Amsterdam, Netherlands: August 13, 2005

10/09/2020
Travel

I arrived at the hotel in Amsterdam around 5:30 p.m. The guy at the front desk was a total jerk. I was two seconds away from knocking him out. We asked how to get to the metro and he said “walk.” I looked at him with that ‘not shit Sherlock’ glare in my eye. Lucky for him he was looking down or he would have felt the mighty wrath.

Shocker. Amsterdam’s flag is the symbol for straight edge (no sex, no drugs, no alcohol) which is a total contradiction. In Amsterdam, all of the above occur and are just as easily accessible. Bongs and weed seeds are openly sold in stores, pubs/bars are on either side of the street surrounding you, sex shops, porn shops, and gay cinemas are frequent sites.

So, fun fact. There are secret police in the crowded streets of Amsterdam. While I at a store called Chesterfield, the cashier gave me a heads up, telling me that the person I was traveling with should not drink in the street because he could be fined. If he wants to drink he has to sit at a restaurant. Then the guy warned to be careful because there are secret police in the crowd. Secret police is apparently what they call undercover cops. There were a lot of community service guys wearing the bright orange reflector jackets and picking up trash. I told the person I was traveling with that they were the secret police; why else would there be such a high concentration of them around pubs? Conspiracy!!