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
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if you have questions about the destination, make note and we will answer them. Thanks for watching.
