EuroTrip - Day 27

Love Sex Devotion (LSD)

Amsterdam is not just the sex capital of the world. It has more feathers in its cap. It is one of the very few places where some of the most popular drugs are legal too. Weed is sold over the counter. Smoking is banned in public places. The funny side to this rule is that the rule applies to smoking of tobacco only. You can still take your puff as long as it is pure grass. Don't mix, take it clean.

XXX is what a lot of Amsterdam souvenirs read. Sex is spread in more than one dimension. To satiate the curiosity and understand the cultural aspects of sex, there is a sex museum too. Located close to the Centraal station this place showcases some of the sex related art and artifacts. There are some working models too (it becomes quite odd with the audios playing some fitting sounds). Photography is not prohibited. They have an exhibit on life of Marilyn Monroe - discussing the very famous skirt blowing incident. It also dedicated a section on how she entered modeling and about her numerous love affairs. There is a section discussing various fetish and abnormal sex habits. The photos and description were gruesome at moments. One might wonder how does one derive pleasure out of such sadistic methods. Anyways, it is exposure to a world culture.

It's not the India is under-represented here. There are some artifacts from Indian temples too. Still, I really can not imagine having such a thing in India. Yes we do have our Khajuraho. That's our sex museum. But that was built centuries ago. Today we live in the age of VHP and Sri Ram Sena.

Our exploration was not yet over and the next stop was visit to a sex shop. From porn dvds to sex toys, you get everything there. And there are sales people who can help you find the stuff you want. It's not difficult to imagine how difficult their job is. I don't recall but I did see some guy who was doing the role of a bouncer in case of need.

Oh yea, forgot to mention one thing. For the first time in my life (oh I sound so much like HotTiii) I saw a information and help center for gays and lesbians. Times are changing.

For those who have read Anne Frank, they will recall that she lived in Amsterdam. Her home is a museum now and is one of the biggest attraction in town (ofcourse along with the RLD). There are long queues in wait at anytime of the day in this museum. We somehow did not have the enthu to wait in the queue for an hour or so and thus dropped the idea to visit it. Bansi and TARDi did visit it too. And from what they say, it is a good place to visit if you have read the book. The museum has lots of videos and audio based exhibits to tell the story of the little girl.

There are couple more things that one can do while in Amsterdam. There are some nice museum and then a chance to do a boat tour in the canal. The city of Amsterdam is beautifully located in a big mesh of canals. One can get a good feel of the city's natural beauty and architecture by taking these boat rides or walking along these canals.

With this, we decided to end our trip in Amsterdam for a while. We had so much to cover in Netherland and we were already running behind our schedule. Rotterdam was going to be our next destination. We planned a round trip to Rotterdam so that we could come back and stay with Paka before leaving for Belgium.

Rotterdam is the busiest port in Europe. It offers you a chance to see some of the best of modern architecture in the form of high-risers, bridges and gardens. The city was completely destroyed in second world war so there is very little left from its glorious past. Clearly the modern development makes up for it. EuroMast is what we had planned to visit. This 180+ meters high tower was built in late 60s and offers a chance to have a panoramic view of Rotterdam from the highest point on the tower. There is a revolving glass lift that takes you up till the peak. The 6 minute ride tells you about various facts and stories about the city and its future plans. At the top of the building there are some suits too for those who want to have a very high altitude honeymoon. [From what I have heard I have already got sponsorship for the Euro 380 per night package. If you are interested in contributing for my eurotrip honeymoon, you can contact me by mail. Hurry, very little opportunities left]. At 8 euros, the trip to this tower is a bit expensive but I feel it is one of its kind experience and one should not miss it.

We took a walk around the town as it was very late to do the boat ride along the harbour. The town has a distinctly modern feeling which we had not seen in any other city that we have visited in Europe so far. Europe really offers something new every time.

Our date with Rotterdam's city was going to be a short one as we had to go back to Amsterdam for our night stay. Again, thanks to Paka, we could have one night's good sleep. Things have been pretty good so far in BeNeLux. Looking for more :D