Everyone has a favorite place to hang out in their city. For me it’s Leidsplein. I wish that we lived closer as we don’t visit quite as often as we used to, but that’s to be expected when you go from having a five minute walk to a thirty minute walk.
When J an I came to Amsterdam in December we knew absolutely nothing about the place. To the extent that we chose the hotel we were staying at because it had the same name as our friend DV back home (VanBronkhorst). On a side note...don’t ever do this; that hotel was awful! Anyway, like most Americans in Amsterdam the first thing we wanted to do was go to a coffee shop. We asked the guy behind the desk at the VanBronkhorst (I couldn’t in all honestly call him a concierge) where the best one was and he gave us directions to Leidsplein and The Bulldog. For the all horrors we endured in that first hotel I can’t thank them enough for pointing us in the direction of Leidsplein.
After trudging through the snow for forty-five minutes we finally find found the neon blue light of The Bulldog coffee shop. I have yet to find a friendlier place in Amsterdam. We spent ten days in Amsterdam in December before coming back to settle at the New Year and we spent at least an hour at The Bulldog on every one of those ten days.
Yes it’s a well known tourist magnet, and yes you have to be very aware of pick pockets, but it’s not just The Bulldog that makes Leidsplein my favorite square in the city. On the good side...As a football fan you can’t get a better place to watch the games than the Satellite Sports Cafe, they show every Premier League, UEFA, and of course Ajax game. A quick walk down Leidstraat takes you to Ben & Jerrys (who can find anything bad about THAT?!?!), a lot of upmarket stores, and an American Store where you can find things like Lucky Charms, Cheez-Its, and Bud Light. There is ALWAYS something going on and plenty of cafes and pubs to sit outside have a drink and watch the wide variety of street performers that come to entertain the holidaying masses.
At Christmas there’s a small ice rink and a Yule Time village selling hot chocolate and waffles. Incredibly “gezhelling”. Everyday that the sun is out all the chairs come out to the patios of the cafes and getting a seat is like playing an incredibly frustrating game of musical chairs. No matter what part of the year it is there is always something interesting happening at Leidsplein, making it a great place to capture some fantastic street photography. Check out my Leidsplein photo album for some these great shots!
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