Red Lights Mean STOP!

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Amsterdam. Please imagine me laughing and crying simultaneously. Oh, Amsterdam. I never knew I was so naive! I actually didn’t know that Amsterdam was such a largely weed touristic city. I did, however, know about the beautiful canals. And let me tell you. They. Are. Beautiful. Especially at sunset. Wow. And… I did not know about the night life. Something you should know: I went to parochial school for 12 years and studied> partied in college. So, even though I would probably fight you in person if you told me this, I am very, very unaccustomed to the ‘ways of the world’. It was shocking, really. My ‘jump into the deep end’ started after London. I traveled alone, but with a tour group (Contiki). [It still counts!] The tour started in Amsterdam. Immediately the tour guide let us know that there was going to be a sex show for 30 euros tonight if anyone wanted to go. Ahem, a WHAT show? I didn’t even know that was a thing. Just letting you know, I didn’t have to go to the confession box. I politely refused the show. Which meant that I would be walking alone in Amsterdam… at night. “Remember! No taking pictures in the Red-Light Zone!” That’s like a parking lot, right? HA! I wandered around for a bit with a few others who had refused the show as well. And I wandered… into… the… Red. Light. Zone. I won’t say much about it, because what happens in the Red-Light Zone is actually well respected in Holland. But, I will say this. I was surprised. Not that I had no idea these things happen, but because I did not expect it in this beautiful city. Amsterdam is both night and day. Literally.

           Amsterdam made me sick. I made myself sick.  Sick from what the toll of my idiotic shenanigans in London had done on my body. That and probably from all the transportation (airplane, boat, tube, tram, bus…). So, I headed to the “apotheek” and got some medical marijuana motion sickness medicine. Primatour was the name. I haven’t seen it in the states but if you ever find yourself nauseous in the Netherlands/Europe, I highly recommend it.  After the good Lord had healed me through ‘the Dutch drug’, I headed to see the Anne Frank house. I’m not good at giving inspirational pep talks, but my good friend Anne is. “I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Wow. What an inspiration. Sometimes a quote is worth a thousand words. This is sometimes. For a little girl who was subjected to the evils of the world, this is a mighty bold statement. How nice is it to think that people are indeed inertly good? But, that’s the truth isn’t it. God made all creation good. Sin brought evil into man’s heart. So, I’m going to just try to overpower the evil of the world with goodness. I’ll end with this; “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”- Anne Frank

Told you Amsterdam was beautiful at sunset.

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P.S. I would also like to state that I have been to Belgium because I drove though it and got an awful picture of the Antwerp skyline. (Still counts!!)

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