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Saturday, March 19, 2016

3 blocks of everything- Part 1

Haarlemmerdijk is the heart of the neighborhood of Haarlemmerbuurt. It stretches a mere 3 blocks- from Haarlemmerplein to where it crosses a canal and becomes Haarlemmerstraat- which continues on toward Central Station and the Red Light district beyond (of particular note, there is a very apparent change in the atmosphere when you cross the canal and make the switch to Haarlemmerstraat- more on this in a later post).  

The 3 blocks of Haarlemmerdijk epitomizes the diverse urban scale of Amsterdam- practically any kind of shop or retail business that one can think of is located here. There are restaurants and cafes, bars, coffeeshops (both kinds), clothing boutiques, shoe stores, grocery stores and markets, bakery, a chocolatier, cheese shops, butcher (chicken), butcher (beef and pork), butcher (halal), banks, shoe repair, a key shop, cooking stores, a cookbook store, pharmacy, drug stores, book stores, a movie theater, tea shops, bulk coffee shop, liquor/wine/beer shops, convenience stores, a hotel, household items stores, postal services, office supply store, a laundromat, art galleries, have I left anything out? Oh yeah- typically these businesses are all on the ground level. The 2 to 4 levels above are primarily residential. 

Walking down Haarlemmerdijk, one can begin to comprehend the diversity and density of the neighborhood of Haarlemmerbuurt and the 10,000 Amsterdamers that the Haarlemmerdijk serves. 
  • The neighborhood of Haarlemmerbuurt has an area of 0.208 square miles with a population of 9,260, which represents a density of 44,520 inhabitants per square mile. Haarlemmerdijk is highlighted in Red

  • The red dot is our apartment. The shaded circle represents a radius of approximately 800 feet which takes in the entire 3 blocks of Haarlemmerdijk.


America comes to Amsterdam

I apologize for the lack of posts here at EuroGeezer. I have been spending an inordinate amount of time over at GeezerNation obsessed/fascinated/horrified by Donald Trump.

You just can't get away from America. We have McDonalds, KFC, malls, etc., but today some idiot on a very loud 4 wheeler went flying up the street across the canal from us. Went airborne going over a speed bump. I wanted to go thru the window (we are on the 2nd floor), chase him down, and set his toy on fire. But he is gone. Later I heard him somewhere nearby. If I can find him, a little sugar in the gas tank should do the trick......

   --raving eurogeezer


Monday, March 14, 2016

Monday- Duck

Alright, its Monday. I don't know what that was about over the weekend, but we here at EuroGeezer have re-gained control of the Blog. Amsterdam is a great town, and we aim to keep it that way. No more discussions about being "baked", or "weird existential/buddhist film with water and a cat". 

Instead, will take a look at ducks, specifically, the Duck Store. You may recall on our last visit to Amsterdam in 2014, we encountered the Cow Store/Museum. 


Today it is the Duck Store. A couple of weeks ago it was the Toothbrush Store. Amsterdamers love that one stop shopping experience, especially for their duck, cow and dental needs.






Baked

We saw a guy sitting on some steps as we were coming down (or up) Herengracht one mid-day. I am not sure if I have ever actually seen 'eyes glazed over', but there he was. He was baked; thoroughly baked.

But then he reminded me of someone, way-way, waay, far back, far-baka even....to this guy: