driving to work in The Netherlands

[nico boom]

Passing this view every day for the last 17 years without paying much attention, but I pulled over yesterday to take some pics.
We live just under the city of Amsterdam.
Nico

[ttocs]

all the traveling I did around Europe the people of Amsterdam were the most polite/welcoming people I ever met. We were only there 3 days and didn't get out of the town to enjoy the countryside but I would if I could do it again.

[itchnertamatoa]

I was in Amsterdam a few years ago
stayed for a couple of night right next to the airport till we moved right into town
gotta love that city ... redlight district, Heineken Museum ...

[hardcoredore]

I've heard they passed a law that keeps tourists from visiting your fine "coffee shops". [emoji33]

[nico boom]

Not when you're a tourist visiting our country for more than a day... meaning they had problems with French and Belgium guys that drove down to Amsterdam at night to score some joints, make trouble and drive off again.

You'll find the Dutch Government and us people very torerant if you behave normal and enjoy your joint.

[ttocs]

good for you I hope you give the French just as much shit as they did me as every stereo type about rude French people came true while we were in paris. To put it into perspective even the waiters were rude to us.....

[nico boom]

good for you I hope you give the French just as much shit as they did me as every stereo type about rude French people came true while we were in paris. To put it into perspective even the waiters were rude to us.....

You're so right... we stranded in Paris on a saturday with a leaky radiator-cap. I called our supplier in NL and he searched which type we needed... turned out almost ANY cap would fit our Mishubishi Pajero 4x4.

NO GARAGE of the 4 we visited wanted to help us; we were simply told the office was opened but the parts-storage was closed.
At one garage I could look through the open door of the parts- storage and sweared I could walk in and grab one.
I told them they wouldn't have to look up the correct type, as I had written down the partsnumber and alternatives for this simple part; we were unkindly asked to leave the showroom and come back on Monday.

They even refused to [try to] speak English, and we were treated like scum.
I'm positive not all French people are like this, but I could add another dozen of these experiences from a vacation in France a few years ago.
So for me; France = MAIS NON !

[ttocs]

we were there 3 days and then have never been happier to catch a train to anywhere, let alone Barcelona which is another great friendly place to visit if you have time. In fact while we were there one day walking through a park suddenly some old dude walks away from hic Bachi ball(sp?) game they were playing and started trying to talk to use. Being paranoid European travelers(that were still weary of anyone after the way the Parisians treated us) we grabbed our wallet/passport to be sure he was not trying to pick-pocket us. At first we did not understand what he was saying until I occurred to me he was trying to guess what our nationality was. When we told him we were americans he broke out into some song "I love americans bla bla bla", we still just stood there waiting for someone to "bumb" into us but no he finished up and then said he just wanted to welcome us to his city and to have a wonderfully time. Hell I was only in amsterdamn a total of 30 mins before we found a place to stay(by the traditional backpacker way of a hostel runner finding us at the train station) and were then walking down the middle of a street passing a joint between us and 4 others we just met. I shit you not in paris even the waiters acted like they didn't want a tip.....