Amsterdam- City of Curious Things and Curious People
Most people are aware of Amsterdam as a great city to have fun and observe life and people. Behind the obvious sights there lies a whole host of strange things and people, and some cute things as well. Amsterdam has the ability to both shock and enlighten. Walking down a city centre street I am not sure what shocked me the most, that a haircut coild cost 45 euros or that someone had written a book titled ” The Philosophy of Beards”. True that maybe a bottle of nice mexican beer came free too.
In Vondelspark a strange gentleman with a horse’s head was playing what I imagine was some sort of tambourine. I use the term playing lightly. He was making a kind of repetitive banging noise which only seemed to stop when we was given money, so I consider this a good cause to donate a euro too. Plus no scowling when I took his photograph.
There are many shops including a number that sell whole cheeses in sizes that must make an interesting hand luggage size. Shops where they close and put up nice signs such as ” we are sorry we are closing and will not be in your palate for a few days” instead of handwritten closed signs. Pizza restaurants where they say ” no cash” rather different from the UK sunday curry buffets where its cash only. I wonder why. Beer that is actually cold with glasses kept in the freezer. Coffee that not only tastes good but looks good and can be drunk by a canal watching boats and people go by. A shop where you can make your own Magnum, at a price though around 4 euros. Maybe the best omelette I have ever tasted. From an Irish Pub actually next to the Paradiso.
The Best omellete in Amsterdam
Musician with a Horse Head.
Not entirely sure that words can describe this?
Vondelspark man.
Coffee in Amsterdam
Awful gifts Amsterdam
Fake Tulips
awful Hat Amsterdam
Batman returns to amsterdam
Where is the last pair?
Batman returns to amsterdam
Make your own Magnum. Amsterdam
Boat trips on the canals Amsterdam
Boat trips on the canals Amsterdam
Aloe Vera
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 
The horse head. There is a full range of animal heads; I’ve seen horses (different colors, unicorns (always white), wolves…I forget what else.
A young woman who loves unicorns (the image/archetype) was getting married by a person registered to perform such services (nothing religious). I thought the person (a friend of the family) should wear the unicorn head. The young woman thought it was wonderful, the groom vetoed it.
In this case I think the drummer could be anonymous while still getting money.
There are regulations about busking in Amsterdam but I don’t think they’d quite cover a horse in a park playing a small drum machine.
Someone must buy those hats. That could be an interesting study to see which nationalities would chose something like that. Not I, certainly.
Last time I checked Batman didn’t run around in various colored capes. Small bit of humour, yes but I think it’s definitely aimed at tourists who didn’t bring rain gear. Not worth the 5 euro unless you’re caught in the rain and then invaluable.
Delftware: Just because it’s esthetically inert doesn’t mean people don’t collect it.
I saw a Capodimonte statue (female, holding an urn over her shoulder with flowers pouring out of it) which was very expensive but incredibly funny….the eyes were painted in such a way that one was painted on the eyelid and the other was positioned more on the cheek…and each looking in a different direction. Definitely a candidate for a Bad Art Museum.
The card and pin makes all sorts of sense. Complete control over the cash flow, no stealing by employees, all records digital….a friend who lived in Amsterdam for a number of years says no one uses personal checks anymore, you pay online from your account. Quite different from France where checks are still the preferred method of payment (I always used my atm debit card).
Glad to see you had wonderful weather while there.
Thanks for the time making these great comments. I hope you follow my blog and make more great comments on some of the other places I visit.