XPost: alt.society.liberalism, rec.travel.misc, rec.drugs.cannabis   
   XPost: alt.fan.charles-manson   
   From: bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com   
      
   Thanks for writing.   
      
   But Dank420 might be a troll on a Dank who   
   used to post here.  Check out to which   
   newsgroups this was cross-posted.   
      
   bliss   
      
      
   On 07/24/2016 01:05 AM, Dänk 42Ø wrote:   
   > Dänkbløg: Eurotrip 2016   
   > By Dänk 42Ø   
   > 24 Jul 2016   
   >   
   > I'm still recovering from jetlag, one or more colds, and swollen feet   
   > from hell, but here is my first post about my latest trip to Europe.   
   > Much of it is a blur due to the plethora of local craft beers and   
   > cannabis, but here is what I remember right now:   
   >   
   > Flew from Las Vegas to Copenhagen, then caught another flight to   
   > Amsterdam, arriving at hotel mid-evening.  By an amazing stroke of   
   > luck, there was a "coffee house" a block from my hotel!  Didn't have a   
   > pipe so had to roll a crappy joint and smoked it there (which was   
   > allowed because they had a back room -- normally smoking pot or   
   > anything indoors is illegal).  Unlike Colorado, where public   
   > consumption of pot is illegal, in Amsterdam public consumption is   
   > required because of the indoor-smoking law.  I think I found a pipe   
   > eventually, and the 2g of hashish I had left got eaten before I boarded   
   > the train to Antwerp (Belgium is on high alert, so I was extra paranoid   
   > about smuggling anything into the country).   
   >   
   > Amsterdam: Marijuana and hashish are semi-legal in the city, up to 5g.   
   > The coffee houses are allowed to keep a total of 500g on the premises   
   > at any one time.  They sell much more than that, and how they are re-   
   > supplied is a mystery, one the Dutch police don't seem to care too much   
   > about solving.   
   >   
   > Prostitution is also legal in Holland, and in Amsterdam it is confined   
   > to an official Red Light District, where you can see half-naked women in   
   > windows surrounded by red neon.  Photography is absolutely prohibited.   
   > It really is a matter of respect for them, as well as their potential   
   > customers or just gawky tourists who might not want to have their   
   > presence there recorded for posterity on someone's Facebook page.  There   
   > is also a "Blue Light" area where the "women" in the windows are really   
   > trannies, but I didn't see it.  I also didn't see a similar male   
   > prostitution area.   
   >   
   > Another drug that is legal in Amsterdam is psilocybin.  Magic mushrooms   
   > used to be legal but were outlawed in 2008 after a French tourist took   
   > too much, freaked out, and jumped out a window.  But a loophole in the   
   > law only bans the mushrooms; the "scerlotia," the underground mass of   
   > fungi somewhat equivalent to a plant's root system, remain legal, and   
   > also contain psilocybin.  "Magic truffles" they call them, and they can   
   > be found in "smart shops" but not coffee houses.  They don't taste too   
   > bad, but whether they had any effect is unclear because I was tripping   
   > on LSD at the time (illegal, but readily available).  Good acid!  5   
   > euros per hit.  120 micrograms per hit I think he said.   
   >   
   > Antwerp: Honestly, I can barely remember a thing.  I think I got in at   
   > night, and the next day I visited Bruges, famous for its beer.  Which   
   > I think I might have drank too much of (I don't even like beer, but   
   > those dark ales you can never find in the USA are incredible!).  I   
   > tripped over a cobblestone and fell on my face.  Despite my protests,   
   > medics took me to the hospital to have my nose scanned, assuring me   
   > that medical care was free in Belgium (they still took my HMO card,   
   > though my account shows no charges yet).  Nose wasn't broken, just   
   > bruised, scraped, and had bloody snot for days).   
   >   
   > Berlin: Last time I was in Berlin was when I was a kid in the mid-1970s,   
   > when my dad was stationed at an American army base in West Germany.  I   
   > still remember that visit: the special train through East Germany, the   
   > guards surrounding the train at stops, and seeing the Berlin Wall.  The   
   > East side looked so grey and depressing!  Today there is a one- or two-   
   > block slab of the Wall kept as a monument, next to a historical museum.   
   > Today, unless you are a local, it is impossible to tell which side of   
   > the city you are in.   
   >   
   > So I saw the Berlin Wall, the Jewish Museum (depressing as hell!), the   
   > famous Checkpoint Charlie, and the Mall of Berlin (I had to get a long-   
   > sleeved shirt -- I never realized how cold Central Europe can be in   
   > July!).  Next morning I was watching the news in the hotel breakfast   
   > restaurant and slowly grasped what had just happened in Nice.  The next   
   > few days were a mixture of shock, outrage, sadness, and paranoia.   
   > Police were everywhere.   
   >   
   > My last day in Berlin I checked my luggage at the Central Station,   
   > toured the city, returned and got my luggage, then drank several beers   
   > while waiting for the overnight bus to Copenhagen at 23:00.  During   
   > this time I talked to a guy from France, a guy from Finland, and an   
   > extremely drunk man from Greenland (or maybe that was in Copenhagen?).   
   >   
   > Copenhagen: One of my ancestors came from here, though I can't imagine   
   > why any modern Dane would want to leave this social paradise.  The fact   
   > that they don't use the euro is irritating, and mental conversions from   
   > Danish kroner (US$0.15) are difficult.   
   >   
   > Copenhagen (and Amsterdam and most other European cities) have dedicated   
   > bicycle paths between sidewalk and road, and they actually ride bikes to   
   > and from work (or at least to the metro station, another concept alien   
   > to Americans).  You rarely see a fat European, even though their stores   
   > are as loaded with as much junk food as ours.  There are no Walmarts   
   > with women with five-foot-wide asses hogging the hotdog, chip, and   
   > candy aisles.   
   >   
   > There is a district in Copenhagen called Christiania.  A 2-zone bus ride   
   > from my hotel (24kr or US$3.70), it is an ordinary residential district.   
   > Mostly.  There is one section that has declared itself "Freetown   
   > Christiania," which is similar to Amsterdam's Red Light District, except   
   > it is not officially recognized, but the police leave it alone.  There   
   > is a wooden sign marking the outer entrance, lots of beautiful street   
   > art (some denigrate it as "graffiti"), and then a sign marking the inner   
   > "Green Light District" which contains three simple rules: "Have Fun,"   
   > Don't Run - It Causes Panic" and "No Photos - Buying and Selling Hash is   
   > Still Illegal."  It also contains a large no camera icon which can be   
   > seen throughout the district.   
   >   
   > Despite being an Anarchist commune with no official laws or police, the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)