June 7, 2016, 9:14 am
- Bruges was a terrific little town, frozen in time about 400 years ago.
- Bruges has this sort of computer-game type retail economy, seemingly based on just 3 products: Chocolate, Beer, and Lace
- The Lace Museum in Bruges was amazing. I would never have gone on my own, but having been dragged by my wife, it was truly fascinating. I don't know if I had ever thought of how lace was made but it was more complex than I might have guessed. There was a local lacing club (for lack of a better word) meeting upstairs and we got to watch a bit of the process. The examples of extraordinary lace in the museum were simply amazing, I had never seen anything like it. Likely way more fine and delicate and detailed than you have ever seen. The machines, which knit clumsier lace products, were also quite a thing to watch in action
- After Bruges, Amsterdam was an unbelievable contrast. Despite being a tourist town, Bruges was quite quiet. Amsterdam is... frenetic.
- People have written many times about the bicycle thing in Amsterdam, but one does not really get a feel for it until it is actually experienced. Coming out of the train station there was a storage area with literally thousands of bikes. Bikes were everywhere. One had to watch every step to make sure one is not hit by a bike.
- Amsterdam has some kind of weird Logan's Run things going on -- zillions of people in the street, but they are all under 30.
- As a libertarian, I love that Amsterdam has legalized marijuana and prostitution. But as the only city in Europe that has effectively done so, it does create a problem in that it has become to Europe what Las Vegas is to the US. Its streets are full of bachelor parties and drunken college kids. The town has a lot of old-world splendor with its stately canal houses but it loses some of its charm as a visitor only casually interested in partaking of the debauchery.
The making of lace is "tatting." So I venture to say it was a Tatting Club.
Any thoughts about the "sad and angry eyes" or "human trafficking" in Amsterdam (and yes, I know the government has said they are doing all they can do to stop it!)
Bruges is extraordinary but what surprised me was how much truly vile graffiti there was on those lovely medieval buildings! Way beyond anything I've seen stateside. Kind of a shock.
In London twice, 2012 and last month, both times RR stations packed full of bikes in designated areas, upwards of 1000 at Paddington.
Actually, the lace museum sounds interesting... adding to my list...
This is an interesting story on sex trafficking by someone who did his Ph D thesis on it: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/why-the-anti-trafficking-movement-ignores-the-voices-of-sex-workers/