The Dam

Amsterdam is outrageously small and cute. Built around concentric canals, the houses are wedged along the water mingled in with cafes and shops. The narrow cobblestone spoke streets gradually give way to avenues outside the medieval center, but the first thing you notice is the bicycles. Everyone seems to be on one of these black utilitarian boneshakers. Hordes of them fly by at speed down the ubiquitous bike lanes. Canals or trams get the center of the street, cars are squeezed in beside them, and the bike lanes take up the road until the skinny sidewalk.

The red light district is safely contained in the center of the old city. By night its a big, cheesy, adult playground. Streetwalking is illegal, so the girls pose in windows illuminated by blacklights and red neon. It looks like suddenly the mannequins are what’s for sale. Hardcore pornography is plastered onto the walls, but by Scandinavian mores, its a pretty family friendly place. Children play in the streets by day, mobs of drunken tourists crowd it by night. You can cruise down to the Prostitution Information Center and get all kinds of info on how to start up your own cathouse and safety information for both johns and girls.

The Dutch drug laws make ridiculous amounts of sense: If it grows naturally, its legal to possess, if you have to synthesize it the gov’t can regulate it. So E, Speed, Coke and Heroin are all “controlled” substances. Mushrooms, Peyote and Cannabis are no problem: Entire populations have been ingesting them for tens of thousands of years. Many soft drugs are sold with helpful labels regarding dosage and other chemicals not to mix them with, like medication back home. Fun fact: The Dam has half the per capita junky rate of Paris and very little violent crime (Aside from the odd British football hooligan).

Amsterdam is a very fun place to be. There’s always a cafe to stop at, boats to watch and something going on in the street. We saw contact jugglers and excellent street musicians. We stopped to watch a chess match on a giant sized board where the players furiosly hauled the pieces around while yelling challenges at each other. One of the best things we bumped into was a really nice antique shop full of old devices mechanickal: Astrolabes, telescopes, coffee grinders, weird complicated gadgets we couldn’t puzzle out; all of the most meticulous craftsmanship and usually older than the United States.

Link to our photos.

Righto. More than a little dazed, we found our bearings and jumped on a train for Paris.