Amsterdam-My first impression about it -Part 2

Amsterdam’s Red Light District is something unique that i came across. It’s a large area of the oldest part of the city that overlooks the tree lined canals. It’s one of the major attractions of the city. De Wallen is the largest red light area of the district. It consists of a network of alleys containing approximately three hundred tiny one-room cabins rented by prostitutes who offer their sexual services from behind a window or glass door, typically illuminated with red lights. The area also has a number of sex shops, sex theatres, peep shows, a sex museum, a cannabis museum, and a number of coffee shop that sell marijuana

       Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, with the exception of street prostitution, but work permits are not issued for prostitution; therefore legally working in the trade is limited mostly to EU citizens. We were told that while health and social services are readily available, sex workers are not required to undergo regular health checks. Brothel owners and room operators often require health certificates before employing or leasing rooms. It was interesting to note that the Red Light District is acceptable by the locals just as any other part of the city.

A visit to Flora Holland was another fascinating experience for me.  I would strongly recommend a visit to Flora Holland , which after its merger with  Aalsmeer Flower Auction in 2008 has become the largest flower auction located in Amsterdam. It’s a life time experience to see the huge quantity and variety of flowers being traded here. Everything is so well organised and use of technology is at its best display. I had heard about stock and commodity markets but flowers being traded in a hi-tech environment were truly an amazing experience. Flora Holland today is the largest flower auction in the world. The auction building of the flower auction in Aalsmeer is the 4th largest building by floor space in the world, covering 990,000 m² (10.6 million sq ft; 243 acres).^[1] Flowers from all over the world (Europe, Ecuador, Colombia, Ethiopia, etc.) are traded on a daily basis at the Aalsmeer facilities. Around 20 million flowers are sold daily with a 15% increase around special days such as Valentine's Day and Mothers day.

We were told about a special quality of Tulips named after Aishwarya –the former Miss world from India. Unfortunately we could not see that tulip as it was not the tulip season in October when we visited Amsterdam.

Dam Square is another centre of attraction in Amsterdam. It’s in the historical centre of Amsterdam. Due to various attractions such as memorials, monuments, The Royal Palace and Madame Tussaud's wax museum, Dam Sqaure has become a tourist hot spot. Before visiting Dam Square i only knew that London houses Madam Tussaud’s wax museum.

I end my first cut  on Amsterdam here but will definitely like to add about my brief visit to the capital city of Hague. It’s the third largest city of Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam-the world famous port city. Just like any other capital city, it hoses the Parliament, Supreme Court, the embassies. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands lives at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace . The Hague also house the International Court of justice .The buiding itself is magnanimous and good piece of architecture that makes it worth a visit.