Ya know, a lot of my friends smoke dope, and all of them consider Amsterdam some weird kind of Pothead Mecca. They feel that they must make a Hajj to the red light district in amsterdam, and smoke some hash in a coffee shop. I don't smoke up, so I never get this. I've been to Amsterdam a lot, usually on 8 hour or so layovers flying from Africa. Bruce Sterling sums up my impressions of Amsterdam in a weird impressionistic ... poem is the closest word I can find for this kind of
impressionistic stream of consciousness writing, but poem is not the word.
thirty minutes at a euro and a half
in an allnight Amsterdam internet joint
that reeks of Afghani hash
midnight streets shiny and
haunted by toothless spare-changing derelicts
and lemur-eyed female junkie bag thieves
the Red Light District must be somewhere
near here, I can sense that Somerset
Maugham air of human degradation, you get
to where you can smell it after a while