Photo Essay: Canals, Bicycles and Coffee Shops

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This time three years ago, I had handed in my thesis and was on the road with two close friends of mine. On that thursday night, the idea came up to hit the road and so, with no set plan, we drove our way up to Amsterdam. 

We drove for at least 6 hours, and only arrived in the dutch capital at about 1 or 2 am. Excited about our arrival, we parked the car and stepped out to take a first quick glimpse on the city of sins. Me parked next to what - in my naïve mind - was a department store. But to my surprise, the store's mannequins were... alive. Not that I didn't knew about Amsterdam's Red Light District. I did. But we weren't exactly in the red light district yet and, besides, I had never seen anything similar to this before. 

We walked to what was the actual Red Light District but soon realized we were out-placed as the only people still wandering on the streets were men looking to window-shop. Note: it didn't really feel unsafe for 3 girls, men were far too focussed on what was going on behind the windows. 

The next morning, we started our journey through the city of canals, bicycles and coffee shops.

One of Amsterdam's many canals

Uncountable number of bicycles

Having dutch beer during lunch time

Inside a Coffee Shop

Ever since, I've been back to Amsterdam twice, but always for work. Still, I find this city, and particularly the parts that aren't extremely touristic, charming and worth the visit. I know many people think of it as a touristic cliché - that wherever you go, you'll see groups of young tourists high or drunk. I'm not going to lie - you can find pretty freaky people out there. However, Amsterdam has much more to offer than a couple of coffee shops (which may I say, is still part of the experience). My personal favorite area up to now has been the restaurant/bar/boutique area in and around Spuistraat. 

Anyway, I'll leave you, as usual, with 5 (quite surprising!) facts about Amsterdam.

1. Amsterdam's Airport (Schiphol) is 4 meters below sea level. This means that, if global warming causes the sea level to rise, Amsterdam would be one of the first cities to drown
2. There are estimated to be 1 million bikes in Amsterdam vs. approximately 750.000 people. The number of bicycles actually is estimated to have doubled the number of cars
3. Measured per square meter, Amsterdam is the city with the highest number of Museums worldwide - the city's administration counts 51 museums!
4. There are over 200 coffee shops spread across the city. Since 2007, customer can only smoke pure cannabis joints in coffee shops but can not mix them with tobacco 
5. The famous magic mushrooms - dry or fresh - are both illegal since December 2008 (after a couple of bad tourist incidents)

Have you ever been to Amsterdam? If so, which are your thoughts - is it too touristy? 

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By the way, one of my pictures was featured over at Christine's C'est Christine on her Share the Love Sundays feature, check it out!

A Girls' Dresscode to a Speedboat Business Event ( Part II)

So you migh be wondering how the speedboat event in the Port of Rotterdam went a few days ago - it was a disaster. I got half an hour late because my train go delayed, so I was there, dealing with some impatient bankers which made me slip into a bright red plastic overall size dutch L, which is, by the way, far away from the spanish - italian - french L. I know, I know - why did I even bother wondering for so many hours what to wear? Well, I guess I was kind of idealistic: I thought that it would be nice weather (it rained), that I would get a lifejacket (not a whole overall) and that our speedboat would look something like this (after all, I was told we would be discussing some major points of the project during the boat ride):

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I was so wrong - or at least someone was obviously wrong and confused me too, because the actual plan was to spend 3 hours on something similar to this:

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Despite common beliefs, these red-orange plastic overalls do not mantain yourself dry - they are just there to make you look ridiculous. Ok - also to be used as a windbreaker, I guess (but their first use is definitely to make you look like a fool). This I found out after 2 hours speeding around the port: I started feeling wet and cold on my seat and instantly turned to my left to shout out to the company's financial controller "Are you feeling kind of wet too?". When we arriving to the end of the trip, I realized that my skirt was soaked (there went the well-planned-outfit).

Still, I had my fun - afterall, I'm quite flexible when it comes to socializing events. I guess I'll be wiser for the next time.

A Girls' Dresscode to a Speedboat Business Event

You know that I'm proud of my packing efficiency, but this only applies to normal situations: bank meetings in their offices, dinners or lunches - what I had never expected is that my meeting this thursday would take place on a speed boat in Holland! It sounds like a fun idea to be taking turns to steer the boat in the north of Holland with a a bunch of men, but I'm seriously wondering how professional I can keep in this type of situation. I can't help picturing myself rolling on the floor of the boat, or even worse - falling over into the sea. Dress code says "business casual" - yeah, sure, that's easy for men, but since I'm the only woman on this whole event, what am I expected to do?

After a few hours of over-thinking and trying on everything my wardrobe is hiding, I got to the following conclusions about a girls dress code to a speedboat event (just in case you sometime get caught up in something along these lines...):

• Forget about heels. No way I can even manage to get on to that speed boat without loosing one shoe in the water or falling over the director. Flat boots are a good alternative, I guess. If you dare to, take your wellies (I'm still considering this option) and another pair of classy boots (at least you can change for the cocktail and dinner). If there's not enough space in your bag for all these shoes, probably the next best option is to stick to simple black/brown flat boots from last year (or the year before).

• No jeans. Firstly, because the invitation says business casual, and secondly, because jeans are probably one of the most unpleasant clothes to wear when they're wet and, according to the email received "as we're speeding around, some of the water will probably make it on to the boat" (believe me - that means the water will make it particularly on me). Instead, I've chosen to stick to a new skirt I recently bought: long enough, stretch, no pleats and stiff (wind won't be playing with my clothes this time).

• Layered. Layers and more layers - one over the other, starting with a shirt, then a pullover, a jacket (and, over all, a coat). Excessive? Maybe - But hey, I'm coming from the Canary Islands and cold is not my favorite status, at all. To this, I'll add one of my favorite scarves and voilá, I'm ready for speedboating!

Wait. There's something missing: the handbag! Well this was an easy choice for me (and girls, I really recommend you to take hold of one of them): my fake-leather shoulder bag. This way, my hands will be free to hold on to every corner of the boat.

Now that at least my wardrobe won't play against me, I'll only have to take care of my clumsiness - Everything else is under control.

*gulp*