Amsterdam is my kind of place. First of all, it's European, so everything I like about the cultural and culinary diversity is intact; secondly, the transport system consists almost entirely of bicycles, boats and trains; and third, the atmosphere is totally relaxed. There's this magical attitude towards victimless so-called 'amoral' behaviour that lets everyone just get on with their lives and do what they want to do, with none of the false moral outrage and hypocrasy that comes with people like, say, Ted Haggart.
The building just after the one in the foreground is the Anne Frank Huis; to the left is the warehouse, and to the right with the pitched roof is the Secret Annex. That tiny square window is the one in the kitchen.
The annex is surprisingly large; it's definitely plausible that eight people could live in there for years, although the claustrophobia would definitely be intense. Anne's original diary is on display as well. The Nazis confiscated all the furniture in the annex, but other than that, the rooms remain as they were, with yellow wallpaper and 1940s movie star posters stuck to the walls.
Looking out of those windows, imagining what it was like not to be able to go out on the street and remembering what they went through, was chilling.
The first photo was shot from the top of this tower, the West Church. There are four churches in the inner city, and I can't imagine anywhere odder to have them.
One of them has the Amsterdam monument to homosexual persecution right outside its doors. The pink granite triangle is of course a reference to the emblems homosexuals were forced to wear in the concentration camps, and has since been reclaimed. The very concept of building something like this in the US would trigger a moral panic. Still, that's nothing compared to the Old Church...
The Old Church is completely surrounded by bars, coffeeshops, tattoo parlors and brothels. There is literally window prostitution facing the church. As you probably know, prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and prostitutes are licensed; they rent windows, pay taxes, and get checkups four times a year. Taking photos in the Red Light District at night is forbidden (it's considered theft) but here's what it looks like during the day. All those doors with curtains on them have their windows filled as early as 12:30 PM with lingerie-clad prostitutes backlit with red light. This particular photo was taken on the
same block as the hostel I was staying in.
To experience that other famous aspect of Amsterdam, the coffeeshops, I went to the internationally recognized Cannabis College, an informational, awareness, and activism non-profit organization. Here's something I didn't know: all the drugs that are so readily available in Amsterdam are in fact just as illegal as they are in any other country. The United Nations has classified marijuana as a Class 1 Drug (serious health risks, no medical benefit, dangerously addictive) and there's just as much, if not more, persecution and imprisonment for drug possession as there is in Belgium or Germany. Among locals, there's also just as much prejudice and distaste for the pot culture as there is anywhere else. What you are seeing here is the
ONLY licensed cannabis growing operation in the entire Netherlands.
So if the laws are no different, what makes Amsterdam so different? The answer: Enforcement.
This is the laissez-faire attitude I was referring to: the coffeeshops are Dutch-owned, contributing to the economy, and not causing any harm or danger, so they're simply tolerated. This does mean that there's no regulation or standardization for these drugs, however, and one of the Cannabis College's missions is to shop around at local coffeeshops, buy drugs, then send them for testing and find out how much is crap.
And there's a LOT of crap. The plants the College grows and recommends are 100% organic, no chemicals or pesticides, with carefully chosen genetics as well. Drugs are dangerous, and Holland is lucky enough that these discussions can be held out in the open to reduce the risk of smokers getting hurt, and legitimizing businesses that don't deal in hard drugs. If you're at all interested in any of the aspects of prohibition (Uses of hemp, medical marijuana, overzealous law enforcement, etc.) you've probably already heard of them, but if not, it's highly educational.
