Here is a documentary about the largest history and art museum in the Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum is a must-see venue for those planning on visiting Amsterdam: it features the works of Holland’s most prized artists, including Rembrandt. It’s located a short distance from the Van Gogh Museum, another very popular destination in the city.
According to DutchNews.nl, there have been about 300 arrests in a crackdown on street drug peddlers and beggars who are widely seen as a nuisance in this touristy city. While soft drugs such as marijuana and hash are decriminalized in Holland, selling drugs on the streets is forbidden. Interestingly, 59 of these arrests involved the sale of fake drugs.
The Anne Frank House is one of the most popular destinations among tourists to Amsterdam. In this house, a Jewish girl and her family hid for two years during Nazi occupation, before they were captured and sent to concentration camps. The story has been preserved through a diary written by then-teenaged Anne Frank. Sadly, she died in a concentration camp. Here is a video about this famous landmark.
Rick Steves provides an excellent overview and perspective of Amsterdam’s famous Van Gogh Museum. Contrary to popular belief, Amsterdam offers much more than the carnal pleasures of the Red Light District and the coffee shops. Amsterdam is a cultural gem of the Netherlands and Europe, with some of the best art museums in the world.
This is another highly popular video of Amsterdam’s underworld, with over two million views. It’s not as popular as the “Coin” video, but it’s possibly more interesting as it provides a brief perspective from a couple of sex workers. This video provides a glimpse of the unique, anything goes atmosphere in the central part of the city.
Vice has published interesting collection of Polaroid photos of the “drunks and weirdos” of the Amsterdam Red Light District in the 1980s.
Here is an interesting article from DutchAmsterdam, dated October 30, 2015, pointing out that despite the closures of 28 of Amsterdam’s cannabis “coffee shops” that are deemed too close to high schools, Amsterdam still has over 160 coffee shops and remains the “coffee shop capital of the world.”
Vice News has an interesting piece about a newsworthy protest in April 2015 involving hundreds of prostitutes in the city against the city’s closure of prostitution windows. The prostitutes and their supporters argue that Project 1012, intended to reduce the number of windows and cannabis “coffee shops” in the district, has made it harder for the prostitutes to make a living.
Amsterdam Red Light District News 