Amsterdamage

Spent last week in Amsterdam on business, but managed to sprinkle a healthy amount of sightseeing and shenanigans into the adventure. I had intended to chronicle said adventure through the blog while I was there, but something kept interfering with my short-term memory and it just didn't happen. You are thus spared the extended travelogue and can instead chew on these scattered morsels of observation.

Things you see in Amsterdam:

- Some of the oldest buildings in Europe (Amsterdam has been remarkably unaffected by the various wars that have bombed out classic architecture in cities such as London. To walk in Amsterdam is to walk among rows of five-story structures that have stood since the 17th century. The buildings lean slightly into the street, a design that allowed for residents of the upper floors to lower baskets down to street level, to be filled with goods from the markets).

- Canals. They loop around the city in concentric circles, passing under small bridges. Looking down-canal from one of the bridges provides, to my mind, the iconic view of the city - the canal and two or three bridges in the distance until the waterway veers off on its circular path, taking the old, beautiful buildings with it.

- Museums. The Van Gogh. The Rijksmuseum (with lots of Rembrandt and a great visual tour through the history of the Dutch and their colonies). Do not go to Amsterdam without going to these places.

- Coffeeshops. Everyone knows you can do soft drugs legally in Amsterdam, although it's considered bad form to do them anywhere other than the designated "coffeeshops." Actually, I think the Dutch consider it pretty bad form to be a pothead in general. The quasi-legal status of drugs in the Netherlands is an object lesson in sensible legislation...people in the country don't grow up thinking of weed as a mysterious, forbidden fruit, so they're not as eager to taste it (especially when the legions of zombified tourists make it look so lame). Still, it's a fun and unique experience to buy drugs off a menu.

- Prostitutes in windows. Again, everyone knows this. But I was somewhat surprised to find, on this visit, that they're in the windows as early as 10 in the morning. Not surprised, however, to learn that the 10AM window shift is (even) more depressing than the 10PM.

Things you do not see in Holland:

- Obesity. Everyone is on their bikes or on their feet at all times, which must be the reason that, despite the presence of super-rich pastries on every street corner, the total fat of the Amsterdam population seems to be less than that of one Big Mac. If you see a fat person, they're a foreigner.

- Short people. How the Dutch are not a basketball power is beyond me. Even the women all seem to be over six feet. If you see a short person (under six feet), they're either under the age of 12 or a foreigner.

Okay, so that ended up being an extended travelogue after all. And it probably contained zero news value for anyone who's been there or even read about the city in any detail. But I had to record something for the record about Amsterdam.

And really, it's MY blog, isn't it?