Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
canals
Amsterdam's canals tamed the flow of the Amstel River, cre-
ating pockets of dry land to build on. The city's 100 canals are
about 10 feet deep, crossed by
some 1,200 bridges, fringed
with 100,000 Dutch elm and
lime trees, and bedecked with
2,500 houseboats. A system
of locks (back near the Central
Station) controls the flow out-
ward to (eventually) the North
Sea and inward to the Amstel
River. The locks are opened
periodically to flush out the
system.
Some of the boats in the canals look pretty funky by day,
but Amsterdam is an unpretentious, anti-status city. When
the sun goes down and the lights come on, people cruise the
sparkling canals with an on-board hibachi and a bottle of
wine, and even scows can become chick-magnets.
cross the street and pass under a row of tall, gray, Greek-style columns,
entering...
Max euweplein
The Latin inscription above the colonnade—
Homo Sapiens non
urinat in ventum
—means “People, don't pee into the wind.” Pass
between the columns and through a passageway to reach a pleasant
interior courtyard with cafés and a large chessboard with knee-
high kings. (Max Euwe was a Dutch world chess champion.)
The square gives you access to the Casino, and just over the small
bridge is the entrance to
Vondelpark.
•ReturntoWeteringschansstreet.Turnrightandcontinue75yards
easttoasquat,red-brickbuildingcalled...
Paradiso
Back when rock-and-roll was a religion, this former church staged
intimate concerts by big-name acts such as the Rolling Stones. In
the late 1960s, when city fathers were trying hard to tolerate hordes
of young pot-smokers, this building was redecorated with psyche-
delic colors and opened up as the first place where marijuana could
be smoked—not legally yet, but it was tolerated. Today, the club
hosts live bands and DJs and sells pot legally (for current shows,
see www.paradiso.nl).
•ContinuedownWeteringschanstotheirstbridge,whereyou'llseethe
Rijksmuseumacrossthecanal.
