Mark Middleton’s Blog

24 hours in Amsterdam - a city with the judgementalism knob turned all the way down.

Saturday was my birthday, I’m now 36. To celebrate, my mom took me to Amsterdam… but only for a day. We left on Friday noon, and returned the same time on Sunday. 24 hours in the air, 24 hours on the ground.

What can a mom and son do in one day on the other side of the world?

• Arrive in Amsterdam, and meet "Rocky", a fellow pacific-northwesterner who happened to be visiting Amsterdam for only one day - abandoned by his friend who broke his leg a few days before their adventure, Rocky had no idea what to do or where to go.
• Take a train to the city
• Take the tram to a neighborhood
• Walk along the canals to the Anne Frank museum
• Spend an hour touring the Anne Frank house
• Visit a local grocery and get a snack
• Take a canal boat trip to our next destination
• Visit the Van Gogh museum
• Walk through the streets, visit the open-air market… buy some souvenirs
• Travel to a coffee shop, descend into the basement to buy a couple of joints
• Spend an hour sharing pot and laughing with 3 French college boys (leaving with an extra joint in our pockets… we’ll address this later)
• Walk along the Amstel canal and pretend to open a drawbridge by hand with the big crank
• Have a traditional dutch dinner with a couple who have lived in the city all of their lives together in an apartment on the third floor looking out over the canals
• Walk through the streets taking night photographs
• Take a train to the main transit station
• Walk through the red-light district
• Pee in an outdoor urinal (men only… sorry ladies)
• Give the extra joint to a street performer playing the didgeridoo (he was very pleased, and gave a special performance with my mom along-side)
• Tour the sex museum
• Take a train to the airport
• Sleep for a couple of hours in the airport before the flight out.

Every place we went, there was a constant voice inside me saying, "this would never fly in the U.S." Outdoor urinals, smoking pot in a coffee shop (18 years old and older, please), legalized prostitution… we place so many judgments on these activities - so they go into hiding.

You’re only as sick as your secrets.

I’m not saying that if you partake in any (or all) of these legalized and tolerated activities, you’ll be a better person - I just think that by being authentic - there’s a freedom and comfort that lets you get to the heart of what really matters. The people in Amsterdam were so friendly, happy and peaceful.

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