Oh boy blog readers. Currently on the train to the airport from Amsterdam. My gawd. Talk about progressive. This city makes Swarthmore College look conservative. Sex, Drugs, Waffles with icecream/berries/Nutella, everything is for sale in this city.
Crazy part of it is how in your face and normal it all seems. Where in our culture, vices tend to attract a sketchy crowd and a sense of dirtyness(think Vegas), Amsterdam has normalized these things to the point where the Dutch barely notice. We saw plenty of tourists over the age of 70 strolling through the Red Light District, and little kids eating the same delicious treats as those who had just visited Amsterdams famous coffee shops. Very weird but cool city.
We went to the absolutely amazing van Gogh museum, we ate a bunch of Incredibly good Thai and Vietnamese food(really getting pumped for SE Asia) and spent our two days strolling around the canals and trying to understand how such a strange place existed.
Amsterdam Thoughts:
– Food here is amazing.. We didn’t have a single meal that wasn’t outstanding
– Dutch people are tall. Absurdly tall.
-Hostels are great, but ear plugs are a necessity
– Decriminalization tends to remove a lot of criminal elements.
-Bikes bikes bikes.
Quotes:
“Wow, if all the drugs and prostitution are legal, then what do these police officers even do? Prevent people from hurting and robbing each other and actual problems?” Tim
“Ive never been so happy.” Garrett
