Amsterdam City Overview

Amsterdam, City Overview

Amsterdam. Famous the world over as a city of Drugs and red-lights, But without seeing if for yourself you cannot really imagine what to expect. Growing up one heard about coffeeshops and girls in windows but seeing it for the first time can be a real experience and an real eye opener for some.

Amsterdam has so much to offer and is one of the only cities, if not the only city in the world were you can enjoy all the vices in the same city, sex, drugs, drink and gambling and all within a ten minute walk from one another.

If the vices are not your thing, the other side of Amsterdam as so much to offer and both sides are really kept separate. Many people live in Amsterdam and never go near the red-light district or a coffeeshop. Amsterdam is not a city of stoners but is a very successful city when it comes to business and is well respected in the financial world.

Some peoples conceptions about Amsterdam may ring true but they really only tell half the story.

Amsterdam is not just an oasis for tourists wishing to escape their lives for a few days or weeks or

pot smokers for filling their life long dream of visiting a coffeeshop and legally smoking a big fat joint or men in search of some extra-marital sex, it is a real, living breathing city and happens to be one of the most densely populated places on earth with over 700.000 people squeezed into a very small space indeed and new x-pats arriving all the time. Any person living in the European Union as the right to come live in Amsterdam and many do. Legally and Illegally.

Amsterdam is a city where so many people arrive and so many stay for good. It has this effect on many people who just love the freedom Amsterdam offers to everyone.

Amsterdam hosts many of the most important conferences each year and the impressive RAI venue is one of the continent’s key conference and business hubs.

The Amsterdam waterways also play home to many visiting cruise ships and cargo vessels from all over the world. Today, Amsterdam deals in tourists almost as slickly as it dealt in goods and slaves during the past centuries. Amsterdam is a real tourist city and attracts massive amounts of them all year round.

Despite the recent publicity surrounding the murders of the far right politician Pim Fortuyn, in 2002 (famous for his "Netherlands is Full" remark) and the Dutch movie director Theo Van Gogh, Amsterdam’s tolerance is still famed and does not only extend to practical solutions on how to deal with some of the world's oldest professions and the controlled use of soft drugs. The city is also a haven for many nationalities, every sexuality and people of radically different political and religious persuasions. A meal melting pot of the world's nationalities. Whatever people think of the sex and drugs, it is impossible not to be impressed by this live-and-let-live society..

Living in Amsterdam is like living in one big museum and part of the real Amsterdam charm is that

during the summer months or on any sunny day all of the city’s eclectic groups come together in Vondelpark, to relax and enjoy the sun. Amsterdam might be one of Europe’s wettest capitals but as soon as the clouds clear and the sun shines Amsterdammers flock to the terraces of every cafe and sun worship and even move to the other side of the canal as the sun moves.

During your stay make sure to take a canal cruise as seeing the houses from the water is another great experience as well as hiring a bicycle as it's the best way to see the city.

Amsterdam’s winters in the last few years have been milder that usual but this does not put off the tourists as even during winter Amsterdam is a super city to visit and especially if your a smoker as you can visit coffeeshops at regular intervals to get out of the cold and if it does get freezing it's a perfect chance for visitors to witness Amsterdammers skating across the picturesquely frozen canals. Last time this happened was 1996 and the way things are going may never happen again due to global warming.