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Laidback Amsterdam seems to have something for everyone, in what surely must be one of the most physically attractive, pedestrian-friendly environments anywhere. We’ve never seen so many bicyclists outside China, here whizzing along the tree-lined canal streets and across the city squares.
Our home for four days was an apartment above a shop in Rembrandt Square, a great vantage point for watching people coming and going and whiling away the time in the cafes lining the perimeter. Of course we took a boat trip through the city canals that give Amsterdam its unique character, and visited Van Gogh Museum to see some of the output of one of the Netherland’s most famous sons. Its collection is impressive, including the well-known Starry Night, Sunflowers and Almond Blossoms.
At the other end of the cultural spectrum we took a stroll through Amsterdam’s small red light district where prostitution is not hidden behind a veil as it is elsewhere. The women pouting (or looking a little bored) in the windows were mainly from Eastern Europe we were told. Business seemed quiet in the late afternoon but no doubt things pick up after the sun sets.
Pot smoking is legal too in Amsterdam, and there was plenty of it going on judging by the smell in the air at various places. It may have got up our noses but like Clinton, we never inhaled. Seeds for home propagating are freely and openly available, and for those who can’t wait that long there are plenty of cafes around town where one can light up immediately after selecting one’s joint of choice from a printed menu. Not that we did – smoking grass holds no interest for us, and in any case, Amsterdam must be one of the last places on Earth where one would feel any need to be transported to a different state of consciousness. But each to his/her own – that’s the nice thing about Amsterdam.
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