~totally laissez faire, man~

August 5th, 2008

WE LOVE AMSTERDAM.

Perhaps that’s all I really need to say. We love it, we’d move there, it’s fantastic.
And we didn’t even go to a hash bar or the Walletjes (Rosse Buurt, red light district). Which might be why we liked it–everywhere we went there were friendly, nattily dressed, bicycling Netherlanders, handing us snacks, charming our pants off.

Alfonso snarfs and woos at our favorite eetcafe (brown cafe)–De Tuin–in our favorite area–Jordaan.

Generalizations are to be avoided, but after a handful of days this is what I got: the pervasive mood here is one of a people who are treated like adults and pretty much left alone to decide for themselves about much.

It’s got all the scruffy bohemian delight of Prague with none of the beaten-down, dour attitude. And this is saying much, given the endless stream of tourists (we assumed were the understandable root of Praha crankiness, along with outright displacement when Prague became the new whatever it was–London? Paris? New York? Bakersfield?–and then wasn’t anymore…)

It is a cafe culture–brown cafes abound as meeting spots where you can get a killer eggplant and hummus sandwich and a tea of fresh mint without trying hard or paying too much. People seem to like to live well and that includes much pedestrian and bicycling about, much socializing and time spent not chasing the dollar, and a fresh, healthy diet with plenty of cold beer. Something for everyone.

It feels like a great city to be an artist in, and one of my favorite musicians does in fact herald from and provide an excellent musical landscape for Amsterdam. I speak of none other than Elisabeth Esselink, aka Solex, who this summer has been traveling about making an audio map of the Netherlands.

The Netherlands has supported gay marriage since 2001—the first nation to get with this in the world. Totally laissez faire, man. And so far, no one has spontaneously combusted with all that grown-up deciding for themselves, tho a few have gotten a little overwhelmed:

The Dutch have a term, gezelligheid: a cozy feeling that comes from a lovely environment and empathetic company. Alfonso and I–heralding as we do from New Amsterdam–are gezellige people, and we were totally at home in Old Amsterdam.