"Amsterdam Land"

Amsterdam is amazing. The city is awesome, eclectic and eccentric. The walls are tall and foreboding. The city cast a sea of brown amongst the grey blanketed sky. Aside for the wind, the air is crisp and bitter. With the wind, a harshness enters the low temperatures, making leisurely walks an arduous feat. The city feels like an amusement park for adults, with it’s endless supply of “legal” drugs and prostitution. There are boats to ride through the canals, trams to ride through the snaking streets, and delectable food to gorge to one’s delight. They are amusement shows like the Red Light District, the Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrant House. These are exemplified on our map of “Amsterdam Land” as little houses or a different color.

The food here is overpriced because the vendors know that once adults visit “Amsterdam Land” they find it difficult to leave the looming cutouts to seek the same food for a lesser price. The overall ambience of freedom, equality and diversity seep into the soul, releasing all hesitation of outside consequence. Here you are allowed to be as similar or as different of an individual as you want to be. You can blend into the crowd as quickly as you can stand out. The sexually heightened atmosphere allows lovers to express their devotion candidly without fear of persecution. Those who have visited here before are desensitized to the tourist sights, while those of us who are “first-timers” are caught snapping various photos, of things we have heard of, but never imagined to be possible.

Everything is new, save for those that are just like home. The graffiti is nothing I have ever seen, except for that at home. The homeless are those like in the states. Only these are individuals without homes… In Amsterdam. The prostitution, still stomach churning and saddening, but legal. Not like back in the states. Everything feels different, even though nothing has changed.

I think I am officially mature enough to appreciate what museums have to offer. The Van Gogh Museum held works that I have only seen in books and longed to see in person. I was there just long enough to begin to trace the themes throughout his work and life, but not so long that I regretted visiting the amusement site in the first place. I took my dad’s advice, just don’t tell him, and purchased the audiotour in order to gain better insight as to the works and the various artist. It’s almost like being placed back in time when seeing the real art, close up. You feel like you are back in 1885 watching the artist strategically fill the blank canvas. Wondering if they are thinking it is rubbish and questioning whether anyone will appreciate it. Thinking that maybe they are playing a big joke on their followers, simply just painting a picture of a beach, laughing at how much people might pay for that very piece, years down the road.

Tomorrow the Anne Frank House and Rembrant House. Alicia and I are very careful to not do too much in one day, in order to “enjoy every moment” and not get too burned out on the sites. I have a very sore throat from all the cigarette smoke in the bars. Don’t know if I will every get used to that, or want to get used to it for that matter. Tonight we had Dutch French Fries with Mayo and Curry Ketchup. To die for. Then we went to the most local café we could find where there were families and couples and elderly people and a live jazz band, complete with a standup bass, which I love. All for now. Ciao.