..............The Days in Manchester............: AMSTERDAM - city of bikes and land of the fast food!

Amsterdam

Facts:

Holland, aka The Netherlands, is about 40,000 sq km and is very densely populated. In fact, it is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world. Singapore (4th), HK (3rd), Macau (2nd) and Monaco (1st) lead the way in this respect.
It is one of the most low lying countries in the world. Highest point in the country is about 300m above sea level, and the lowest is about -6.7m. About 24% of the country is below the sea level. This is why Holland is often flooded, but they have technology far superior to anyone in the world in removing these waters.
They are famous for dams/dykes, as well as their windmills. Dams are used to control the water in the rivers and canals, while dykes are big "dams" along the sea, preventing the water coming in. The dutch windmills are used to pump water out into the sea, and at one point in time, they had more than 10,000 windmills dotted all over the country.
They are the tallest race in the world. They average about 6ft 2, which is about 1.84cm. And its true, they are really tall when we were there.

Economic

A very strong economy in their own right. Once upon a time, they use to dominate the all the trade routes and they could collect toll on ships. Now, it is not very much different, it is still a country very reliant on trade.
Some big name companies to come out of the Netherlands are Philips, Shell and Heineken.
Holland is also very big on their agriculture. Almost 1/3 of the world's flowers are grown in Holland (i.e. tulips, peppers, capsicum).

Politics

Netherlands is run by a constitutional monarchy, currently run by Queen Beatrix. They have had more women rulers than men rulers. They also have a Prime minister which runs the daily affairs of the nation. The Monarch in Netherlands still has considerable powers, especially when naming the cabinet. They are also champions of democracy, in 2007, The Economist named them the 3rd most democratic country in the world.
They like to be known as a neutral country. The presence of the Hague is testament to their neutral stance. The Hague is the International court of Justice, as well as the International Criminal Court. The Hague is the unofficial "capital" of Netherlands, because Queen Beatrix lives and works in the Hague.

Culture

Netherlands are known to be very liberal with their policies. Their acceptance to issues such as euthanasia, recreational drugs, prostitution are testament to their liberalism. They were the first to endorse euthanasia as well as homosexual marriages.
They are also into their art, most famously the painters Rembrant (17th Century) as well as Vincent van Gogh (19th Century).
They are also very accepting of religions as well as cultures and thoughts of life.

Food

Dutch pancakes!
Krokets - something like spring roll except its stuffed with ham and cheese
STROOPWAFFLE! - this is a must try. Its to wafer like biscuits with caramel coated in between. Make it hot and eat it. let it melt in your mouth. super.
They also have something called "fibo" i think. Its like a vending machine of hot food.

Sport

Very into sports. Excellent at football as well as hockey. Their men's hockey national team is ridiculously good.
Also into sailing. Most of their kids can sail, or learn how to sail from a very young age.
Another tidbit: their national colour is orange as most people would know. That's why their national teams are known as the orange army.

Okay here are some pictures of amsterdam by day.

A picturesque Amsterdam

the famous Rijks Museum. Under renovation though.

this is really cute. found it near the van gogh museum.

vincent van gogh museum. A very talented painter who was mentally unstable. resorted to alcohol most of the time. His best art pieces were created when he was drunk. Some say that you need to drink a little to appreciate his art. There was once that Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear when he was drinking schnaps. He ultimately ended his own life, again under the influence of alcohol.

Canal cruise!

Flower Market! Only wenqi wanted to go.

On the way to Anne Frank house! It hailed and rained and had the sun shining all in 3-4 hours. Amsterdam is weather crazy.

The statue of Anne Frank. She was a teenage girl about 13-14 years and she lived through the World War. Being a Jew, she was persecuted by the germans and she lived in hiding for about 2 years in a small room in her father's office building. They were then betrayed and was sent to different concentration camps. Unfortunately, she died about 2-3 weeks before the concentration camp was liberated. What made her famous was the diary she wrote, commonly known as Anne Frank's diary. In her account, she wrote very vivid details of how things were like before and during the war and how her life was like when persecuted.