We had less than a day to visit Amsterdam, and while we saw a number of non-kinky attractions, it was fun to discover there are three different gay fetish stores all within walking distance of the Central Station (upper right corner): Mister B, RoB, and Gays & Gadgets. Check all the red dots in the map below. (Note there is a location called The Amsterdam Dungeon in the bottom center; that is not a kink store, but a haunted house-styled tourist attraction.)
We started with the located furthest off from the Central Station (Mister B) and then worked our way back. Even though it was further off, it was certainly walkable. Very nice store, though again not too different from what is offered at Mr. S in San Francisco. But I definitely appreciated the foot straps being used as a paper towel holder for the lube samples.
Next up was RoB. Not as polished of a store, but that was part of it’s charm. It was also interesting to see what was apparently their workshop right in the back of the store. Additionally, they had some nice fashion items from Alpha Industries.
Lastly, we stopped by Gays & Gadgets. We didn’t have a lot of expectation, as it was more of a mix of fetish and novelty, but we were pleasantly surprised. Turns out they do have a partnership with Mr. S, so they do have some real gear. And it was here I bought some new socks.
We also ended up walking past The Eagle, but as it was early in the day, it was closed. However, this very hot pic was in an adjacent window. Love to see the shoe sniffing folks getting a very public shout out!
We had a lot of fun visiting so many gay kinky places. Also notable to certain kinksters is that Amsterdam has installed numerous public urinals throughout the city. According to Wikipedia, this was because so many drunk men were falling into the local canals while peeing, they came up with a safer alternative. While I sadly didn’t get the opportunity to use one, it definitely was of interest to see! Apparently, the waste goes into agricultural use.
On the non-kinky front, we also had to try the very hyped up (but also insanely good–we loved them) cookies of Van Stapele. There are plenty of other things to see and do, which are easily researched. I found a YouTube Channel called Happy to Wander especially informative in the non-kinky tourist stuff to do, and they cover many popular areas of Europe. The central area of Amsterdam is very walkable, no additional transportation was needed. It also helped for us that the Central Station has a place where you can store luggage, so you could enter the city by train with your bags (we took a EuroStar train from London, took about 4 hours), store them all day, and then move to your next location if so desired.
I had been to Amsterdam before, so I didn’t feel the need to spend a whole lot of time there. A day walking around was enough for us. It has gotten very crowded and touristy, but with so much to do and see within easy walking distance makes it very popular.
The rest of my time in Europe didn’t have any other kinky things of note, but thought I would definitely share the few kinky things we experienced! It was a great trip (even if I didn’t get to have any sort of scene), and exhausting, but very fun.
