So today we took the free walking tour of Amsterdam, walked for 3 hours and saw lots of really cool stuff. Also we learned that cannabis is in fact illegal in Amsterdam. What happened was that Amsterdam had a lot of really hard drug problems, so the cops decided to stop arresting people for smoking cannabis and just focus on the hard drug users. This was successful, so they go by the philosophy of plausible denyability - they will turn a blind eye as long as1) you are discreet 2) you cause no trouble and 3) you are good for business. So the "coffee shops" are places where everyone knows you can smoke cannabis, but they don't advertise that they offer cannabis, so the cops can turn a blind eye to it. Apparently when you are on the street smoking it, they also suffer from a very temporary and specific kind of blindness and also lose their sense of smell for a bit. But it works and their hard drug problem is a lot better than it was before. Another fun thing about Amsterdam - in order to take care of the public urination problem, they put up a bunch of 'pissing walls' which is basically a little place with a wall and a hole in the ground that a guy can step into, do his thing and then move on. The women of Amsterdam protested this saying that they wanted the equivalent (because it's .50 euro to use a toilet) and so they organized a public urination on the biggest bridge in Amsterdam on a Friday and told the city that they would do that every Friday on every bridge in the city until they got their own free urination places. Well, it worked and the city put in 5 of them - the problem became that a lot of drug users found them as perfect places to shoot up / participate in other nefarious activities and so they are all closed. The guide called them "glorified posterboards." Of course, she also called the national monument "inappropriatly phallic." Needless to say, we were entertained by her sense of humor for the entire tour.
Plausible denyability also worked when Catholicism was illegal. You see, a lot of wealthy mercahnts were Catholic, so they had "secret churches." Basically in the attic of someone's house, a bunch of Catholics would gather on Sunday for Mass. Now at one particular house, they played hymns on the 2nd largest organ in the city, thereby announcing to the neighborhood that a Mass was going on. Per our tour guide, anyone who ran to the cops to say "There's Catholics in there" would be told, "Oh, we'll check it out" and the cops would take their time, allowing the Catholics time to finish and when they got there, it would all be over. I think she also mentioned that the merchants paid the cops off, as well. You have to admit, Catholics are resiliant / practical! Of course, now there is a grand total of 5 Catholic churches in the whole of Amsterdam... such is life.
We did go through a little of the red light district because it is in some of the oldest areas of Amsterdam. We saw the "ladies in the windows" and there will be NO pictures of them because we were told that is not allowed by the ladies themselves who have no problem coming out of the window, kicking, hitting, spitting, breaking cameras and otherwise showing their displeasure at being photographed. Interesting tidbit - the guide said that both she and the ladies of the windows have the same taxes because they are both considered to be self-employed (or contract workers or something). Kinda made me giggle just a little.
It was interesting walking around a city and smelling the same smell that we get at a concert... he he he... to my friends, no, I will not be visiting a coffee shop and partaking in the time-honored passtime of Amsterdam. We have enjoyed the beer, though! We have learned that after some of the tours are over, the guide will take you to a typical restaruant for further conversation / typical food of the region. It was REALLY good today! Dinner is peanuts at the bar in the hostel, and their version of chips and salsa, which is good but SO not spicy! Tomorrow we are doing the hop on / hop off bus tour, so hopefully our feet will not be quite so dead. For real, I should have had the one insole in my shoe for the feets and then the other for my heels / lower back... my poor feets think that I hate them and want them to suffer - SUFFER!! He he - I can tell when they really hurt because I feel the bitchy rising and wanting to get out... luckily Ana says that I haven't unleashed the bitchy.
We did also stop at the Anne Frank house, and talked a bit about her diary and her life. I had forgotten that she was killed in the concentration camp... I'd also forgotten that they were found because they were ratted out. It's a part of the war that we only touch on in the states - that people collaberated with the Germans when they were trying to track down all the Jewish families that they missed in the initial roundups. I would not have wanted to be that person when the war was over. Talk about needing to relocate! The Jewish quarter of the city was decimated during WW2 but not because it was bombed - it was because that winter was the coldest ever and they ran out of coal and trees so the citizens went to the Jewish part of the city and took the wood out of the houses down there in order to survive the winter. Per the guide, when time came to rebuild they gave the work to architecture students... students... in the 60's... in Amsterdam... yeah, the architecture leaves something (everything) to be desired. OH YEAH, also, they don't let Mormons into the national archives anymore because they tried to baptise Anne Frank as a Mormon. Funny ol' world, innit?
So that was day 1 in Amsterdam from Mandi's perspective... tomorrow I leave the update to my lovely co-anchor, Ana!
Tired feet. I am sure when we are finished with this tour of Europe our feet will be in tip top shape. =o) (hopefully my tooshie too).
I was honestly uneasy about coming to Amsterdam because of what I have heard but am pleasently surprised at what we have seen. I could do without the smell but that is their culture, who am I to judge. It did rain today three times and by the third we were both happy to be coming back to the hostel. We were told that Amasterdam is the Vennis of the north and our tour guide said Vennis is the Amsterdam of the south. We will have to check that out for ourselves. Sadly, I have only seen two windmills so far (sorry Daddy) but we plan on going to other places to see them. Our guide also showed us the location Rembrant painted his first famous painting. I am glad I am not to old to learn and have the opportinity to learn and see where history has been made. Tired and going to bed ealry since our sweet quiet bar has turned into the high school social.=o(
Lots of love from Amsterdam,
Ana & Mandi
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