The Amsterdam-Pinocchio connection

Trip Start May 05, 2008
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Trip End May 09, 2009


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Flag of Netherlands  ,
Sunday, May 25, 2008

While initially Amsterdam struck us as a coherent whole, after a few days,one begins to see subtle differences between different parts of the city. Some parts are more business-like, others cater to artists, some to shopaholics, still many more to hedonists. Some areas look some something a biblical tale of morality would warn against, while some are so appealing to families, they look like a cross between a Ralph Lauren commercial and one of those Latter-Day Saints commercials, with kids running around happily, while very good-looking and fit parents look on hand-in hand. It seems imposible to not find at least something to love about Amsterdam.
But then one realizes something- the Netherlands used to be one of the staunchest protestant bastions and one of the most conservative countries in Europe, and this is very far from those days. We were strolling around downtown, when we wandered through the Red Light District, which is right in the heart of it. And after walking past prostitutes looking on leerily from windows and shops displaying hard-pornography, we heard the grave sounding church bells tolling nearby. The contrast couldn´t be bigger and it help put Amsterdam in a new perspective. Here where religion was such a big part of everyday life, the social revolution of 1968 seems to have been the most succesful in the world. The traditional protestant values seem to have been tossed aside, and a firebrand preacher could well make Amsterdam look like Sodom or Gomorah. Yet when wanders this city´s streets, one sees no racism, no homophobism and almost no poverty. Most people seem happy, fit and relaxed.
Those Christian values of love and coexistence which formed the basis of tradtitional society here seem therefore to be still alive and well, albeit in a different form. Still, for someone coming from North America and used to a certain rhetoric, there is always a seed of doubt. Thus, I was reminded of that old childen´s story, of Pinochio, when he ended up on Pleasure Island. In the story, the island was very beautiful and everyone on it was having so much fun, but then things got out of control and the place changed. Is Amsterdam then Pinocchio´s Pleasure Island or is it an example of a liberal socialist utopia? It is hard to tell as a tourist, and it may not be obvious to an inhabitant either. It could well take a few more generations before the answer becomes clear. Until then, Amsterdam´s dichotomy makes it a most interesting  place to visit indeed.
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Comments

manounska
manounska on May 25, 2008 at 05:19PM

Hope you are enjoying!
Thank you very much for updating. It's quite interesting to read and sometimes try to imagine being there. I look forward for your future entries and all is well here, but not as fun as you guys for sure. Take care and waiting for your updates.

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