Archive for August, 2010

• Amsterdam is the largest city of Netherlands and also its nominal capital.
• The city consists of the northern part of Randstad which is the 6^th largest metropolitan area in Europe.
• A maximum number of the museums in the world are present in Amsterdam.
• The largest Van Gogh collections in the world are present in the Van Gogh Museum and the Kroller-Muller Museum.
• As it is situated in Hague, the city does not have a parliament.
• The ‘Kohinoor’ diamond of India, the world famous diamond, was in fact cut in Amsterdam.
• With huge stakes driven in the ground, the city is totally built on piles.
• More than 150 canals and 1200 bridges are present in Amsterdam.
• The city of Car Hire Amsterdam possesses 70 glass topped canal boats.
• Amsterdam is possibly one of the first cities in the world to drown, if the sea level goes up even to some extent.
• More than 300 coffee shops present in the city are permitted to sell up to 5 gm of soft drugs per person.
• It has more than 1 million bikes.
• As many as seven among the top 500 companies in the world, are based in Amsterdam.
• Set in the centre of the city, Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in the world.
• De Wallen, the oldest area of the city is home to the city’s famous red light district.
• Oude Kerk or the Old Church, located in the heart of the Wallen area, forms the oldest building in Amsterdam.

Car hire in Amsterdam are available from Enterprise, Simply Wheelz, Thrifty, Dollar, Alamo and National.

A red light district is a neighborhood or part of a neighborhood where businesses connected with the sex industry reside. Those include prostitution, strip clubs, sex shops, adult theaters and others. The best known red light district is De Wallen in Amsterdam.

De Wallen is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Amsterdam. It is situated in the old part of the city south of the Oude Kerk. It takes a couple of blocks and canals. The legalized prostitution takes place in one room cabins with glass doors that are lit in red. The area has many sex shops, sex theaters, peep shows, a sex museum, a cannabis museum and some cannabis-selling coffee shops.

Tourists and prospective client take a stroll during the streets with the red windows. Usually the prostitutes start work only after dark. After the customer has chosen a girl he approaches and starts negotiations. When a price is reached, he comes in and the curtains are closed.

The vast majority of the prostitutes in De Wallen are foreigners. In the roughly 300 rooms work mostly Eastern European, Asian, and African women. In many cases their activities go hand in hand with other crimes such as pimping, women exploitation, human trafficking, drugs, and killings.

Prostitution in the Netherlands has a long history. It existed and was tolerated ever since the Middle Ages. The industry became legalized during the 20^th century. It is calculated that today there are about 140 licensed brothels and 500 window displays. The industry in Amsterdam alone is estimated to bring in 100 million US dollars per year. The sex industry has a significant impact over the whole touristic appeal of the city. It creates a distinct image of the city that made Amsterdam the tourist destination it is today.

Hertz, Alamo, National, Dollar, Thrifty, Payless, E-Z, Simply Wheelz, Enterprise, and Europcar offer good car hire service in the city.