Amsterdam Part 2

At the airport we looked around for storage lockers to put our carry-on luggage in so that we wouldn't have to lug it around the city with us, but we couldn't find any.  Ironically, when we returned to the airport later for our flight, I spotted the sign for the lockers.  Go figure. 

Getting off the train at Amsterdam Centraal, our introduction to the city was the smell of marijuana and garbage.  The streets were covered in litter.  The street cleaners were out sweeping up the streets, and all the shops were still closed.  Pretty much everything was closed until 9:30am or later--it was just after seven in the morning.

Consequently, we took many pictures as we wandered, waiting for shops and the cafes to open.  With the garbage off the street, and as more people started to emerge, the city grew quite welcoming.

Amsterdam Centraal:

After seeing the cleanliness and non-marked streets of Japan, seeing graffiti was a little jarring and seemed out of place in this quaint city

 The Street Cleaners:

Cars, pedestrians, bikes, and trains all converge through these intersections.  Emily was almost run over by a motorcycle and I really don't know how they don't have more accidents.  We had fun figuring out where we were supposed to walk (in the beginning, as the day wore on, the pedestrian path was more obvious).  Places that seemed obvious sidewalks had cars driving on them.  It was just crazy.

If you look to the left in the picture, you see the pedestrian, the car behind, and you can see the rail tracks where the light rail goes speeding by--there are no curbs or lights or anything to guard the people from the light rail/cars

 Other places were more obviously marked. 
They even had intersections where the pedestrians, bikes, and cars have their own separate crossing signs. 

 Sights of the city:

Not sure what this is about, but it caught our attention...it just seems so...European

When we first came upon this museum, it was completely deserted, but when we came back upon it a few hours later, the square was teeming with people...and a couple grim reapers.  Not entirely sure what they were up to--but they would go up to people and bug them.  Some people wanted their picture taken with the grim reapers.  We didn't stick around to find out.  We just thought it was weird and creepy and avoided them. 

 

 Later in the day--can you see the grim reaper to the right?

 How about now?

This very Dutch looking wagon was played music and was just outside the museum square.

Some City Sights: