pick up my passport from the consulate because I suddenly needed it for another flight to Turkey. I flew to Amsterdam from Sheremetyevo with KLM and returned on an Aeroflot plane — both airlines are in the SkyTeam alliance, they just switched planes, no big deal.
Sheremetyevo… How I love that airport. Clean, fresh, spacious, not crowded, neat. And the memories of spotting “Farewell, ‘Ryumka'” are priceless))) Spoiler alert: 5-6 days later (already back in Moscow), I flew to Mineralnye Vody from Domodedovo. As the internet memes say… total chaos…? Yep, that’s exactly how DME was — crowds, stuffiness, cramped space, and all that.
But more on that another time — let’s stick to Amsterdam for now. I landed at Schiphol. Admired the KLM Royal Dutch airplanes — the national carrier of the Netherlands. That’s who I flew with, actually.
I got from the airport to the hotel by double-decker trains. Not bad.
A bit cramped on the upper floor
Since I arrived a few hours before check-in, I dropped off my stuff and went downtown by tram. This is the Central Station — if you’re heading to the center, ride all the way there. As far as I understood, nearly all trams head there one way or another.
Same place
Cheese
Below — one of the ways paradise might look…))
The famous Dutch (and not only Dutch) cheese in a huge variety of types and prices — I ended up choosing mine at this shop run by these people.
Apparently, it’s a family? They have a website where you can order cheese online: https://tromponline.nl/
And their wonderful offline store (on Maastrat street) looked like this. Every morning I would stop by and eat amazingly tasty fried cheese. I even got the idea to sell something like that back home — maybe I’ll follow through. Just fried cheese, you know? On its own or with puff pastry, but not in the crazy proportions they sometimes sell back home 🙂 These guys really had LOTS of cheese and just a little dough.
I didn’t feel like a fish in water there — more like Monterey Jack from the Chip ‘n Dale cartoon, remember? 😉
So, I decided that cheese would make a great souvenir for loved ones. That’s why, while tasting, I kept asking to pack “a piece of that, and that one too, and that one over there, and three pieces of this, and a couple of that.”
A grown man (the one in the photo) carefully cut the cheese portions, told the lady (also in the photo) the names and weights of the cheeses, passed the pieces to her, and she carefully wrapped them in branded paper and sealed them in thermal packets.
I didn’t consider that this cheese is quite heavy, so during the process the total weight reached about 7–8 kilograms 🙂 Oops… And the cost went over 100 euros. Well, not a big deal — it’s high-quality goods.
A stork (or heron? I always confuse them).
Red Light District
I visited it twice (just visited, that’s all). First time on foot, second time by bike. Both times — in the morning, around 10–11 AM. That’s why I hardly saw the so-called “attractions” (meaning courtesans). Only in one alley did two young ladies peek out from behind doors, inviting passersby to “come in.” I asked out of curiosity how much their services cost. Turned out to be 50 euros per hour (or half an hour, I don’t remember).
So yeah — by someone’s standards, I spent my time in Amsterdam very boringly…) Didn’t try a single drug, and didn’t, you know… hahaha 🙂 Well… to each their own… 😉
This is the only photo I have from that area. Nice car, huh?
The weather was unstable, rain and sun kept swapping. Locals call this weather “Dutch Summer.” By the way, I only recently found out that “Dutch” means “голландский” in Russian. It all started with the phrase “Flying Dutchman” — turns out, it means Летучий Голландец.)
I rode the bike, managing at times to film myself with one hand, gesture with the other, and say something smart for my video channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/WebLiner
Filmed a lot, will start “editing” in a couple of weeks — although I still have a bunch of videos from the Maldives that I need to take care of first.
Downtown
Statue of Mahatma Gandhi
Had a cappuccino
Walked and biked again. Beautiful city.
Admired the canals
What to bring from the Netherlands
Did I bring something interesting from Amsterdam? Of course! Cheese!) Not only did I eat it while there, but I also brought back a hefty amount — enough for home and gifts for relatives.
Yeah, guys, if you’re thinking about bringing something else from there (you know what I mean, it’s Amsterdam after all), my advice — don’t. I’m not going to lecture you about the dangers and so on, no. It’s just that both at departure and arrival the inspection and sniffing (electronic) were so thorough that… just don’t. They used electronic sniffers, patted down, scanned everything attentively, asked to open bags and show everything. You never know what might be prohibited — even if you forgot something by accident.
Saw a KLM Airbus A380 and instantly my thoughts jumped to faraway New York Kennedy Airport.
Upon arrival at SVO, there was an inspection again — for the exact same reason: just in case I brought anything prohibited from the Netherlands. They didn’t find anything, but they did spot my new iPhone 7, which I had won at a conference. They asked: “Did you buy the iPhone?” I said, “No, I won it.” “You’re lucky,” they replied. Smiled, said goodbye.
