Going to Holland... never been out of the U.S.

Any tips or things to bring that I wouldn't know about having never been out of the US? I've got Euro travellers checks and cash. I've got plug adapters and a step down transformer for the things I want to plug in.

My wife and I will be staying at the Grand Barbizon in Amsterdam for a week of debauchery. To be honest, I don't know much else about the city besides the coffeeshops. What should we see? What's cool? What's interesting? I don't want to rely on only the guide books and end up at the same places as every other tourist. What would a local tell us to see?

-Dylan

Firstly I'd suggest reading the Amersfoort meet threads. Although not about Amsterdam, I'd guess that some of your Holland-specific questions will have already been answered there.

You will find that just about every Dutch person speaks excellent English, so you don't have to worry about major language problems. Money-wise, you'll find that plastic will work in a lot of cases. If your debit card has 'Cirrus', 'Maestro' and 'Pulse' then you will have a hard time finding an ATM that won't give you cash. It's got to the point where I don't bother getting any currency or travellers checks anymore when travelling to a first-world country.
As far as Amsterdam is concerned, I'd class it as a common-sense city, ie there's no need to be paranoid, but do take common-sense precautions. Avoid hanging expensive cameras around you neck or keeping your wallet bulging in your back pocket. That sort of thing. Don't buy anything off the street - the coffee shops care about their reputation unlike Mr Random on the street corner. Amsterdam relies on their tourism far too much to tolerate too much anti-social behaviour, so even the red-light district is relatively safe.

I've only been to Amsterdam once, for one night. But if you find yourselves at a loss for what to do one evening, do somehthing very simple: go for a walk.

Amsterdam is wonderful to wander around in the evening and when you walk through residential districts, it's intreguing to see all these houses and apartments with the curtains wide open and lights on, with the occupants living their lives in full view (it's no surprise Big Brother was a Dutch invention).

(it's no surprise Big Brother was a Dutch invention).

Orwell was English. (Or was he not the originator of "Big Brother"?)

You are right Orwell invented the *term* Big Brother.

Big Brother is also the name (and Brand) of a reality TV show [actually reality is probably stretching that term to breaking point, but you get the idea], and it was invented by the Dutch.

Seems Dutch folk just like to see and be seen.

Ah, got ya. I'm so culturally bereft.

Seems Dutch folk just like to see and be seen.

For a country that turned the sex act into dinner theatre event, I suppose that's a pretty apt description.

> If your debit card has 'Cirrus', 'Maestro' and 'Pulse' then you will have a hard time finding an ATM that won't give you cash.

Be careful about that. Before the last time I went to Amsterdam, Wells Fargo gave me one of those combo Visa/ATM cards, and it didn't work at all, even at ATMs that I had used just fine on the last trip with just a debit card. I had to get cash at the casino or my hotel, and at Visa rates (bad, very bad).

> But if you find yourselves at a loss for what to do one evening, do somehthing very simple: go for a walk.

Personally, I find that good advice in any European city. If that seems to boring, pick up a to-go package at one of the coffeehouses, I guarantee it will be more fun (you can really smoke anywhere, just be somewhat subtle about it, but you won't get in trouble regardless.) Go to the casino if that is your thing, but I never find it as fun as Vegas because all your fellow players usually will be speaking Dutch.

Pick up the orange BOOM! Chicago guides that litter most of the establishments, it has a lot of things to do and see, some good advice for getting around, and is a hilarious read.

Dylan,

Didn't realize in Amersfoort that you would be staying in Amsterdam. If you still read the BBS, drop me a note - I live in the centre of Amsterdam, and I'm more than happy to do a couple of "tourist" walks - or perhaps even a kayak trip on the canals

Thanks for the replies. I definitely do plan to walk around. Walking around and experiencing local culture is more appealing to me then most touristy things. Frankly, I could probably be fascinated with a brick wall after visting the coffee and smart shops.

I'll check out the Amersfoorst threads. I haven't paid any attention to those and didn't realize that it was in Holland.

-Dylan

Pardon the thread-jacking, but I have a question of some Dutch speaker here. When I was in Amsterdam last time, someone told me this very funny phrase that illustrated the use of the hard (Klingon-like throat clearing) g sound that is used for g and acht. The English translation was something like "Amsterdam has 88 beautiful canals". I gather the phrase is a common one to tell tourists. Does anybody know what I am talking about, or can at least give me the Dutch translation of that phrase?

If I do a literal translation:

"Amsterdam heeft achtentachtig mooi kanalen"

- but it doesn't sound like a phrase I've heard here. I'll have to ask around.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=amsterdam+88+canals&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=6v0hgb%24nc8%241%40clarknet.clark.net&rnum=1

"Amsterdam heeft achtentachtig prachtige grachten".

Mmm.. never thought about it, but it does sound like Klingon somewhat!

When I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, the guide that did the guided tour of the canals also had a standard joke.
"Amsterdam has 88 canals, which are all about 3 meters deep. That's 1 meter of water, 1 meter of dirt and one meter of stolen bicycles."
Standard or not, I still thought it was pretty funny.

Heh, cute joke. I liked the one they told on the bus tour of London we rode:

"Harrods department store has a slogan. 'Everything for Everyone, Everywhere'. It's said that, hearing this, a man once asked for an elephant sandwich. The clerk replied, 'I'm sorry sir, but we've just run out of bread.'"

Hehe, that's it. Thanks Dylan and Rob.

(And I DID search first, I swear)