Oh, Amsterdam!
You've got to love this city, where nearly everybody rides a bicycle.
And the bicycles, scooters, and people get a free boat ride across the river into downtown.
It can be a scenic round-trip for the visitor too, arriving at the Central Train Station.
We will be showing you all that and more, including a trip out to the airport, with
some suggestions on how to get around.
If you're traveling throughout the Netherlands, the train is an excellent way to see this
beautiful country.
Many visitors arrive at Schiphol Airport, just outside of Amsterdam, and there is a
very easy rail connection that brings you right into the heart of town.
In this program we're going to focus on that section of Amsterdam near the train station,
perhaps the first part of the city that you'll see when you arrive.
We will show you that free ferry ride and the great shopping street of Haarlemerstraat.
As you exit the train station, this street is immediately to your right, just a few minutes
walk to get over here, and you will find some of the best shopping and eating in the entire
city, although it's a place that's often overlooked by the visitor eager to get into the central
part of Amsterdam at the Dam Square.
So Haarlemerstraat is more of a local street where you can kick back and mingle with the
residents of Amsterdam.
It's mostly a street for pedestrians and bicycles, although cars are allowed to drive here, but
most Dutch don't want to drive a car.
It's too difficult to drive in these narrow streets with bicycles all over the place.
You're going to find that Dutch people are generally friendly and speak English, so if
you make a small effort to reach out to them and break the ice, you'll have some interesting
conversations.
It's nice to know this is one of the most surprising streets in Amsterdam, due to the
variety.
You can also find a lot of locals here.
This has to do with the foods, the quality of food is quite good here, compared to like
the really center where it's not cheap.
So, I'm looking forward to enjoy this meal.
One more fact about the street.
It's called the Haarlemstreet.
Haarlem is actually, and this place is Haarlem, Haarlem is actually a place.
I'm going there.
Well, you're going, so!
I did go to Haarlem, as you can see in one of my many other movies about the Netherlands.
It's a beautiful city just 18 kilometers away.
Back in Amsterdam on Haarlemerstraat, I'd like to show you an interesting historic landmark.
The origin of New York City was created inside this building.
It's the West India House, former headquarters of the West India Company, who ordered the
construction of a fort on Manhattan Island in 1625.
The same building at night and now it's a restaurant the Café New Amsterdam, with its
streetside and courtyard terrace tables.
Haarlemerstraat in the evening, is just as busy as during the daytime.
This is Amsterdam's hip alternative district offering boutique specialty shops, there's
delis, the perfect neighborhood for dining and bar hopping.
Another popular restaurant here is Café Harlem, famous for their nachos, their Caribbean soul
food with Jamaican chicken, they've got sandwiches and huge ribs, along with famously friendly
service.
Nice that you can sit indoors or outside in their courtyard on the street, at the corner
with Herenmarkt This road continues for a kilometer with more
shops along the way through a neighborhood called Haarlemebuurt with the Brouwersgracht
canal on the side.
I spent the night in the Bank Hotel located on this street.
So in the morning, it was fun to get up early and go down by the train station to see the
city come to life.
There is a canal and a busy collection of tramlines right in front of the train station,
and they get real busy in the morning cleaning things up.
There are 14 different tramlines in Amsterdam and 11 of them stop here in front of the Central
Station.
It's a busy plaza out front, with a wide street for cars and buses, and lots of bicycles and
pedestrians.
It's an easy walk into downtown from here.
Or if you are departing, you'll probably be coming to the train station to carry on with
your journey, maybe just take the train out to the airport, as we will show you a little
bit later.
There are three tunnels for bicycles and pedestrians that go underneath the station leading to
the other side where you can catch the ferry.
We're going to take you on a free boat ride.
These ferries provide an essential service for pedestrians, cyclists and mopeds, bringing
them from Amsterdam to North Amsterdam, just a few minutes away.
And the boats arrive so frequently, there's hardly any waiting time at all before boarding.
You'll enjoy some nice harbor views, including the Eye Film Museum, where they put on film
festivals with Amsterdam Lookout Tower next to it, with observation decks, a hotel, restaurants
and nightclubs.
The ferry arrives in Amsterdam North and the passengers very patiently get off the boat,
walking, pushing their bicycles and mopeds.
It's a very polite crowd of people navigating together.
As soon as the ferry empties, the next crowd of people starts boarding.
It's a very efficient system.
The turnaround only takes a few minutes.
The boarding process works so well because people do it every day, they're used to it.
It's an automatic reaction of making room for your neighbor, and letting people go in
front or behind.
It's another aspect of the Dutch social system of cooperation.
People get along with each other and are always very polite, even though this is a crowded
country with one of the highest population densities anywhere.
Digital countdown also assures people there is time to get on board, and if you miss this
ferry, no problem, another ferry is coming along in a few minutes.
It's a free ride for the passengers, but of course somebody is paying for it.
This is a lot of infrastructure going back and forth all day long.
It's a wise use of government money that they raise by taxing the population and then returning
it to the people by operating this excellent transportation service.
Ultimately, providing a great benefit to the society because it helps people get around
without polluting, without causing any traffic congestion, supporting the Dutch culture of
riding bicycles and mopeds.
Tourists are also welcome.
No ticket or reservation required.
Let's take a moment to admire this efficient harmony of how people are casually walking
off the ferry, while others are patiently waiting to board.
There is a subtle rhythm here, almost like a choreography of the dance performance at
a Broadway show.
Considering it's morning rush-hour, people seemed quite relaxed, enhanced by that boat
ride and fresh air.
These people look quite healthy.
Nobody seems to be overweight.
It's something to do with all the exercise they get by riding their bicycles and then
walking.
The urban environment of Amsterdam encourages this kind of outcome, with its many bicycle
lanes,, and pedestrian streets and compact urban development, where it's easy to get
around by walking, or hopping on a tram, or riding your bike.
They've got an efficient double-decker bike rack garage here that holds thousands of bicycles,
but this is nothing – they're planning on adding another 9000 spaces underwater, right
beneath where we're standing, and that'll bring the total number of bike spaces here
at Central Station up to 22,000, making it twice as big as the current largest bike garage
which is in the city of Utrecht.
They are expanding these garages throughout the country, adding 100,000 new spaces for
bikes before the year 2025.
The train station has a very modern appearance, with this sleek, curved roof outside with
a nice wide road for bicycles in the middle and an elevated sidewalk on the edges.
Upstairs, there's a road for buses, and inside it's like a shopping mall.
It's open from early morning until late in the evening.
You can purchase the OV chip card used for public transit throughout the country right
here at this lovely shop, with very helpful clerks.
The OV is like a debit card that's very helpful for traveling in the Netherlands.
They've also got a doctor and pharmacy here to take care of any medical needs you might
have.
Central Station is used by about 200,000 passengers daily, with domestic and international travel.
Even though it gets quite busy, there is plenty of space here that can easily handle a crowd.
And there are escalators that will take you up to the platforms where they have 15 train
tracks.
Most of the trains are double-decker and quite long, with huge capacity.
Prior to boarding you tap your OV card on that machine to validate your ticket for the
journey.
We're heading out to a Schiphol Airport and you don't have to worry about a schedule because
trains leave the station every 10 minutes for the airport.
There is no seat reservations in second-class.
It's quite comfortable, and this trip only takes 13 minutes to get out to Schiphol.
I've had the pleasure of riding these comfortable trains all over the country visiting a dozen
cities and making lots of movies that you can find in my collection.
From the track you go directly up into the terminal on this moving walkway.
It brings you right up into the middle of the terminal check-in area, with nice clear
signs to let you know which way to go, where are the gates, where are the ticket counters.
When you get off the train and arrive at your destination, you've got a tap your OV card
again to let the system know that you've ended your ride, so you get charged the proper amount
for distance traveled.
You can recharge the OVcard by adding more money to it at one of these self-service kiosks.
The OV cards can also be topped up at many supermarkets and other stores throughout town.
If you have just landed at the airport, beginning your journey in the Netherlands, you want
to be sure to go to this ticket counter and get in the short queue and purchase the OV
card from the ticket agent here.
Then you can use it right away for that short train ride into the city.
On the other hand, if you're leaving the country now and are finished with the OV card and
still have a balance in it, you go to the ticket counter and they will give you a full
refund of any balance that you've got.
Of course they had many shops, including a supermarket, and more in the duty-free area.
Schiphol is the world's second busiest airport for international travel, and often wins awards
as Europe's best airport.
They don't mind if you take pictures here, so these young students were getting in some
cinematography lessons.
All that's left to do now is check your bearings, have a look at the signs, figure out which
way to go to find your gate, and depart.
I spent three weeks traveling through this wonderful country shooting lots of video and
created a couple dozen travel movies that you can find in my collection.
We frequently upload new movies, so please subscribe to our channel and click that little
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Thanks for watching.