Day 39 - 29/8/11 - Monday- Amsterdam

Unlike in Moscow it appeared that the God of rain would not relent, and the weather again would be most suitable for ducks and umbrella salesmen. Although it may have been good weather for another museum, we seemed content with our Van Gogh museum visit yesterday. As such we decided we didn't need to chase it up and battle more crowds with a Rijksmuseum visit the following day. I hadn't really seen much of Amsterdam other that looking upwards from below street level whilst boating on the canals, and hence Cinthia and my plan was to wander the streets, take some photos and have a relaxing morning.

Although slightly frustrated at the umbrella going up and down almost as frequently as a yo yo, one can not help but admire that the streets and houses in Amsterdam. They are very beautiful, even when the sun is hidden by a dull cloudy greyness. For Cinthia, the streets, houses, canals and shops allowed past memories to flood back, as this was her third visit to Amsterdam. Gee, some people just travel too much! We disagreed though, as as nice as Amsterdam is, I think I liked Copenhagen better, whilst Cinthia much prefers Amsterdam.

On our wandering we ambled past the house of Anne Frank, however any temptation to go in was quickly eradicated by a 200 metre line.

A full day of semi-aimless wandering is not really ideal, and hence we did decide to undertake a quick guide tour in the late afternoon. This tour was known as the Amsterdam Coffee House tour, and would explain the history and goings on of the infamous dutch Coffee shops.

The tour basically outlines the history of the world's fourth most popular mind altering drug, cannibis. If you are wondering what the other 3 are, it is alcohol, tobacco and coffee. Cannibis is mainly grown in the Pakistan/ India/ Bangladesh region, and the hemp plant itself is even illegal to grow in many countries, including the U.S., despite its many uses (Rope, clothing, etc)

The guide explained the law in Netherlands, where cannibis is illegal, however it has been decriminilised. Nowadays it is ok to go into a coffee shop and buy/ use, however it is baseed on the following policy pillars:

Discretion is preferred, and as such you are not harming others
No hard drugs, minors or weapons allowed in the coffee shops
It is good for businessIronically, and perhaps non sensically, the supply side of cannibis is still policed and treated as criminal, although I'm not sure how vigourously this is policed.

There are around 200 remaining coffee shops in Amsterdam, however at one stage there were 400. Given cannibis is illegal by law, it cannot be taxed, however it is believed that many of these Coffee Shops trade up to $1 million Euros in sales..... tax free. A decent black market for the owners. No new coffee shops are allowed to open, and therefor the owners of the current shops are likely to be sitting on a gold mine for several decades yet. For in the Netherlands, anything seen as good for business is generally supported, and hence.... cannibis sales are good for business. The coffee shops together with the Red light district is a major drawcard for tourism, which is of course a major benefit for the economy.

We visited a museum that explained hemp usage (it even had a snowboard made of hemp) and it also showed the growing process, and when and how the cannibis plant flowers. It was interesting, however I wasn't planning to grow any back in Australia.

In Amsterdam, it is ok to grow the plant, however it is limited to 5 plants per premises, and now this is limited to outside, which makes it much harder to grow. This is not sufficient to supply the industry, however it is sort of a 'hidden' secret as to where the vast majority of supply comes from. Is cannibis worse than alcohol or tobacco? Perhaps not, our guide certainly thought not, and I guess many would agree.

Post the tour we met my parents for the Last Supper, or at least the last in Netherlands. Post dinner we decided it was time to hit the pub to celebrate our shared trip in dad's country of birth. We indulged in beers and wine, and then Dad and I had a whisky to finalise the shared portion of the evening.

It's Amsterdam, and hence Cinthia and I proceeded to head out and check out Amsterdam night life one more time, proceeding through the Red Light district, visiting some bars and coffee shops. Cinthia found a clog she had sat in during her last visit, so decided another photo would begin a tradition.


I'm not sure if mum and dad headed out too, however if they did then they are old enough and wise enough to look after themselves, so we didn't worry.