Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam last week. I went to see the Manic Street Preachers play the Paradiso (an amazing gig in a beautiful, intimate venue), but thought I might as well make a weekend of it, especially in light of the whole Appsterdam thing. So here's another one of those bullet point lists I do.

• The Dutch are tall buggers. You really don't want to be stood at the back of a crowd of them.
• They are also all — as far as I can tell — as nice as hell. While the Japanese were universally polite, the Dutch are genuinely friendly.
• They also all appear to speak perfect English. Which is so kind of them that I won't even make a joke about their silly accents.
• The prevalence of cannabis can't be understated. Coffeeshops (note the important distinction between these and cafes) are everywhere, and pot smoke wafts through the streets like smooth jazz.
• The best time to see the red light district is probably on a drizzly grey morning, where you can experience the full effect of its tawdriness. The famous windows are generally just common or garden glazed doors packed closely together, for some reason making me think of vending machines.
• I'd describe the city as some kind of hookers and weed theme park, but that would be to ignore how incredibly beautiful it is. Parts of it are tacky in a British seaside kind of way, but the rest is simply adorable.
• The museums were great. Those that were open. Stuff closing for renovation is an effect I seem to have on anywhere I visit.
• I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason that "xxx" is emblazoned everywhere, including on the city's coat of arms. I should really get round to Wikipediaing it.