Monday, November 06, 2006

Amsterdam, city of sex and bejeweled trash cans

Amsterdam is expensive! Walking down the street, I noticed these cute mosaic trash cans.



Price tag? 10,000 euros (roughly $12,700 US).

I suppose rich people can use them to throw away their extra diamonds that no longer fit into their gold vault.

Amsterdam is also a city of juxtapositions. The city center houses a beautiful 350-year-old church. Right under it is a loud roller coaster, flashing neon lights:



I walked into the church, and faced an even more extreme example. The church was holding an exhibit of "fashion throughout the ages". Display cases of lingerie, garters, panties sat right under the stained glass windows of the Virgin Mary.

In the center aisle of the church, a plasma TV played a video of a woman watching a modelicious man take a shower:



What you see on the left side of the plasma screen, next to the woman's hand, are the man's lower abs extending down to his pelvis. Right after I shot this picture, full-exposure events unfolded onscreen which aren't usually shown in US movie theatres, let alone churches.

The Amsterdam Historical Museum had a booth playing Netherlands rap. The description explained that the rap song was about "discrimination and the nightlife in Amsterdam".



The tune was very catchy, and I became curious about its political message. The young artist was so clever to embed his viewpoint on discrimination into a rap song! I played the song again, in English. After a long instrumental section, the refrain of the rap rang out:

It's TI-I-IME to PARTY!

Some things stay the same all the world over.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you think Amsterdam was expensive, your next trip ought to be to London, Oslo, or Dublin. :)

littleredrooster said...

If you like these frivolities, check out the banana bar on your next trip. (I could even give you a discount)