in the Netherlands

First stop off the airplane was the theatre in London and the next day a 30 min flight to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. A city of boring buildings spiced up with fancy architecture; few bikes, no taxis but plenty of cars; fantastically designed museums, great nightlife, loads of shops and an interesting history (due to the important role om Rotterdam's massive port). It is more pretty in the evenings but the Dutch serve their lagers way too small! I recommend the maritime museum and the historical museum, even though understanding dutch would be helpful sometimes. After a weekend catching up with Bee, who is still in AIESEC, and a night out in bars and casinos, it was time to go to Delft.

Delft is, in MHO (My Humble Opinion) the 2nd prettiest place in continental Europe after Brugges in Belgium with canals, bridges, churches, stately homes, plenty of cafes and many beautiful buildings untouched for centuries. There are lovely patisseries and shops, very few people and it is so unspoilt despite the occasional car. Fortunately (especially during the week) the town still feels lived in and used, and not a tourist trap -whoever travels to NL and visits anywhere apart from Amsterdam?

Next, an afternoon in the Hague: old town with plenty of high end shops and restaurants and the Parliament building with only 1 police car and a publicly used passageway going right through it -rather a contrast to London! Unfortunately the International Court of Justice tours were booked up, but it and many other parts of the city all look grand and impressive. In one of the attractions, Maturodam (a made-up 1/25 size Dutch town) I saw detailed reconstructions of all the famous buildings and landscapes in the Netherlands. Everything, like wedding processions, trains, funfairs and opera houses actually work too! It was possibly even more impressive than Beckinscott in the uk, although not as pretty.

Netherlands is strikingly similar to England in terms of suburbia with identical styles of road signs, housing, shops etc. Amsterdam's suburbs are just as mundane, which i got to experience due to the location of Plan's office there where I was working for 3 days. Of course central, historic Amsterdam is just stunning, a very beautiful, romantic place. Actually its bars, red light district etc all seemed more tame compared to my last visit 6+yrs ago.

It is quite bizarre experiencing walking around a western city seeing girls parading themselves in shop windows, literally. I believe legalising prostitution, taxing it, monitoring it is better for prostitutes but I don't agree with such public displays which really does demote Women and make them seem like objects available to rent/buy/use instead of as people offering a service. I wonder what the background of the prostitutes is, since it is legal and presumably well-paid do some women see it as a viable career option, or is it more of a last-chance job for those who have no other options, which is the image of such a profession in the UK, even if not the reality?