Wall-O-Cheese

Its just another quaint little neighborhood shop on the corner (Kaasland!)......

........only it has a Wall of Cheese!

Friets: it's whats for dinner

For some strange reason, french fries are standard fare here in Amsterdam. It must be the Mayo that makes the Dutch french fry so different. Or maybe its because the fries aren't cooked in the same oil as the Chicken McNuggets, Filet-O-Fish, Buffalo Ranch McChicken, or the McGriddle Cakes. 

the weed paradox

[as if you didn't know, we are talking about Amsterdam] 
Cannabis in all its forms (marijuana, hashish, hash oil) is legal under condition of so called "personal use". Smoking of cannabis even in public, is not prosecuted and neither is selling it, although these activities are technically illegal under the still valid Opium Act. However, this practice is widely tolerated provided that it happens in a limited, controlled way (in a "coffee shop", 5 grams maximum transaction, not many portions in stock, sale only to adults, no advertisement of drugs, etc.). Large scale growing, processing and trading in marijuana is still forbidden as in any other country, but the penalties given by the courts are much lower than abroad.

But, the Dutch have not solved the question of the controlled supply of cannabis. While large-scale growth and trade of marijuana is forbidden and prosecuted, the question remains how the "coffee shops" all over the country can obtain their supplies within this law.

Heck if I know.......maybe Fedex from Denver, or Portland? 

photo copyright by somebody, whatever

coffee shop

In Amsterdam there is a distinction between "coffee shop" and coffee shop. 

A "coffee shop" sells marijuana and you can sit in the coffee shop and actually drink coffee while you consume your marijuana. The coffee is way secondary to the consumption of weed part. I am sure you can find locals in these shops, but primarily you will find tourists. Most representative of tourist is a group of guys wandering around looking for the right kind of coffee shop.

A coffee shop is just what is implies- you come in and buy coffee, and sit and drink coffee.

Its real easy to tell the difference between the two. If you don't smell weed, then its a coffee shop.......

not a "coffee shop"!

Bar truck!

seen at yet another market event....this one at Westerpark the first Sunday of the month.

did I mention bikes?

According to the data below, there is a nearly 1 to 1 ratio of people to bikes in the Netherlands. This means that there are 85,000 bikes in central Amsterdam.......this also means that you are more likely to get run down by a bicycle than any other form of transportation in the city. 

Netherlands

• People: 16,652,800
• Bicycles: 16,500,000
• Cyclists: ~99.1%

In the Netherlands 27% of all trips and 25% of trips to work are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person per day is 2.5 km. Holland and bicycles go together like bread and jam. Despite the recession the cycle-happy Dutch are still spending a lot of money on their bicycles – nearly 1 billion euros’ worth a year. About 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands in 2009, at an average price of 713 euros ($1,008) each. Amsterdam (the capital and largest city of the Netherlands) is one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world. It has 400 km of bike lanes and nearly 40% of all commutes in Amsterdam are done on bike. Strangely, most cyclists don’t wear helmets. And bike theft is a big problem, with about one of five (20%) bicycles being stolen each year.

source:  http://top10hell.com/top-10-countries-with-most-bicycles-per-capital