Well, Gail and I are across from an older lady who looks worried by the kids. A couple seats up is an older man; he is surrounded. Another lady is behind us. Other than that is is kids everywhere.
So, I have an idea. I get up, gather the adults into the seats next to Gail and then I pulled out my iPad and moved to the set of seats over and back. It was like a kid magnet: the three seated next to me, and the four in the seat in front came scrambling back too... kids in the aisle. I put on some music (ooooo!) then started the photos (ooooOOOO!) and showed them the finger swipe, like magic! (OOOOOOO!) They really liked the photos of Mexico. One girl knew a touch of German, no one spoke English, I could make out close Dutch words, so we smiled a lot, pointed, and when one kid got the idea they passed it on to everyone.
Eventually the teachers came back to see what was going on, and one of them spoke a little English, but also German, so then we could talk.
Anyway, the people sitting near Gail were very thankful for a peaceful trip to Antwerp.
When we got to Antwerp we were impressed with the train station, it is like six or seven levels underground, very organized and modern.
We arrived in Amsterdam and walked a kilometer to our hotel. It is right on a canal, under the shadow of Westerkerk (West Church) and by the square. We rang the bell, and the door opened to a flight of steep, steep stairs that went up, up like three stories and disappeared to the left. They insisted on carrying up Gail's bag, and we were seated in the breakfast room for some coffee.
There were fresh flowers in our narrow, crooked room to welcome us. We have a balcony where we sat out all hours of the day and night (if it wasn't raining).
The original note I wrote on this trip said, "...we are out on the balcony at 23:30 drinking wine, smoking a clove cigarette, watching the city and writing. The church bells are chiming, the trolly cars dinging. It is cool and windy, and the streets are busy."
That first night, after walking the streets and window shopping, we ate a nice dinner. I had black spaghetti with wine cream sauce, pine nuts, scallops, langostino (small lobsters, or big shrimps) and assorted cheese and herbs. Then we walked the streets until 23:00 and it is just now starting to get dark out.
We walked the red light district and it is really true: red lights around the windows, the interiors lit by red and black lights, the women undressed in various forms of attire... It is like window shopping for just the right one. You want heavy or skinny? Black, white, Asian or...? Sexy dress, half dressed, undressed? English, German, Dutch, Italian, African or what language you prefer? I hear that customers take their time, find just the one they like, and have long term "business relationships" with that person. It was pretty interesting to wander around being propositioned with Gail right there next to me, and to see her propositioned! Men would stop and negotiate prices, and if it was all good they would step into the lit window, the curtains would whisk shut, and there you go!
You cannot (officially) take any photos in the area; if you try you gotta be really discrete, or take them from far away.
It was a pretty fascinating place to walk at night.
It makes sense, really. Prostitution is not going away, so why not license it, have health regulations, and have it zoned in a particular area of town, surrounded by and integrated with other businesses? The crime rate is really low, the abuse of prostitutes is non-existent, the jails are not full of people soliciting, taxes are collected, people make a living, and interestingly enough, they have have less of a health care and thus tax burden because of it:
The teen pregnancy rate in the US is four times that of the Netherlands.
The abortion rate is 1.5 times higher than in the Netherlands.
HIV rate is three times higher in the US, and the incidence of all sexually transmitted diseases is a fraction of what it is here.
Anyway, every town has it's own red light district; for instance, when we were in Haarlem, the district was just one block because it is a smaller town.
We spent the next two days just exploring, drinking, poking into places and sitting, watching people.
The "coffee shops" are really marijuana stores; if you want coffee you need to find a bar or cafe. Coffee Shops are not allowed to sell regular cigarettes. There are a lot of young, scraggly American, German and other teens wandering the streets, obviously having their first "high" experience. It reminded me of the kids I knew at the University, from very conservative homes, having their first taste of freedom Friday nights at the bars. They just could not ever get enough to drink. Me? I did my drinking and experimentation is high school, by the time I was off at the University I was ready to be serious, get good grades, and watch with amusement as my friends spent a lot of time puking.
Anyway, in spite of the drug stores and coffee houses everywhere, again the regulation and openess seems to work: I believe the statistics show that actual drug use in the Nederlands is about half, per capita, of the US.
The canals of Amsterdam remind us of a dressed up, more formal Venice, with influences from the streets of Paris, and the buildings of Brugge. People live on these long, low boats that line the canals. They are painted nice, have art and potted plants in the "yard" (front deck of the boat), and have actual mailboxes and "street" numbers. I even saw smoke coming out of the chimney of a boat; the guy obviously had a wood stove going!
It is a very cool city. There are no street lights at most intersections, so it is a free for all.
More bikes than I have ever seen in my life, the streets are crowded with them, every post and railing has bikes locked to it; even the train station has a three story bike parking garage with a bike cop writing tickets for illegal parking! You have to be careful crossing the street because of the bikes (they are so quiet and come from every direction).
Parents even have a mini-van bike, with a kid carrier in front, like a big wooden basket with seats for two to four, and usually a kid seat in back, sometimes one in front on the handlebars. It is amazing to see a man in a three piece suit, or a woman in high heels and a nice dress riding along.
We spent one day going to Haarlem, to see the Corrie Ten Boom house (she hid Jews in the war) and to just see another part of the Netherlands besides Amsterdam. It rained the whole day... That is 21 days of rain (with occasional breaks for sun) so far. There was a busy market in the square, where we bought some food and two of the Dutch bike bells for our bikes at home, and we found a warm Italian cafe with a fire going inside, so we sat and warmed up with lasagna, pizza and wine.
Back in Amsterdam we followed the canals over to the floating flower markets, went to the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, and of course cafe hopping. We picked up a nice piece of art, a woodblock print, from a quirky artist, but it really looks like Amsterdam to us.
This seems to be the first city I have ever been in that literally never goes to sleep. People are out all night; the late wanderers run into the early risers heading to work. It reminded us as a lot of Seattle, with the cooler weather, rain, kind of grunge vibe.
This was a really fun, interesting and very wet three days, and three dryer, red-lit nights.
Now it is time to head back into Germany for a week.