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Amsterdam does have an active Red Light
district. I did not get any pictures of it at night (photos are frowned
upon at night anyway) but I did manage to capture the daytime scene in
one photo. Nearest, we have an "adult toy store" with the wares
displayed prominantly in the front window. While this would be unlikely
in the states, it's a pretty common sight in Europe. The next door down
is a "smart shop" which is like a head shop, except that they actually
sell drugs (at least the ones that are legal in Amsterdam), including
pot seeds. A couple more doors down is a "coffeeshop," which is a
cafe where you can legally smoke pot. If you want a regular coffeeshop,
you should ask for a cafe. As a bonus, there's also a cow head in the
middle of the picture (look above the scantily-clad mannequins).
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Outside of a cafe, a street band plays.
I think the weather is far too chilly to be out in T-shirts, but these
guys don't seem to mind.
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We also stopped by the Museum of Torture. It
contains a fascinating sampling of the ways people have devised to be
nasty to each other. Eric poses by the Chair of Nails.
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Perhaps the creepiest item in the collection
was the crow cage.
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Some of the coffee shops have amusing names...
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...or amusing logos.
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I doubt that they're planning to make tequila.
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The smartshops are often decorated with white
and red spots, characteristic of Amanita muscaria. None of them
seemed to actually be selling A. muscaria though, which is
probably a good thing since it's reported to be a bit of a rough trip compared
to the Psilocybes. Ingestion of A. muscaria will result
in nausea, vomiting, sweating, and shaking, and has about a 50/50 chance
of also resulting in some hallucinations. An inordinate number of
people on A. muscaria have mistaken themselves for Jesus. It is,
however, the mushroom that Lewis Carroll took prior to writing Alice
in Wonderland and is probably responsible for the legends about
Santa's flying reindeer.
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There are a lot of coffee shops and smartshops
in the red light district and surrounding areas. This street has three
in a row (Pick Up the Pieces, Choice Exact, and Free Adam).
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Some of them have very recognizable logos.
"The Bulldog" is sort of a sports-themed coffee shop, if you can believe
it.
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The bright colors seem a bit garish on the old
architecture of the city, but overall it doesn't look bad. This is
building 42, if you hadn't noticed yet.
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The various smart shops lure you in with
colorful images of mushrooms, cacti, etc. However, unlike American
headshops...
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They really are selling mushrooms...
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Really...
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Really...
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Really...
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Really...
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Really selling mushrooms. Legally.
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Many of them were selling pot seed, too,
of every imaginable variety.
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The actual letter of the law regarding drugs
is a little confusing. As near as I can tell, any synthetic or
processed drug (such as ecstasy, cocaine, or hash) is illegal.
It is illegal to smoke pot outside of designated coffee shops. I don't
know where it is legal to take mushrooms, but is is clearly legal to
sell them. It is illegal to sell pot in quantities greater than
single-user quantities. This "display garden" was carefully labelled,
"For display purposes only." The same museum also had a very good
display on the impact of the United States' drug war. Did you know that
we have over a million people in prison on drug charges? That's one out
of every 250 people.
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Back in the good ol' days, this hookah treated
travellers to a mountain monestary to a little religious experience. It
was one of the last to be used legally in the world.
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Amsterdam is a place to seek most any high,
natural or chemical. However, this particular monument is beyond my
comprehension. Capsicum is the chemical that
makes hot peppers hot, which is pretty neat, but I'm still not sure why
they have the word emblazoned on a pole.
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Perhaps it's just that if you stay in Amsterdam long
enough, it starts to get to you. Incidentally, male nudity is way more
common in European ads than American ones, for better or worse.
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Evidence of anti-war sentiment was still
evident on our return to Amsterdam.
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One wonders if this mural has been up for a
while, or if it was posted in response to current events.
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The mural across the street, though, seems
devoid of any political significance.
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And, just in case you thought you'd seen the
last of the European clocktowers, here's yet another one from Amsterdam.
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