Make sure your are not walking in the bike lane if there is one. The marking is kind of subtle, but if you see lots of bikes and no one walking in a certain area of the side walk don't walk there. Red light district has no impact on the where you will be staying. You can walk through it safely to get to other areas including some historical areas.
One of the things you should do is take a glass top boat tour because you see Amsterdam from the canals. You are within an easy walk to the docks to do that. We had a private tour on the first day of our river cruise. We did it on our own when we got back. Not as good, but not awful either. As I remember the tour is taped in French, German, Italian and English.
We would agree that Amsterdam is very safe for walking at night.
Also, language in Amsterdam is a none issue since the Dutch require children to start English in kindergarten and take it through their school years.
We would have loved "getting stuck" in Amsterdam for a few extra days!
Sue
