May 1st is International Labor Day and a Bank holiday in Europe. A red day as they say. I had taken a trip for work on KLM and something apparently went wrong, I can't say what, but they certainly thought so. As I disembarked the plane they were giving out €50 vouchers for flights. These two things together made Chris and I decide to take a trip. It was our first trip to Dutch land.
The train from the airport to the city center was extremely easy to figure out. Once we were at the central station we used trusty ole Google maps and found our way to the hotel. It was located on the harbor.
We were early for check in, so we dropped our bags and headed out for a walk. The temperature wasn't any warmer, but we did start to see some sun, which we hadn't seen for a while back home.
As I'm sure you know, there are a lot of canals. When the city was first built, the canals came in sections, and more and more were built. The houses and warehouses were built as the canals were. The whole city is still in the same layout and the same buildings are still in use. Because of how old and tall and skinny the buildings are, they've started to lean. Some building lean into the street, some lean into the neighbor and some sag in the middle. It's pretty amazing to see the structural damage and imagine that they are still used.
The canals make the traffic situation a bit tricky. Each road has a canal for a median. One side is one way car traffic, while the other is the opposite direction. The streets And sidewalks are small and super crowded. Copenhagen is known for being a city with a lot of bikes. I'm certain that Amsterdam has it beat. Not only bicycles but also motor bikes. The pedestrians and the bikes (both kinds) are then fighting for space between the canals and the buildings. It's chaos! I have gotten very used to looking for bikes before I walk, but this made me super nervous. At one point Chris had to arm bar me because I was about to step in front of a speeding moped. We were eating at a table on a road side and I caught these pics. Notice one guy just missed being smashed and the other one is about to be.
The canals also give the city a lot of character and make it one of the prettiest if not the prettiest city I've seen yet. When the sun came out it was beautiful. There were so many cafes, shops, bridges and house boats that added to the uniqueness.
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