Amsterdam musings

I just returned from a vacation in Amsterdam and Paris. I could write about a zillion things, but I'll start by writing a bit about Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, we stayed with a friend in her apartment, so we got to learn a lot about the local culture... For example...

The Dutch drink a LOT of coffee (the claim is that they are they are only second to the Finnish in coffee drinking), but they drink small cups, not the Starbucks super-venti-flavored-sugar things. They might drink 5 cups throughout the day, and taking coffee breaks during work is a regular thing that everyone does.

Dutch toilets are weird. Each one seems to have a different flushing mechanism. Furthermore, they have a "shelf" in the toilet, where there is no water. The concept is that when you use the toilet, toilet water does not splash on to you. The result is a smelly experience.

There is a special kind of Dutch apple pie that a lot of places serve for dessert.

The Dutch birthday party is a weird ritual where everyone basically sits in a circle the whole time while having conversations. I'm not sure what the circle is about. I didn't get to experience this myself but heard about it from a few sources. They also have the cake first.

The Amsterdam streets are interesting because they are built with bicycles in mind. There are a ton of bike riders in Amsterdam. However, even though riding bikes is so common, it doesn't mean it is not scary to navigate them through traffic!

European beer has much more flavor than American beer (a generalization of course), and also contains more alcohol.

Many Dutch leave their curtains open everywhere except the bedroom. The idea is that they have nothing to hide because they are just doing "normal" things. If you close your curtains, it tends to indicate that you are hiding something.

The Dutch customer service experience is largely non-existent (another generalization of course). People working at stores rarely greet you or offer help. It is not that they are acting rudely, it is just that they don't offer help without being asked.

Tons more to say, thats just what popped into my mind right now.