A Weekend in the City

Finally in possession of a working house key, and the city is as good as mine! Well, a bike would be nice, but for now I'm determined to explore every inch that can be reached on foot. I had a few free hours Saturday morning so I gave myself a mission: find my way to the Clothes Market where it was rumored* that there was a tent selling headphones and audio cable.

My beloved Sennheisers were, alas, a casualty of Lufthansa airlines. Moments after deplaning I realized that I didn't have them, but I wasn't allowed to, uh, re-plane, and the stewardesses couldn't find them. Honestly I was just grateful it wasn't my iPod. But the point was that I needed new headphones.

There's a department store at the Dam Square mall, but department store electronics are guaranteed to be overpriced and mediocre. What I needed was the Nederlander version of Radio Shack. So, to the market.

The house is a haven of quiet in a busy city. Out the front door you immediately find yourself facing the canal that runs down the center Ouderzijds** Achterburgwal, the beating heart of the Red Light District. During the daylight hours, however, the most immediate thing that will grab your attention are the swans. They swim up and down the canal, squawking noisily to let people know exactly who is in charge here. I've got a six foot wing span, people. I could beat your head in with these things like I was using a baseball bat.

I had a better impression of swans before coming here. They are huge, lovely birds. But the ugly truth is that they're the stuck up clique of the bird kingdom.

Anyway, you run down the street past Casa Rosa, a notorious sex theater, and take the first bridge across you come to. This leads to an alley that cuts over to the Nieuwmarkt (New Market), a small collection of cafes and outdoor vendors dominated by an old castle-like structure which is actually an old weighing house. Across the square you find a broad street called Jodenbreestraat which winds through some more modern architecture. It also leads past the Amsterdam Theatre School, where students with dramatic streaks find their outlet. Just a little further on you come to a major intersection over a canal, and if you hang a right you'll find the Clothes Market.

The Clothes Market is mostly clothes, but there are many other goodies to be had there as well. Shoes, jewelry, cameras and yes, even electronics. This shirt, though highly inappropriate, got a chuckle out of me.

My experience of markets is a bit third world. But an Amsterdam market is a more sedate affair. Nobody yells at you as you walk by their tent and there's no haggling, at least that I observed. The clientele, at least on a Saturday morning, were mostly older folks. So, quiet.

A t-shirt vendor had a box of tangled audio cables tucked away. I asked if he had any y-splitters and he said no, and then communicated in broken English that there was a tent that had them further on down. I found it easily enough and yes, they had a wide array of cables, headphones, converters, all kinds of goodies. Inexpensive, too!

I picked up a pair of headphones for six Euro based on the proprietor's recommendations. Three euro more netted me the audio cable, which I hoped to use to hijack the speakers on the stereo in my room.

Actually, the whole affair was disappointingly easy. The headphones even proved to be comfortable and produce high-quality sound (although, alas, the y-splitter won't serve my purpose). I will have to give myself a more challenging assignment next time.

In the meantime, it's in the sixties or seventies, the sun is in her heavens, and I'm learning Dutch in Amsterdam. Life is good!

* Okay, Brenda told me. But it's more fun if we pretend that she's an unreliable source.
** Pronounced very similarly to "outer sides". In fact drop the 'r', and you've got it pretty much exactly. It actually means "Old Side," as opposed to "New Side," which is a couple blocks over.