"The great thing about Amsterdam is that there is always someone weirder than you"
-bartender at Arendsnest-
A free weekend to unwind, sleep a little later, and take the dirty clothes down to the wasserette run by the wacky dude from Pakistan (drop your clothes off in the morning, pick them up at the end of the day, slightly folded). Then head to the Architectura+Natura bookstore- the best architecture bookstore in Europe!- and let them ship home all the books (15 kg/33 lbs) that you bought on the trip.
Reflecting on the cost of the books and the shipping cost, we head for the bar. This will be our 3rd trip to Arendsnest (thank you Taze for that tip), a small bar with no TV (yaaa) and, most important, 30 varieties of Dutch beer on tap. Had an excellent Porter and an actual IPA, among others. The place was quiet so we had a nice chat with the bartender. He quite enjoyed living and working in Amsterdam, and when asked about impact of tourists, he said that most people weren't bothered, and that "tourists are part of Amsterdam and make it what it is".
The subject naturally switched to marijuana, which in his view is not any kind of issue. He expounded some on the weed.........most marijuana is consumed by tourists in "coffee shops" (no surprise). The locals smoke some but most people still drink wine and beer. Marijuana in Amsterdam is not actually "legal". Locals can grow up to 5 plants for personal consumption and coffee houses can "sell" marijuana to consumers. Paradoxically the coffee houses don't "buy" the marijuana that they sell. They just sort of have it on hand, in the back with the bags of coffee I suppose. The Police are pretty much hands off unless somebody gets really crazy. Sounds like a great system. It could work in Starkville, right?
After Arendsnest, we wander down some canals (you always wander down canals), are surprised by a self-powered limo with drunk/stoned tourists,
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