Amsterdam: City of Sin and Streets with really long names

Amsterdam is definitely the most eclectic city I have ever visited. It is a huge tourist city, and people come from all over the world, for all different reasons, to see it. Many people first think of the Red Light District in Amsertdam or the famous coffeeshops (NOT to be confused with cafés). Many people also come to see the beautiful architecture in a city of 100 canals and 1000 bridges. And still others come to see the many museums, markets, parks, churches, bicycles...the list goes on. We checked most everything off the list within a few days, and I would have to say that the city would not be complete without any one of those things (yes, even the things that give Amsterdam it's nickname, the City of Sin, are a part of the city's culture and make it unique). It should also have the nickname "City with Ridiculously Long Street Names". For example, our hostel was on Oudezijds Voorburgwal, and most street names were even longer. Not knowing Dutch didn't help. Thankfully, many people spoke English, and you can mostly just follow the canals to find your way. It is also true that everyone gets around by bike in Amsterdam. There are probably more bikes than people in the city (not including toursists) and so many streets are only a bike lane and a sidewalk for pedestrians. Just don't think that because there aren't cars on the streets that you can walk right in the middle. Stay out of the bike lane, or you WILL get hit. Or spit at. Lesson learned.

I have a strange love for bridges, so I think that is why I found Amsterdam so beautiful. With all the canals in the city, we were constantly crossing bridges, and I wanted to stop and take pictures at every single one (we probably crossed nearly all 1000 bridges by the end of our stay). We also took a cruise along the canals to see more of the city from the water. Thankfully, we had pretty nice weather there, and it seemed that every restaurant and café has outdoor seating right along the canals. We spent a lot of time just sitting on the edge of the canals, people watching (Amsterdam is also a great people-watching city).

We first visited the Red Light District, just for the experience. It's actually not that seedy during the day, as long as you stay out of certain shops. The streets are crammed with tourists of ALL ages, which was interesting to me, but not that surprising I guess. What was really interesting was, at night, seeing all the neon signs plastered right onto the beauitful buildings. The juxtaposition seemed really odd to me, but that is what Amsterdam is: odd, yet strangely very beautiful just for it's uniqueness.
But there was much, much more to Amsterdam. We ventured out and walked to other areas of the city with more eye-catching architecture, and found a lovely Antique flea market filled with a lot of junk and also a lot of really cool authentic Dutch antiques. I wished my pack was larger so I could buy all of it. But alas, that which you buy, you must also carry. So no old sewing machines or lamps or rocking chairs or coffeemakers for me this time. Bought some cheap sunglasses instead and called them a souvenier.