When I travel to Amsterdam, I always try to find a flea market to have a look around.
This one was on the way to Rembrandt’s House.
Even though it was drizzling, people were still milling around, looking through the things.
These shoes are new. Never been worn. Usually you see used shoes at a flea market.
Like these.
This guy had a lot of hats. This was during December so I’m sure he sells a lot of winter hats.
There were bags for women of all different colors and sizes.
New clothes.
More new T-Shirts.
This guy had coats.
One time in Amsterdam, I found a Fireman’s Captain’s Coat.
It was leather and fit me perfectly.
I think I paid about $50 dollars for it but it was well worth it. It was old leather that was still in great condition.
I recently had it cleaned again and had them use black leather dye to touch it up. It came out like new.
I think these coats are ugly as hell. Who would wear such a fuzzy coat?
Another time in Amsterdam, I found an antique pistol from 1852. I paid about $15 dollars for it.
It had been altered so it could never be fired but it was still very cool for a souvenir of Amsterdam.
I put it in my luggage on the way home and thought nothing of it.
When I landed in Houston, I had to wait in the long customs line. When I got to a certain point I learned something out about the line I was in.
I can’t remember what it was but I told a customs officer that they needed a sign. I was pissed.
This is something you should never do, lol. He pointed me to the bag check line for a thorough going over.
If you make any kind of scene or bring attention to yourself, you’re going to get checked by multiple people before you’re allowed back into the country.
I walked over to a table and was told to put my luggage up on the table. I was wondering about the gun.
When the customs agent was unzipping my bag I told him that there was a gun in there. He said, “What?”.
I then proceeded to tell him the story about buying an antique gun from a flea market and how it doesn’t fire anymore.
He called over two more people and they inspected the gun. It seemed like forever.
Finally they put it back in my bag and let me back in the country.
Here’s the Amsterdam Fireman’s Coat I was talking about. It’s definitely warm on cold days.
I consider it my best purchase from a flea market. I would show you the pistol but it’s in storage.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about an Amsterdam flea market. You can see more photos of Amsterdam and 25,000 more on my website.
Also, please ‘Like’ my Facebook page for updates as to what events and places I’ll be traveling to next.
Spider Michaels
I love flea markets, and this one seems nice.
I think the custom officers are weird species, they cannot do anything to real criminals, but expert in harassing the common people. I had a very bad experience in Paris recently. The guy screamed at me, tried to insult me and finally I had to talk back to stop him. He kept me waiting till all other passengers were left, and he was not even able to speak english( I mean really? you do not know english and sitting in an international airport?) It was really a bad experience.