The Netherlands #1. Creative, free, and innovative Amsterdam

I knew almost nothing about the Netherlands before my trip. There were only associations in my head that were formed under the influence of beautiful photos from the Internet, such as tulips and windmills, and documentary footage, such as Red Light Street and marijuana. In a series of new articles dedicated to the Netherlands, I want to show you this country through my own eyes with my texts and photos.

Crossing the border from the German side, it was immediately clear to me that this was a completely different country: different architecture, the presence of dark brown, dark red, and gray bricks of all shades, a huge number of bicycles parked everywhere; people riding bikes at high speeds, a small percentage of cars on the road that are lost among the bikes, and clean streets. This was how I saw the Netherlands from the window of a German train.... Also, I clearly felt some lightness and freedom, a kind of internal sign that I liked it here, I felt comfortable and cozy there. When I arrived in Amsterdam, I saw the water, the station stood on the water and I immediately felt the smell of water and the cool air. I fell in love with this city at first sight, despite the chaos and the huge number of people everywhere. Here there is something in the air, in the atmosphere, in the people that beckons and attracts and allows you to be yourself and simply be.... At the same time, please do not live in the illusion, Amsterdam is very different and very controversial, you need to realize this, and this is exactly what makes it attractive and tempting. And if anyone still doubts whether it is necessary to go to the Netherlands in general and to Amsterdam in particular, then I want to assure you that it is necessary, because it is worth it. Of course, there will be people who can remain indifferent to Amsterdam or will have negative experiences and impressions, but seeing Amsterdam at least once is important.

I will not write in this article about what to visit in Amsterdam or other cities in the Netherlands, there are millions of articles about it on the Internet, I want to write here about my insights from my observations and interesting facts I revealed thanks to my curiosity.

AMSTERDAM

Bicycles.

They are everywhere, there are many, many of them. Imagine your lot and multiply by three or four. They drive fast, they have separate large paths, pedestrians, on the other hand, do not have such an advantage, because there are small strips for pedestrians and not paths. People in Amsterdam do not want to pollute the environment and lead a responsible lifestyle, which is why they prefer bicycles.

An ode to bicycles are in all manifestations, they are like art installations throughout the city.

Cars.

Compared to bicycles, there are very few cars, so the air is clean and it is easier to breathe here than in other cities or other countries. Parking places near shops are made for bicycles, not for cars. The absence of a car does not mean that a person is poor and cannot afford a car, it indicates his/her sustainable approach to life and care for the environment.

Road traffic.

Crazy: bicycles, trams, cars, and people. And so in two directions. During the first day, it was difficult to understand where I needed to go, and where was my path. Several times I was criticized because I was constantly walking on the bike lanes. And one day all the bicycles stopped, and their owners very intelligently, but in detail, explained to me that I was violating and I had to move to the right side.

Sport.

People living in Amsterdam are sports-minded and in good understanding of sports addicted. At the same time, they do sports not because it is so fashionable or necessary and not for photos for Instagram or Facebook, they do sports for themselves, they take care of their health, and they lead a healthy lifestyle.

Healthy Food.

I have not seen such a number of healthy corners and healthy cafes in any other city or any other country. Of course, if you have gastritis or pancreatitis, then in any case, you should eat at home. In any other case, you will find anything very healthy: without sugar, gluten, lactose, vegan or vegetarian, not spicy, natural, without sauces, etc.

People.

I admired people. I felt a kind of hunger for diversity. I missed it a lot. I have probably only seen such non-standard, different, and creative people in London and Berlin, maybe even in Paris. People's clothing style was very different, everyone dressed as he/she felt comfortable and did not try to meet the fashion standards or fashion trends of some bloggers. When my eyes saw such a variety of colors, shapes, and styles in clothes, as well as in the appearance of women and men, I could not look away, I photographed everything with my eyes, so that I would later remember it as a pleasant movie. In my mind, this is exactly how people should be: very different in everything, this is exactly what diversity is, this is how the nation, country, and society can be enriched.

Men.

I openly stared at them. I regretted that I only had two days in Amsterdam and I didn't have time to go to a party. Beautiful, stylishly dressed, well-groomed. But please don't forget about my age, I didn't look at twenty-year-old hipsters, not my age and not my lifestyle, I just couldn't understand how this metamorphic transformation from young hipsters to grown men with completely different values and lifestyle happens?!?!?

Women.

Stylish, but, as I wrote above, very different. The only thing they have in common is a love for cowboy boots, which are probably worn by every fifth woman in Amsterdam and which are sold almost at every shop.

I couldn't stop staring at one girl, because I had never seen such people in real life. She was Asian, most likely from South Korea, I think. Her clothes, hairstyle, and even her gait were radically different from all the people I had seen before, it seemed that the anatomy of her body was different and that she had flown in from Mars.

English language.

At first, I couldn't understand why there were so many Americans, but then I realized that they were not Americans, they were Dutch. They all spoke fluent English, regardless of age and social status. Their accent and pronunciation were as if they were native speakers. I was told that this phenomenon was related to the fact that American films were and still are broadcasted on television in the original without subtitles and they grew up in an English-speaking environment from childhood.

Houses. Arhitecture.

Dolls style and very beautiful houses gave you the impression that you got into a fairy tale. All the houses are very old and many of them have been called "dancing" because they have learned a lot and are not standing straight. This happened because they are all on wooden beams, which, unfortunately, have rotted with age. But I am sure that the country will somehow solve this issue in the long run, because the Netherlands is very progressive and innovative.

As a rule, apartments in old buildings are arranged not horizontally, but vertically, which means, your apartment is an entire small house with three floors. The stairs in such houses are vertical and it is very difficult to climb them with a suitcase, and it is even more difficult to go down, and there are such steep vertical stairs on each floor. At first, your head spins and your heart beats faster, but then you get used to it little by little.

There is no elevator in the building, but there is a special hook on the top floor that you can use to lift furniture and other bulky/heavy items through the windows to each floor.

Amsterdam

Canals.

There are a lot of canals, I would recommend walking around the city without looking for special "points", just calmly enjoy and feel the atmosphere.

Railway station.

This is a masterpiece. And in principle, in the Netherlands, all stations are new, with a creative architectural idea, and full of cafes and restaurants.

Red Light Street.

Honestly, I didn't understand at all?!?!? Well, if before these women had no other option to earn money, now there are a million options…. So they just like this job?!?! Standing in a window like a doll in a bikini and selling yourself?!?!? Sometimes I just stood there and tried to understand, but I couldn't... I was in Thailand and saw different things there, and somehow "these different things" more or less fit into the paradigm of Thailand....

Security. Trust. Reliability.

This is what surprised and amazed me. Germany seemed very safe to me compared to Ukraine and every time my eyes were opened by German security and reliability, but.... But the level of security, trust, and reliability in the Netherlands is even higher. Could you imagine people here simply trusting each other a priori?!?!? Could you imagine that??? I remember how a friend of mine in Ukraine planted flowers every weekend near her cafe, and every Monday, returning to the cafe, she realized that some other "good person" had dug them up and taken them for their purposes.... So about Amsterdam and security. One night I lived in a hotel in Amsterdam, and then two more nights in Haarlem, near Amsterdam. The Airbnb host just left the door open with keys on the table…. The door was opened all day…. It meant that theoretically, anyone could come in. But he lived in the Netherlands and was sure that only the person who should do it came in....

Amsterdam Public Library.

Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (Amsterdam Public Library) is an organization of public libraries in the Netherlands. The first such library was opened in 1919 in Amsterdam. The library is open until 22:00 and anyone can enter. The institution has many floors and on each floor there is a corresponding genre of literature, minus the first floor, for example, children's literature is situated. In the library, you can read books, as well as just work with a laptop. On the top floor, there is a coffee shop with a panoramic terrace overlooking the waterfront and the NEMO Science Museum. If I lived in Amsterdam, I would be a regular visitor to this establishment.

Flowers.

There is a special place where flowers and souvenirs are sold, the so-called flower market. You can buy their fresh flowers, dried flowers, and seedlings. It is a kind of mecca for inspiration and relaxation.

Strange institutions.

There is, for example, a prostitution office. There are, at first glance, ordinary coffee shops or cafes, we wanted to go into one such coffee shop, but when we approached the entrance, we saw a serious security man who was checking everyone, so we realized that they do not sell coffee at all, and the range of their services was very big and unexpectable....

New Amsterdam.

There is also a completely different part of Amsterdam: all in glass and metal. Here, the buildings are tall and bizarrely shaped. I liked the fact that they left the historic part as it was, and all the new houses in the historical city center are being built in the same style. They started to build hi-tech and tall glass buildings on a completely different side, there is nothing historical there, and there are no small dollhouses.... These two parts of the city are radically different, but at the same time, they complement each other.

And finally, "without rose-colored glasses", the center of Amsterdam is dirty, some streets reminded me of Bangkok, and the number of people in the center is exhausting. I enjoyed walking around the "sleepy areas" of Amsterdam, which are also in the center but not in the tourist area, they are also beautiful but quiet, almost empty and clean.

Yesterday I was listening again to my favorite Eckhart Tolle, writer, philosopher, and spiritual teacher. He emphasized "Why it is so important to travel" from a spiritual point of view. I will tell his story in my interpretation. When we live at home, our brain already knows everything: home, work, home, store (where we already clearly understand what and on which shelf is situated), a cafe or restaurant which we used to go and know what to order (and even if we go to a new one, almost nothing will change), sports according to a known program and road, etc. That is how, the vast majority of people, being at home, live on a machine, unconscious level, and are never here and now, that is, in the moment. When we go on a trip (to travel abroad), to an unknown country, city, or even to another continent, we know nothing there, many things are unknown to us there, and at the moment of admiration for architecture, nature, or people, we are in a fraction of seconds in the moment, here and now, our brain shuts down and we begin to live and be present. Such moments are short-term, but during our travel, there can be quite a lot. The brain cannot live abroad on a machine level, because it does not know anything there, it either enjoys what it sees, panics "What to do?" or criticizes everything (well, the roads here are not so clean, and the trains are late, and the pillow in the hotel is of the wrong shape, and in general, people are kind of strange...). Because between moments of pleasure in the present, the brain tries to turn on again and tell us how bad everything is, because it is so trained, once again diverting our attention from being in the moment. Constantly returning attention to the contemplation of something new, we increase the intervals of staying in the moment. These moments of pleasure, enjoyment, admiration, contemplation, etc. help us to be here and now enrich ourselves energetically and spiritually, and expand our consciousness. Of course, going to another level of consciousness, we can reach such moments, staying at home in a known routine or even during difficult external circumstances in the form of a natural disaster or war.

June 17, 2023.