Amsterdam: the sex

As I mentioned yesterday, one of Amsterdam's most notorious attractions is the red light district. 

We've all heard rumors and whispers of the goings-on of Amsterdam's red light district, but just what really is it about? 

If you said sex, you're right. Seriously people, pretty much 24 hours a day you can find naked  (ok, not really naked... Well, by American standards yes, but otherwise you could just say "erotically dressed") women hanging out in windows all around the red light district. Of course, there are considerably more women workin' it at night than in the morning. But don't be caught off guard when you're making your way through the city at 10am and are greeted by boobs on the other side of a glass door. In fact, if you see glass doors out of the corner of your eye, it's best to just keep looking forward and avoid awkward eye-contact. I'm not really sure how one procures a prostitute, but in the event of it being some secret eye signal, I'm just going to keep my bashful American gaze on the ground in front of me. 

However, at night the red light district doesn't sneak up on you quite as much. Somehow between all the neon lights and middle-aged creepers it kind of gets the message out: "oh hey, there's some legalized prostitution going on here." 

Now you might notice I'm not posting any pictures from the red light district. This is for two reasons: 

1. No. just no.

2. If you take pictures of them they will come out from behind their glass door and smack you and your camera down. 

If the red light district is something that is going to offend you or upset you, I would suggest just not going to Amsterdam. Of course there are plenty of other things to see, but because it is located right in the middle of the city, it's hard to get from one side to the other without walking through it. Also, there are lots of - how shall we say - novelty shops that are not discreet in their advertising. They even have a tribute to the red light district conveniently placed right in front of one of Amsterdam's beautiful old churches. easily overlooked, yet unmistakably clear. 

The sex culture is just a part of Amsterdam you've got to roll with - you just leave it on the streets if you want to. Unless of course you've got a group of nasty British kids in your 14 person hostel room. But that's another story for another blog.

So, before this post gets too uncomfortable to continue (must I remind you that I am still American and typing a whole post about sex is a big step for my people), I'm just going to leave you with a novelty condom shop in the middle of the city with a pretty hilarious display window.