Dear all,
Today I visited Theme Park Amsterdam. The Dutch call it "Pretpark Amsterdam". What a rush, what a crowd! But what a party it was.
Entrance to the park is free and you don't have to pay for many attractions either. The park is full of cute old houses and bridges and has lots of canals. At Dam Square, the center of the park, you'll find the old palace of King Louis Napoleon.
You do have to pay for some attractions. For instance, I paid 20 euros to rent a bike for a day. In the Red Light District, you pay 100 to 200 euros for half an hour of private entertainment "behind the window".
There are also some nice museums. A ticket will cost you 22 euros. You must keep in mind that you are not the only visitor. To view a well-known large painting, "Waiting in the Night" by a local painter—I forget the name, but I think he cut off his ear—I stood in line outside the museum.
You can buy snacks at various places in the park. I ate the croquette and the frikandel, which are Dutch tidbits that cost 3 euros.
Do you want to smoke a joint? For 3.5 euros, you can have a hash or weed joint. You can't smoke them everywhere. You risk a fine of 100 euros if you light up your joint in a smoking ban area.
The main language in the park is English. But you will also receive good help in German or French. Don't try to make yourself understood in Dutch. No one will understand you. Every now and then, I saw a few lost Dutch people. They were easy to recognize by their clogs.
In the park, you should pay close attention to cyclists who ride through the park to school or work. They ride through the park visitors, ringing loudly with their bicycle bells. More than half of the bikes are electric and they ride twice as fast as self-pedal bikes. I returned my rented self-pedal bike after an hour. Cycling is extremely dangerous for tourists, even in the park.
After visiting a few terraces, I also made use of one very special attraction, one of the last "pee curls" in the park. The pee curl is only for men. If you ever go to use the pee curl, put a peg on your nose. It smells awful there.
This was a short report today of my visit to Theme Park Amsterdam. You will hear more from me tomorrow because there is really a lot to do here.
Below is a list of the attractions that I have done or still want to do. And of course, I also took a lot of pictures. If you find the right attraction for each photo, you will also know where I almost fell into the bloody canal after a day of beer, croquettes, herring, cheese, still more beer, 'stoopwavels', sex, drugs, and rock-'n-roll.
Greetings from Theme Park Amsterdam,
John.