Amstahdam Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a contrast of the most disparate and unutterable present and past:

Anne Frank House with the family bedrooms, Peter's bedroom-stairwell, attic steps, and bookcase
the Dutch Resistance Museum
the streets where people were rounded up and hauled away by the Nazi's
the art of Van Gogh
diamond factories
windmills
flowers and clogs
riverboats and canals
Dam Square with magicians, Darth Vaders, and people painted gold
drugs and drinking
young men whose teeth resemble those of meth addicts
women for 40-50 euros
porn shop products displayed as front window dressing
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

American politically incorrect is Amsterdam's politically correct.
Phyllis in front of CAMEL store.

Van Gogh shows up everywhere - on bikes as well.
I went to the Van Gogh Museum.

Note the waffle cone - Van Gogh increases sales(?)

The architecture is reminiscent of Universal Studios with false fronts (the curly-cue peaks).

The New Church or De Nieuwe Kerk at Dam Square
Oddest display inside a cathedral
300 silver naked women and designer wedding dresses

Is this wedding dress like a brown paper bag where you cannot see the intended?

Politically incorrect and odd

The Van Loon double-canal house - one of the sixeen founders of the Dutch East India Trading Company in 1602. House-gardens-stables are bordered by two canals. The red-head eccentric aunt lived in the house even when it was designated a tourist site and opened at 10 a.m. for tours. Asked to vacate by the time the doors opened to the public, she surprised many a tourist when they opened the door and found her sleeping in bed.
She reminds me of my red-haired aunt who is as colorful and eccentric.

Phyllis bought flowers at the flower market.
Our room had a double bed, sink, and scant floor space.
We moved the chair to get to the sink, and again to get out the door.
There was so much "smoke" in this hostel we could lay in bed and get high.
The smoke alarm went off at 2 a.m. from party-ers.
Amsterdam was the 2nd Hostel from Hell.
(a young man passed out with feet barring our door and
 his head barring the bathroom door)



Vowels trip the American tongue.



One last wedding picture in the cathedral - this is a TRAIN - as in dragged behind a wedding gown.

Poor man's paint - originally black from tar.



Red Light District without the women...

When one walks by, he is literally 18" from the skimpily-clad woman.
She will beckon the men directly but have zero eye-contact with women.



Canals, houseboats, flowers

One of the many ways to get hit - the lanes and streets were "kill zones"

Dead skin removal by guppies

Outdoor tubs of goldfish that nibble dead skin.

Vend-o-mats: burgs, sandwiches, fries, pastries, puddings.
I saw these in the late 70s at one of the Smithsonian cafeterias
when I worked at the Lincoln Memorial.
Amsterdam's vend-o-mats did a brisk business because it was cheap.