Amsterdam memories
February 12, 2003 ~ 9:42 p.m.
Out of the six major European cities I've been to, Amsterdam must be my favorite. Although I dearly love Barcelona and am looking forward to my next trip there (perhaps next year), I have nothing but praise for the Dutch capital.
Although legalization of marijuana is a grey area for me, and I am uneasy at the thought of those who keep the coffeeshops supplied, I have talked before about how the decriminalization of cannabis allows the police to pool their resources for serious crime. And helderheid was surely right in that rougly 90% of the pot sold is to tourists. The Dutch have lived with unofficially legal pot for more than a quarter-century; for them, the "coffee" shops are no different than a pub.
That's me, hanging out over the Keizersgracht canal. And that's not a cigarette I'm clutching! Whey-hey!
Some of the architecture is brilliant. Not just the guildhouses with their unique gables, but the churches. The Royal Palace is a bit imposing, especially around the cobblestone trackway leading to Dam Square�I was reminded of the area surrounding the Palais de Justice in Brussels, but the Royal Palace is somewhat less muscular.
On the Princengracht is the Westerkerk, famous for the triple x's on its spire. Tourists often gawk at it, wondering if it is some weird religious concession to the city's sex, drugs and rock'n'roll image. But it is nowhere near the Red Light District. The three x's, against a red background, is the city of Amsterdam's emblem. Simple as that.
As everyone knows, Amsterdam is a city built around numerous canals. In fact, water buses take you through the major parts of the city. We took the "Green Line" canal bus down the Princengracht into the Leidseplein district, to the Rijksmuseum, then back to Centraal Station along the Herengracht, the Amstel and the Oudeschans.
During our first night in the hotel, we decided to flip through the Dutch television stations, and came across this:
Drunk and stoned, I found myself laughing uncontrollably. The rabbit puppet stands behind a bar and just cracks joke after joke with the occassional audience sing-a-long. Not understanding a word of Dutch, I couldn't tell how raunchy the show was, but it was clearly aimed at adults, if the composition of the audience and the brewskies they were sipping is any indication. By listening, I understood that I was hearing colloquial, slang-filled Dutch, and that itself sounds like a profoundly unintelligble form of English. AB Normaal sounds like a man from Yorkshire after he's had way too many Tetleys. I was roaring when the rabbit called another puppet on the phone, as part of his many repetoire of jokes.
"Hallo!"
"Hey, wha de fuck. Dis ass kum ffor ta spliff ya."
I swear to God, that's what it sounded like. I couldn't stop laughing, but eventually, with the scent of pot, wine and my wife's perfume lingering in the air, we shut the TV off and went to sleep.
Oh, Amsterdam! I will be returning to you ...
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
AMERICA FOR TRUE AMERICANS!