Amsterdam: It’s Complicated.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure if I like Amsterdam yet.

Relationship status: it’s complicated.

To its credit, it’s not entirely the city’s fault. It could be the weather, the fact that it was blisteringly cold, or that we didn’t see a sliver of sky for all four days. I never knew I craved blue so much. Arms crossed and shivering, I was reminded of those conversations I had in Barcelona about weather and personalities – here, the people keep to themselves more, everyone would really rather stay warm in their down jackets and thick woollen scarves with hands and gloves firmly thrust in their pocket. Destination is priority and one’s view is limited to the frame of one’s hood (and in my case, a lot of fur). And I don’t blame them one bit, because I behave like that as well. It’s just too cold to socialise.

But there were other bits of the Dutch psyche that gnawed at me, and perhaps going to Barcelona first has spoiled me in this respect. They can be brutally… inflexible – like the men in the warm metro booth who refused to help us change our notes into coins for the train because both trains are run by different companies. Or the tram driver who doggedly drove away even though we were right at the door because the clock struck 12:02. Or the cafe owner who barked at us for bringing some vlaamse frites into his restaurant. Admittedly, these were all frustrations exacerbated by how we were left standing in the cold.

Yet it is their apparent rigidity that makes such a fascinating juxtaposition with their reputation of being a liberal city. Even though the individuals can seem closed, cold and reserved, as a city, it is as transparent as it gets. You’ll see it in the red light districts, where the ladies stand boldly in the windows, gesturing for men to come over. You’ll see it in the way they condone weed, and I use condone because the sale of weed is not actually legal here, it is merely more accepted than elsewhere. This “tolerance” goes back to the 17th century, when all the religious buildings other than Protestant churches were banned in Amsterdam because they did not want people to associate with Spanish Catholicism. This led to the growth of hidden churches all over the city, which the authorities eventually came to condone as well. If you can’t beat ’em, keep them in sight, so you know what’s going on.

“In Amsterdam, there is a special zone between legal and illegal. It’s the zone of allowance.”

And that is what fascinates me. Unlike what we would normally assume, the Dutch people are not more liberal than you or I. They simply believe that by being transparent, it allows them greater control over the thorny issues and “vices” that would exist whether or not they are banned anyway. And because of this, their sex workers are probably the most protected in the world, and weed consumption is also significantly lower than in the US or UK.

This method of governance is definitely not without controversy. But personally, I think it’s bold and brilliant. It’s why this city is unabashed and unafraid of confronting the ugly, the shunned and quite frankly, the real. And I guess that’s worth a few more visits.

Perhaps in the spring.