Impressions of Holland
May 9, 2008
The first time I visited Amsterdam was in 1977, just after I had spent two years in Chad as a Peace Corps volunteer. I hadn't been there since. What impressions I had from my first trip were small: clean, orderly streets; handsome people; good food and the astonishing sight of ladies in underwear in the red light district.
Nothing I experienced on my most recent trip (just last month) contradicted those impressions: Amsterdam is one of the cleanest and most orderly in the world. The food, though not gourmet, is amenable to US tastes. The red light district is just as amazing as it ever was and a refutation to those who believe that prostitution demoralizes culture.
Other impressions:
- The security system in the Amsterdam Airport is better than any in the USA. The screening goes on at the gates. There are one or two stations at each gate. This reduces waiting considerably and eliminates any chance of missing a flight because of security delays.
- The security personnel are intelligent, dutiful and courteous. They view themselves as professionals. The US should fire all the hoodlums and misfits that populate our security checkpoints and replace them with workers from Holland.
- Although the Dutch are famous for their chocolate you don't find much chocolate on the dessert menus.
- The Dutch people are almost universally handsome but rarely beautiful. They are taller than North Americans. I have no idea why.
- English is spoken as a second language in Amsterdam and throughout most of Holland. Dutch is a difficult language to grasp quickly. The sounds are different. The spelling is unusual. The vocabulary is unfamiliar
- The Euro is the currency of Holland. That means that almost everything is comparatively expensive for US citizens today. What would cost $5 in America (a hamburger and coke, for example) would cost five Euros in Holland. Trouble is that five Euros equals nearly eight bucks.
- If you convert all Euro-based prices into dollars you will not be able to buy anything. The pragmatic strategy is to pretend that the dollar has equal value (the way it used to) and spend accordingly.
- Like everything else in Amsterdam the canals are relatively unpolluted. Traveling around in this city of canals is challenging at first - just as it is in Florence. But once you understand the layout you can get around quite easily - almost as easily as you can in Rome.
- Using public restrooms in Holland is not the horrifying, health-threatening experience that it is in the US. Rest rooms are almost all regularly staffed by competent workers. Toilets were all very clean.
- Walking down the city streets at night, you never feel in any danger. People are quieter and better behaved than they are in the US or England. The only noisy people we encountered were from England or America.
- The Dutch economy seems stronger than the US economy. I saw no bums, no beggars and no one who seemed poor. A cab driver told me that the "regular" people don't live as well as the people of Amsterdam. A bartender told me there was a growing problem with immigrants from North Africa who are a drain on the economy. But I saw none of that. The local papers report that the Dutch economy is declining and that real estate prices are dropping. Talking to merchants it seemed clear that most tourism-related businesses (including taxies, hotels and most retail stores) are suffering because Americans are spending less. But generally speaking, Holland seemed better off than the US.
- Amsterdam is a city of young people. The average age of age of the restaurant goers we saw was about 25. In New York it's more like 35. In Delray Beach it is older than that.
- The history of Holland is informative. They became a major economic power in the second half of the 16th century. By the middle of the 17th century they were the world's biggest bankers and most successful international traders. The Dutch government was decentralized during this Golden era. Individual states were clustered in a federation through representatives but had a good deal of local power. Wars were fought mostly through private trading companies and mostly to secure economic interests in India and the New World. Eventually Spain and England came to dominate world trade, but the Dutch settled comfortably into a secondary but important position as merchant bankers and stockholders of international companies.
- Although the Dutch covet personal economic, social, and personal freedom (which is why prostitution and drugs are legal) their culture is fundamentally conservative.
- You can smoke pot or hash in coffee shops throughout Amsterdam. Despite the availability and legality of drug use, drug use seems relatively modest and there is no appearance of a drug problem in the city. You don't see addicts lying in door portals or in alleyways. You aren't accosted by them on street corners. If there are drug addicts in Holland, they aren't noticeable and don't appear to be bothering people. As with prostitution, Amsterdam proves that we have nothing to fear from making these vices (if they are vices) legal.
posted by M. Masterson @ 4:41 PM,
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