AmsterDAAAAAAAM!

So my first day in Amsterdam was pretty horrendous. Next day was also less than fab, but for very different reasons. We left Leiden, the town where my sister lives, to go into Amsterdam Centraal, and the weather was BAD! Rainy this and drafty that and my little boots were soggy :( We still made an effort and grabbed some lunch. My dad took a boat tour and my sister and I went make-up shopping. Actually we just looked in the rain for a Sephora- to no avail! However, the fact that we found a tiny Belgian bar with Duvel for 3 Euro QUICKLY eased our pain!

We went to an outdoor market and I luggage shopped. FYI: My adorable polka dot suitcase is in TATTERS! It has a janky, non-functioning wheel, the pull-out handle is also non-functioning, so I pull it by its little pigtail of a strap, which really hurts us both, AND the zippers are giving out at the seams and missing their metal pull tabs. YIKES! I didn’t buy anything though, because I can’t decide what size to get, ESPECIALLY if I end up changing plans to come home, but that’s another story :P

We went out for a Traditional Dutch meal that night and I had veal with mashed potato and sauteed apples. Everybody else had equally delicious meals, and the place was a real success from our draft LaChouffes to our two Grand Dessert platters. Yum Yum Yum all the way home!

The next day was my dad’s grand send off ie: We had hot chocolates on the train platform before he headed to the airport... So sad to say goodbye :( We snapped a really cute shot that morning though :)

Later, Sal and I headed into the city for “The Heineken Experienece.” For whatever reason I was SUPER excited for this, and we get right up to the door and it says “Opening November 3rd.” Ok, I was here last year and it was closed and there is no way that it should’ve taken this long! PLUS we got directions from the tram driver and there was an advertisement on our map and NOWHERE did it say “Opening November ’08” or anything like that. GRR!

Without any real plans we started walking around the city. And that was it. Now I’ll tell you about Coffee Shops in Amsterdam. ;) So they came about because Amsterdam had a REAL junkie issue with people all strung out and needles and everything in the street with kids & blah blah blah. They decided that the best way to curb the hard drug problem would be to regulate softer drugs. SO, they made coffee shops. There you can buy weed, hash and space cakes that you consume on the premises- no cigarettes allowed! You can’t smoke in the streets or sell and buy on the streets, you actually can’t even carry, legally.

But so these places are little drug dens and everybody just chills and waitresses bring teas and juices and whatever. There is hardly ever any food, other than space cakes, and waitresses don’t sell drugs- you go to the drug dealer at the bar who answers any questions you might have. Then you do your thing and go on your way. It was funny because there would be like an older guy by himself just blazing away, or like five young guys with two joints each, or a group of friends, or a couple lounging on the beaded pillows, or some girlfriends giggling together, and the atmosphere is so cute and relaxed and you never worry that some lame bar brawl will break out or that somebody will pee on the floor in front of you and your friends like in Budapest...

When they made coffee shops they also made smart shops, which sell mushrooms and other light hallucinogens. Same logic applies, if we give them some soft drugs to play with, maybe they won’t care to try anything harder AND if they do, the penalties will be much harsher. It has actually worked and the big majority of the junkie population is older people who started using before the regulation of soft drugs happened. SUCCESS!

Same thing goes for prostitution- they’re like, “if we regulate it, the prostitutes will be healthier and safer and it won’t happen in the streets and there won’t be “sex for drugs” trades or girls that are too young and if a girl IS harassed or raped the penalties are much worse since a desperate guy SHOULD just go to the red light district... So another success for the city. The strange thing, though, is that none of these places are legal. It’s just that if they are discreet and go by the rules, they’ll never get in trouble. Dutch law is very weird like that, very look the other way- cool, right?

I’ll rave more later, but that’s what’s up so far....

-H*

Pics from Amsterdam: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2147355&l=e83e9&id=22001348