Amsterdam - Amsterdam Bruges and Brussels - page 58

Sex Museums —Amsterdam has two sex museums: one in the
Red Light District and another a block in front of Central Station
on Damrak street. While visiting one can be called sightseeing,
visiting both is hard to explain. The one on Damrak is cheaper and
more interesting. Here's a comparison:
he Erotic Museum in the Red Light District is five floors of
uninspired paintings, videos, old photos, and sculpture (€5, daily
11:00-24:00, along the canal at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 54, tel.
020/624-7303; see page 99).
he Damrak Sex Museum tells the story of pornography from
Roman times through 1960. Every sexual deviation is revealed in
various displays. The museum includes early French pornographic
photos; memorabilia from Europe, India, and Asia; a Marilyn
Monroe tribute; and some S&M displays (€3, daily 9:30-23:00,
Damrak 18, a block in front of Central Station, tel. [phone]).
Old Church (Oude Kerk) —his 14th-century landmark—the
needle around which the Red Light District spins—has served as a
reassuring welcome-home symbol to sailors, a refuge to the down-
trodden, an ideological battlefield of the Counter-Reformation,
and today, a tourist sight with a dull interior (€5, Mon-Sat 11:00-
17:00, Sun 13:00-17:00, tel. [phone], www.oudekerk.nl).
J See Red Light District Walk, page 88.
s Hash, Marijuana, and Hemp Museum —his is a collection
of dope facts, history, science, and memorabilia (€6, daily 10:00-
22:00, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 148, tel. [phone], www
.hashmuseum.com). While small, it has a very memorable finale:
the high-tech grow room, in which dozens of varieties of marijuana
are grown in optimal hydroponic (among other) environments.
Some plants stand five feet tall and shine under the intense grow
lamps. The view is actually through glass walls into the neighbor-
ing Sensi Seed Bank Grow Shop (at #150), which sells carefully
cultivated seeds and all the gear needed to grow them. (Both the
museum and the Seed Bank may move in 2009.)
he nearby Cannabis College is “ ded icated to end ing the global l
war against the cannabis plant through public education” (free, daily
11:00-19:00, Oudezijds Achterburgwal 124, tel. [phone],
www.cannabiscollege.com). For more, J see Red Light District
Walk (page 88) and the Smoking chapter (page 190).
Northeast Amsterdam
Central Library (Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam) —his
huge, multistory glass building holds almost 1,400 seats—many
with wraparound views of the city—and hundreds of free Internet
terminals. It's the classiest possible place to check email. This
library, which opened in 2007, demonstrates the Dutch people's
dedication to a freely educated populace (the right to information,