Back from Europe

B

Breedlove

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
Nov 21, 2016
Messages
1,245
Location
Richards
DW and I decided to take advantage of the cheap airfares and went to Europe . Flew into Amsterdam 554.00 RT.
Before we left there was a segment on CNN about Amsterdam has turned into an unsafe jungle and Koln is over run by bad people ( FAKE NEWS) Both were excellent and safe for us . Kind of funny we are eating lunch at a restaurant in Koln and we hear people behind us talking US / English . So of course we ask where they are from ( Cleveland Ohio ) They were 2 couples from the River cruise. They explained that at breakfast 5 couples got into a fist fight on the river cruise over politics 3 couples from Calif. blew up.

This was our 21st trip to Europe and when in Amsterdam we stay the same place , it is like staying with family . Our friend that runs the Hotel was complaining he can't retire till he is 67 . He works 6 days a week 3 hours a day . He gets 2 months of holiday with 8 weeks pay. Eight from the owner and eight from the government .

We visited Germany , Belgium , NL and Lux. It was a fun time , we have seen many sights but it seems it is the friends that we have made over the years that take our time.

A couple that we have known for years in Diemon NL are talking retirement . He was the mayor and in politics all his life . His wife is a dentist out of her house. kind of different she now works 3 days a week and does paperwork one day a week .
She explained her husband has never had a full time job , he was a politician . We all laughed .

When we got to Amsterdam it was Pride week , it was so crazy . We watched 2 hours of the boat parade and finally gave up . our friends told us over 300,000 people come to Amsterdam for this event. Every big square had entertainment . They have changed from Gay pride to Pride . ( To be proud of who you are and part of this planet )

We are thinking of going back this fall of next spring rates are today 471.00 out of Houston . Need to see some friends we missed .
 
Amsterdam an unsafe jungle? Ridiculous! It’s a lovely city, very family friendly. I’d avoid the super crowded tourist areas though, like the Dam. But I go to busy museums all the time.
 
Last edited:
I know Amsterdam over 21 years we have never had any problems . But CNN loves to scare people . DW and I were just laughing in Dam Square the mimes and all , there was a group of Polish girls getting body painted from head to toe …. so scarey !
 
We just did our Europe trip (JFK - AMS) two weeks ago. In addition to Amsterdam, we went to Belgium (Brussels and Bruges), Luxembourg, Germany (Nuremburg and Berlin), and Czechia (Prague), for 16 days. The total cost is almost $6k for two people. We had to fly to La Guardia from other city first.
While in Amsterdam, we did almost everything by walking and we felt safe there. The only "rude" people were two on bicycles when we were on the bike ways unintentionally.
 
Breedlove said:
... CNN loves to scare people ...
Click to expand...

Actually that was a direct quote from the Amsterdam Ombudsman Arre Zuurmond, who said (translated) "[The inner city is] a jungle at night, in which survival of the fittest applies and in which the government is intolerably absent".

https://nltimes.nl/2018/03/07/crowded-amsterdam-jungle-night-says-ombudsman

His statement was widely covered by Dutch media, but also picked up by many other news organizations around the world. I would certainly expect anyone that carries world news to have at least mentioned an official statement like this about a major world capital, so it's not all surprising that it turned up on CNN. If it hadn't they'd have been pretty derelict in their coverage.

It's good that you were able to enjoy your trip and that the nightly problems around the Leidseplein did not cause you any difficulties while you were in Amsterdam.
 
We’ve been to Leidseplein many times. Early evening too, although not a night (dark). Never noticed anything jungle like. Dam gets a bit crazy, but it didn’t keep us from visiting the palace or church.

It’s a very densely populated city, and definitely overcrowded with tourists at times. The trams can get very full. Other than watching our stuff in the crowded Centrum area we’ve never felt unsafe. It’s easy to find not so crowded areas and get away from tourists. Vondelpark is a delight.

I suppose if you live near a popular tourist destination, you are inconvenienced.
 
Last edited:
Having been to both cities several times, I find them as safe (if not safer) than some of our swell cities. Chicago comes to mind. Any major city has off limits areas. Probably true for Amsterdam and Cologne. But neither has 50-70 murders on a given weekend. CNN needs to look inward a tad more deeply IMHO.
2017 murders?
Chicago - ~650
Atlanta (CNN HQ) 80
Amsterdam - 17

Yep, stay the hell out of those awful European cesspools of death. Give me a break!
 
Anyone that has had problems in Leidesplein was probably looking for it . I often play music in Leidesplein at Melo Mellow and when we leave MM we sometimes have a hard time because of the partying . I think this is fake news . Some of this video looks like it is in the Singel , not Leidesplein . My god Leidesplein is the entertainment district.

Are there people peeing into the canal , never seen it but they do have the cages to go pee . Go to San Francisco and people are peeing and pooping on the street day and night .. Are there pick pockets of course , go to New York ..

Also remember Amsterdam has shut off most of the street lights to use traffic directors . This is to discourage people ( tourists ) and taxis driving into the Centrum and not knowing where to go or how to drive in the city . I believe by 2020 no gas burning vehicles will be permitted in the city .

Does it get loud at night , of course the buildings acoustics are ideal for noise to travel.

Are the Polite not visible ….all I can say again is fake news . Amsterdam has many undercover (plain clothes officers ) and uniformed officers everywhere . Ask how I know also one of our friends from the Keukenoff is a judge in Amsterdam

I am not trying to be rude and please forgive me if it sounds to strong but we were out a couple nights in Amsterdam to 4:00 AM and seen no problem .

We go to San Francisco and what was a really great city has become a vagrant jungle , we will not go back .
 
Breedlove said:
I know Amsterdam over 21 years we have never had any problems . But CNN loves to scare people .
Click to expand...

We lived in France for a long time. We would watch the European CNN and then watch US CNN online. Entirely different views of what was going on in Europe!

2005 era: US friends would call us asking if we were safe, urging us to come home. What we learned was that reports of the riots at the time (45 miles away) were implied by CNN as being in downtown Paris where we lived.

They were showing metal crowd barriers along the Champs Elysee saying it was for the riots when in fact it was for the Veterans Day parade! If you didn't pay close attention, you'd think they were throwing firebombs at the Louvre!
 
Last edited:
I noticed that in Brussels , as we were eating one night we asked about the terrorists and the people at the restaurant looked at us like :confused::confused::confused::confused:? Again CNN talked about neighborhoods where the police do not go . At the restaurant they didn't know nothing about it . Lots of Fake News
 
I used to love San Francisco but it is really disgusting. Garbage and urine smell everywhere.
 
Breedlove said:
They were 2 couples from the River cruise. They explained that at breakfast 5 couples got into a fist fight on the river cruise over politics 3 couples from Calif. blew up.
Click to expand...
Sorry I missed those Ugly Americans. But being from CA not surprising.
 
Breedlove said:
Our friend that runs the Hotel was complaining he can't retire till he is 67 . He works 6 days a week 3 hours a day . He gets 2 months of holiday with 8 weeks pay. Eight from the owner and eight from the government.
Click to expand...
So how much sooner could he retire if he didn't take 16 weeks vacation a year and worked 8 hourss a day? As is, seems he's 50% retired now. What a life!! Zero sympathy.
 
My ex-company has offices in Paris--for political reasons. Employees are not allowed to work over 32 hours, and they get 5 weeks vacation on Day One. Even when at work, the units of work generated are very low. Drinking coffee and reading the newspaper comes first.

Much of the real work is done in Lugano, SW--just a few miles north of the Italian border.
 
Bamaman said:
My ex-company has offices in Paris--for political reasons. Employees are not allowed to work over 32 hours,
Click to expand...

And when I was working there, what my office in Paris did was, they'd work one 40 hour week and then finagle the next week's 8 hours into a 3 day week. Of course that 40 hour week included some saint's day holiday or couldn't come in due to a labor strike or something else, so there never really was a 40 hour week.

Nobody it seemed worked more than 3 days a week! Had it down to a science!

I loved every minute of their inefficiencies! Show up at 10, walk around and shake everyone's hand in the office, lunch (with wine) at 11:30 to 1, leave around 4. Throw in the required "free" lunch ticket and life was good!!
 
I've been to Amsterdam over a dozen times. It's a pretty safe city. It's a fun city. It's a very liberal city. But there is a seedy side like the ever expanding red light district with lots of prostitutes and live sex shows. Cassa Rosso is more common than fast food. It's not a drug free zone. It's certainly not clean. As for problems in Amsterdam, it has been widely reported by many European news outlets. Like anywhere else, just avoid the areas and don't look for trouble.

Those comments about San Francisco are the real Fake News. I also go to San Francisco fairly regularly, and it's a lot nicer than most cites. It draws a lot more tourists than let's say Houston or most other cities except New York. If it was in complete urban decline, why are property prices so high and so low in other major cities. Keep in mind where the wealth, innovation, and prosperity is in this country before lobbing stones.
 
Breedlove said:
I noticed that in Brussels , as we were eating one night we asked about the terrorists and the people at the restaurant looked at us like :confused::confused::confused::confused:? Again CNN talked about neighborhoods where the police do not go . At the restaurant they didn't know nothing about it . Lots of Fake News
Click to expand...

At night there are a few (very poor) neighborhoods that are not a good idea to stroll around in alone. What biggish city doesn't have that?

As a tourist you are very unlikely to stroll into them by accident, they are a bit outside the center. Even if you do, you'll likely get ignored. The trouble is usually amongst inhabitants.
 
Utrecht , a nice Dutch city ! I think what we mean as bad crime in the Dam is like a backyard BBQ in SF . We have went to Holland at least once a year for the last 21 years . I don't know where the RLD is growing . A friend of ours in the Dam is a judge . He has explained how the city continues to buy buildings out that could be attached to organized crime. There are three RLD's in the Dam and all are shrinking . As far as safety . There are more Politze in the RLD then in most U S cities . In uniform and plain clothed . Let a fight break out and see how fast they are there.
As far as dirty , yes at night it becomes dirty and they have the pissers in the RLD so you can piss on the street into a canal . But every morning they clean the city . The city over all is not dirty it is old.


Hell the last time we were in SF they were selling poop maps areas to avoid because street people were pooping on the street .


I don't know if our SF friends know this but many midwestern U S cities have budgets to send their bums to SF on a bus ( one way ticket ) Seattle is also a target city . Sad yes but SF has all that money to solve the problem . Used to be New Orleans . But now SF and Seattle.
As far as Houston as a tourist city , no Houston is not a tourist city . One thing to remember Houston is the most modern city in the U S . Houston is also the Oil capital of the world. To talk about Texas , I ask a question why do we have all these U Haul trucks a trailers from Cali. that nobody wants for return trips . Austin is flooded with U Hauls from N California .
 
We live 3 hours from SF and used to go a lot. Human and dog poop in front of stores, people shooting up, strong urine smell and garbage everywhere. We were there last January for my DIL’s surgery. People on poop patrol cleaning it up. It used to be such a great city. No more.
 
As I said midwestern cities are sending their bums to SF . They used to send them to New Orleans but Katrina caused them to move . SF has become a homeless destination .
I just don't know how you solve the problem.
 
I think all the bums are in Houston. It has a serious obesity problem and is one of the most dangerous places in America. It's also the fattest city in America.

https://www.chron.com/business/real...ighborhoods-called-most-dangerous-4476367.php

The city is in serious urban decline especially the areas that were flooded. Of course it's not a tourist city. Who would want to go there?

I don't know how they will solve all their problems.
 
Breedlove said:
As I said midwestern cities are sending their bums to SF . They used to send them to New Orleans but Katrina caused them to move . SF has become a homeless destination .
I just don't know how you solve the problem.
Click to expand...

San Francisco actually sends twice as many homeless people out of the city:

Over the last 12 years, San Francisco’s homeless population has grown from around 6,200 to just over 7,600, according to the city's counts. During that period, a small number of people in other cities have been given free tickets to relocate to San Francisco. A far larger number – more than 10,500 homeless people – have been moved out of San Francisco on buses.
Click to expand...

From this interesting-to-me article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...t-america-moves-homeless-people-country-study
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Short transfer; almost missed the connecting flight, again
Replies
8
Views
291
brett
B
S
Avalon River cruise excursions
Replies
5
Views
523
Dranoel
Dranoel
Zona
Dolomites in September
Replies
0
Views
133
Zona
Zona
F
Cape Coral, Florida for vacation?
Replies
3
Views
300
Fermion
F
J
Vietnam/Thailand
2
Replies
34
Views
3K
OldConch
O

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom