I AMsterdam Online Trivia | Word Play

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Rearrange the grouped, capitalised letters to find the answer. As I landed at Schiphol Airport, I was excited to visit the "Venice of the North". I got into a cab hoping to see the famous canals of Amsterdam, but all I saw at first was the LAMEST of Dutch rivers.

Answer: Amstel

Schiphol is a major contributor to the Dutch economy. Including all business attracted by it indirectly, in 2011 Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey calculated Schiphol to have a total added monetary value of around 26 billion, or approximately 3.3% of the Gross National Product of the Netherlands.

Key facts (as per 2012):
51 million passengers
3rd in Europe in terms of cargo volumes
4th in Europe in terms of passenger volumes
5th in Europe in terms of total air transport movements

The River Amstel is the main waterway in Amsterdam (the name of the city quite simply means "Dam in the river Amstel"). While I wouldn't call it the lamest of rivers, its beauty cannot hold a candle to that of the canals encircling the city center. Amstel Beer is a successful brandname of Heineken.

2. The taxi driver brought me to Dam Square and suggested me to visit A COLA PLAYER. His English must have been quite bad, because all I saw was an old huge building. Does the King of Holland live here?

Answer: Royal Palace

The Royal Palace on the Dam was initially built as the city's new Town Hall. On 29 July 1655, after the Mayor of Amsterdam Cornelis de Graeff gave the opening speech, famous seventeenth century poet Joost van den Vondel sang the praises of good governance and good citizenship and described Amsterdam as "the centre of the empire of peace".

And no, King Willem-Alexander does not live here. He resides in a royal mansion hidden in in the woods of Wassenaar, near The Hague.

3. Given my STRICT schedule, I really wanted to check out the area famous for its colourful illuminations first. So I IDLED into the first road to the RIGHT and took a tram. Which Amsterdam neighbourhood am I going to?

Answer: Red Light District

Besides a metro and bus network, Amsterdam boasts a close-knit tram network. The trams run on green energy and produce no exhaust fumes, making the tram the best option for traveling the narrower city streets.

4. As it turned out, it was only a short walk from the Dam Square, so I decided to enjoy a bit of fresh air. AS I threw away my CAN of soda in the BIN, I noticed a penetrating smell coming from one of the so-called coffee shops. What were they selling in there?

Answer: Cannabis

Some say that legalising soft drugs, only serves to create a hard drug problem. Whilst Amsterdam, just as any metropole in the world, has its share of violence and crime, statistics show that Amsterdam is - in comparison - one of the safest capitals. It may have something to do with the relatively small size of Amsterdam. Also, the attitute of its inhabitants is very laid back, independent and tolerant.

A cynic would call it indifferent and stand-offish, but it does mean that everybody can exist side by side without telling each other how to live or behave.

This combination of factors has contributed to the fact that ever since the 16th century, Amsterdam has been regarded a safe harbor for those persecuted or exiled elsewhere in Europe.

5. STEP by step I came across the first red lights, where girls tried to get the attention of any TOURIST by rapping their nails on the windows or showing off their trades. Who are those girls?

Answer: Prostitutes

The Dutch term for the Red Light District is "de Wallen", meaning the embankments or dikes. In the 12th century these dikes were created outside the city walls, as the city needed extra space. Records of prostitution in this area go back to the 15th century.

6. A voice behind me. As I spun round, I looked into a pair of beautiful OLD MAN shaped eyes, belonging to an exotic creature, saying little and wearing less. What? Wait...eyes shaped like an old man? Surely not!

Answer: Almond

What can I say? Those almond shaped eyes... Usually not one lost for words, the directness of it all made me stutter. I mumbled some apology and tried to pull myself away.

7. She didn't let me off the hook that easily. Her gentle tugs on my sleeve soon became incessantly agressive. To my relief, a volunteer from the Salvation Army came to my rescue. Embarrassed as I was, I scurried away, while my saviour started a SLY RAVE about a problem surrounding illegal girls in prostitution.

Answer: Slavery

In the Netherlands there is a growing recognition that the decision in 2000 to legalize brothels has failed to stem human trafficking. All sorts of new policies have been spoken of, such as a bill to require all prostitutes to be registered with the government, raising the minimum age for working girls to 21, and a requirement that escort services be licensed just as brothels currently are. Meanwhile, Amsterdam is raising the bar by ordering brothels to close in the early-morning hours and requiring prostitutes to speak Dutch, English, German or Spanish, to make exploitation of them more difficult.

8. After hearing her talk about the FEARLESS PEN SET under which these girls are lured into the business and the conditions under which most of them work and live, I had to concede that behind the beaming red lights and the smiling (and gawking) tourists a world of sex slavery rears its ugly head. So, these girls are lured in under fearless pen sets? I can't make heads nor tails of it, but it seems like a lie to me.

Answer: false pretenses

Under the proposed bill, Holland's roughly 20,000 prostitutes would have to declare that they are not being coerced into the sex industry.

Perhaps a fine and simple solution at first glance, but in reality a severe violation of privacy of those prostitutes who may want to hide their current profession from future employers. Besides, a prostitute working involuntarily, often facing threats to her family, can hardly be expected to tell a government official the truth. So nothing good can really come out of this bill, I would think.

9. I was relieved to hear that the Amsterdam city council had vowed to do as much as possible to counter the crimes against HUT IN MAY that are committed on a daily basis in the Red Light District. Surely, if anything, the heightened awareness of the personal tragedies behind this tourist attraction will influence the demand side of the commercial transactions?

Answer: Humanity

The Amsterdam municipal council launched "Project 1012" (reference to the zip code of the area) in a bid "to discourage crime and corruption in the city centre by reducing the types of businesses that are conducive to crime". In effect, it means that the total amount of windows has been reduced from 500 to 409 in five years and that a further reduction to 300 is expected.

10. Even though my first day gave me much food for thought, the rest of my trip to Amsterdam was absolutely wonderful. The canals, the 16th century houses, the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House, the Rembrandt House, the wonderful open minded people...and ofcourse the Asian delicacies of MR SUM where the JUKE box IS always playing. So, Mr. Sum is the Night Watch? I don't get it.

Answer: Rijksmuseum

The new Rijksmuseum has just opened up in 2013 after 10 years of renovations. It is now again considered one of the top museums in the world, with at the center of its collection the painting "Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq" also known as the "Night Watch" by Rembrandt van Rijn.

For more information on all there is to do, see and experience in the greatest little capital of the world, please visit www.iamsterdam.com.

For more information on human trafficking, please visit www.stopthetraffik.org.

Source: Author Debarrio

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Tizzabelle before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

I AMsterdam Trivia Quiz

The slogan "I AMsterdam", a play on "I am Amsterdam", is used by Amsterdam in order to create an atmosphere of fellowship. Let's take anagram-like stroll along the city's beautiful canals and see what happens!

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