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June 04, 2018
Amsterdam: Authentic, Sane, Healthy, Smart, Fun.
Like Tel Aviv in Israel, Amsterdam's nickname (among others) is Mokum, a Hebrew word for "place" or "city", due to its historically large Jewish population. A favorite European city for Yanks, Amsterdam is poorly understood by Americans, often half-blinded by our Victorian and morally pretentious views of real life. Amsterdam is about beauty, great art, great food, healthy free-thinking people, and genuine class--not just the Sex Museum, social welfare, cathouses along canals in the de Wallen, smoking hash at the Betty Boop coffeehouse, and other indulgences, percs and pleasures. Cosmopolitan, the Dutch like other languages. In the Netherlands, the official ones are Dutch and, in the north, Frisian (which many believe is the closest thing to Old English still spoken). But about 85% of the total population has basic knowledge of English. German and French spoken here, too.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)