Nope.
I didn't really expect you to be thinking any of that anyway.
Amsterdam has let gravity prevail and has begun to spiral even more downhill than before. In a place where the 700 year-old 'old church' (Oude Kerk) has been replaced by the much more modern 600-year old 'new church' (Nieuwe Kerk), one can find all of the glitz and glamor of downtown Henderson. There's trash everywhere, despite numerous daily street cleanings, and much of the downtown scene has fallen on hard economic times--closed shops, exorbitant prices, etc.
Okay, okay, sure--it's a great destination if you want to visit the Rijksmuseum and get your Rembrandt on. There's the Anne Frank house and Van Gogh museum. One can ride around the hundreds of canals throughout the city, and visit the Heineken Experience. Yes, smoking pot won't land you in jail (it's not legal, but tolerated {i.e. non-prosecuted}), and there are hookers in windows right next to churches, and bars with 'banana shows'. But, the place that people from Vegas go when they want to party has turned much more Vegas-y than one might think.
Smoking pot, smoking tobacco, drinking a beer. Pick one. That's what you're limited to in most establishments in Amsterdam now. The ones that you can enjoy more than that--are breaking the law. There are even Vegas-style glass-enclosed rooms for people to smoke pot in--but don't dare take your drink in there. You can smoke pot in a coffeeshop--but no alcohol or tobacco. {sideways-headcock/dog going Hruh?} I don't even smoke pot, so it's not like I care--but in years past when I was with my dad or a friend, things were cool enough that I could enjoy my Heineken wherever. Oh well--no biggy. At 2.5 euros during happy hour to 5 when it's not ($3.30 to $6.60)--a pint is much cheaper at my free places to grab a beer. And closer. And I've never been traveling home from a Village Pub, and landed in Ireland. On our way back from Amsterdam, our flight from Philadelphia made an emergency landing in Dublin--something about being completely out of hydraulic fluid. Who should let a silly little leak in the engine stop them from flying over the iceberg-ridden parts of the Atlantic?
So, five nights in A'dam, and a night in Dublin. We made a trek to the national bank to turn in some old currency I had for new euros (crisp and clean). The bank there is in itself a story, but I'm viciously trying to get to the candy. We had lots of french fries and pizza, and debated about 'most efficient' routes to places through and around the red light district (definitions vary!). I did take quite a few pictures--most notable of the carnival that sat smack in the middle Dam Square in front of the palace (although a great story in itself, it won't be--I'll let the pictures speak for themselves).. Here are those galleries--then on to the candy!
So, anyhoo.
Where was the place we frequented most (apart from the pizza joint that was immediately adjacent to the hotel)? The grocery store. We'd never even been before. We'd been to lots of convenience stores (where a 1.5 liter bottle of water is only 3 euros {$4}), but this time I'd done my research prior to departing--to find a grocery store. That way we could get food and drinks on the cheap. Conveniently, there was an Albert Heijn grocery store just a few minutes away, right behind the palace at Dam Square.
It was a decent sized place--bigger than a Trader Joe's, smaller than an Albertsons. The variety of food and drink one could procure was amazing. Yes, there were huge blocks of cheese, ready-to-engorge herring, and a wide variety of produce. There existed hot dogs in cans. They apparently don't like the plastic-wrapped variety we have that needs refrigeration, and just have row after row of varieties in cans with pop-tops. I can only imagine what liquid exists inside, but I must admit, if you were camping it'd be ideal (if you needed some sort of odd canned meat product). They even had a wider variety of potato chips than I'd dealt with in the past--including barbecue ham flavor. The bakery was top notch--with fresh croissants and breads (including wonderful seed-filled/topped loaves {yumm!})--perfect for cheese or meat to top it. On an almost daily basis I'd be there perusing the aisles, grabbing snacks and beverages (the beer at the grocery store was much cheaper too, and they had up to a 12% alcohol content!). Where did I spend the most time at the store? The candy aisle.
Hruh?
Yeah, the candy aisle.
My dad is a fan of black licorice (apparently not candy prejudiced). Unfortunately they had at least three dozen varieties, and we didn't know what to get. I'll sum up to say--don't try the brown stuff. It's of a salty awful variety that I'm pretty sure is a joke. It probably goes something like this:
Native: You'll love this herring--try it!
Tourist: Thanks! {tries it} Yuck!
Native: You don't like? Then here--try this licorice!
Tourist: Thanks! {tries it} Yuck! That's worse than the herring!
So, if you ever go--just keep that on your list of things to remember--no brown licorice. (Also, don't even try to take pictures of the red light district's denizens behind windows--if they don't break your camera after verbally assaulting you, they'll find someone to do it for them {maybe one of the 'scaries' from the windows by the old church [shudder]}) (I'll stop with the nested parentheses.)
What should you try? Well, if you like black licorice--then that. It's tasty, and comes in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, textures, softness, and strengths. But I recommend getting brave. That means trying things you've never even imagined. Like banana/licorice gummy apes. Among my favorite was a banana candy. Imagine circus peanuts (the candy), but banana-shaped and -flavored.
Check out the pictures (click to open the gallery):
So, you may be concluding (or not--I realize this by now) that I'm far more interested in the candy there now than the other stuff (debauchery, eye candy, etc.). You'd be right. I'll stick to my churros and beers and unknown meat tacos south of the border--beheadings and kidnappings and all.
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