What happened? What the hell happened?
I always had a love/hate relationship with Amsterdam. Loved it because it is a unique town, with all its liberties and always good for excellent party time. Hated it because of the crime (pick pockets everywhere) and the general harsh attitude of the town locals.
After a recently visit, I noticed Amsterdam has changed. A few examples:
-After being in a bar for more than an hour, I went outside to the bar terrace for some fresh air (with my beer of course). Within one minute I was greeting by two officers of the law. Bang! 60 Euro fine. New rule, you are not allowed anymore to drink a beer standing outside, even if its on the bar propity. WTF! Sitting and drinking is still ok on a terrace. Mind you this is done while you can literally see a coke dealer dealing at the corner of the street.
-One hour later, went outside again. I learned my lesson and sat down. Now a police officer on a motocycle comes. Fining a bicycle for illegal parking (WTF!). His front tire was on the bar propity. Mind you, coke dealer is doing prime businnes now and even nods his head when police officer leaves and drives by him.
-10pm. Getting hungry so we decided to check some favorite restaurants. None (none!) let us in after 10pm, kitchens are closed by that time.
Where I previously stated that Amsterdam is a metropole, I take my words back, it changed into a small provincial town, with the attitude to match.
On a positive note, for the first time I took a long strawl in the Jordaan, a historic neighborhood and saw how beautifull the town can be. Also, Brits were very well behaved and were fun. This contrary to previous experiences, where, especially after 11pm some of them were causing trouble. Well done! Most of them were part of bachelor parties (male and female). Must be a new trend.