WHEN IN LONDON.... VISIT AMSTERDAM

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Let me start by stating that I have never seen a city so beautiful and so inspiring than Amsterdam. I've seen many beautiful cities but Amsterdam is the one I've chosen as my retiring city. I was asked what I thought of Amsterdam and I said, "To me, it is like a box of expensive and succulent chocolate and I'm INSIDE the box eating each piece." And this is why....

An with more elegant stores and restaurants I've seen in my entire life. 

An airport with a ceiling where grass grows. Talking about going green.

The airport connects with Amsterdam Central by train.

One good great thing about the trains is that they come in all colors, RAINBOW colors!!!

Amsterdam Central is the parting point to ANY point in the city. It seems like the city starts here.

The two means of transportation are the TRAM...

And BICYCLES, lots and lots of bicycles, with five-story parking lots always full to capacity. You can see cars here and there but very little. In fact, a new bill is being worked out to "prohibit" cars from being in the city. Amsterdam could become the first carless city in the world.

My hotel was located in the southeast side of the city, just two short blocks from the famous "Leidseplein," which is exactly 2 miles away from Amsterdam Central. My hotel was gay owned and operated, located on Kersktraat.

Amsterdam has many attractions and I suspect most people like to go there because they can get "high" in a coffeehouse. I don't smoke at all so, that was not my reason to be there. But, one of the things I love to do is look into the history of things. So here you have "Bulldog Coffeehouse," the original and oldest coffeehouse in the city. 

Interesting thing about Amsterdam. It is legal to smoke mariguana inside such coffee houses but it is against the law to smoke cigarettes, so most people smoke pot inside and step outside for their regular cigarette smoke. Also, starting January 2013, selling "pot" to tourist will be illegal. So, those young people planning to go to Amsterdam and get high next summer, sorry!  

The "Red District" is a national attraction. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam so those sex workers are busy day and night. There aren't any red districts for "women" or for "gay men" for that matter, but I most gay clubs have "dark rooms" so don't need to pay to have sex. When it comes to women, I don't know anything about it. Sorry. 

As an interesting fact, the "red district" shares its streets with a famous chapel. 

And while the men walk the narrow red district streets looking for "the one," I simply admired them without care because they think I'm there looking for a lady of my own. Little do they know.