Tom Douglas visits Amsterdam, doesn't inhale

Tom Douglas, founding editor of Sault This Week and former Sault Star staffer, was invited to Holland last year at the expense of the Dutch government to help promote the 400th anniversary of the birth of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, to be celebrated this coming Saturday.

Tom now lives in Oakville, Ontario, where he writes books about the Second World War and keeps up on the Sault news on SooToday.com.

The following is one of two invited articles he wrote for us about his travels in Holland.

The second article will appear later this week.

******************** You can buy grass or hash in Amsterdam but maybe not tulips

by Tom Douglas

AMSTERDAM, Holland - "You're from Hong Kong? Then, no, I don’t want to sell you any! And I wouldn't sell you any if you were from Mexico either."

I looked up in surprise as I heard this exchange between the shopkeeper and a would-be customer.

Having dropped in on a couple of what the locals euphemistically call "coffee shops" in my short time in this laid-back city, I was under the impression that if it grows naturally, you can buy it here if you're so inclined.

And I'm not talking about coffee.

The downtown core of this below-sea-level metropolis on the Amstel River is festooned with head shops with signs in the window advertising not only the paraphernalia into which you stuff marijuana or hashish, but the hallucinogenics as well.

And if you really want to blow your mind, you can partake of some magic mushrooms that will create images that turn Van Gogh's Starry, Starry Night turn into a kaleidoscope of psychedelic experiences.

That's what they tell me anyway.

My son and I, on assignment here in December to produce articles and a documentary on the 2006 celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the country's greatest artists, Rembrandt van Rijn, stopped into a couple of these "coffee shops."

But it was purely for research. And, of course, we didn’t inhale!

The good burghers of Amsterdam, it seems, decided a few decades ago that soft drugs were permissible in small quantities.

The Dutch are a practical people and the powers that be apparently came to the conclusion that rather than have their police force waste time busting marijuana smokers, they would control its use by allowing certain establishments to sell it.

Just like they did by herding prostitutes into the city's Red Light District where you can have a pre-purchase gander at their wares through storefront display windows.

In essence, downtown Amsterdam thus became a grass menagerie, with "coffee shops" springing up on almost every street corner.

It's not to everyone's liking – there are still many inhabitants here who will tell you it leads to the use of harder drugs – but Amsterdam is a tourist city and business has boomed since word got around that you could smoke pot here without being hassled.

And it seems to be working well.

Unlike cities in a number of other countries where "lager louts" swill huge amounts of booze and then go on a rampage, the pot smokers of Amsterdam seem to be a mellow lot.

The only thing more prevalent than "coffee shops" in Amsterdam are outlets selling tulip bulbs packaged so that tourists can take them home and plant them as a reminder of their visit.

So commercialized has the trade in bulbs become that North Americans can buy packets that are certified to be free of any nasty organisms that would result in confiscation by agricultural watchdogs back home.

The sale of tulip bulbs is big business in this city.

That's why it seemed so incongruous to hear someone refusing to sell bulbs to the gentleman from Hong Kong standing at the counter of the shop I had wandered into.

And what made the whole situation even more unbelievable was that the shop was part of the Amsterdam Tulip Museum whose very existence is to promote Holland's most famous export – with the possible exception of Gouda cheese or Heineken beer.

"I discourage anyone living in a hot country from buying our bulbs," said Sjoerd van Eeden after the disappointed man from Hong Kong left the shop Sjoerd opened with a couple of partners a year or so ago. "The tulip is a cold climate flower. It was first discovered growing in the wild in the Himalayas. As a rule of thumb, if anyone from the US living below the Mason-Dixon Line wants to buy our bulbs, I try to talk them out of it."

Sjoerd admitted that if pressed he will in fact sell the bulbs but with the caveat that they probably won’t bloom back home. "I tell them that the bulbs have to go through three months or so of lying dormant in the cold before they're ready. You can put them in the fridge for that length of time but if you then plant them in a hot climate, they’ll only bloom for one year if at all."

And he should know. He comes from a long line of tulip farmers and gained invaluable oversees experience by working for tulip importers in Vancouver, New York and Montreal after high school.

He then returned home to work for tulip exporters, writing detailed catalogue descriptions of the more than 200 varieties that have been cultivated from the 75 or so wild species first discovered in Central Asia.

"Yet having said they don't grow well in hot climates, I might surprise you when I tell you that Atlanta, Georgia is the US city that grows the most tulips every year," said Sjoerd. "There’s a lot of money there. It's headquarters for such companies as Coca-Cola, UPS and Delta Airlines. They don't mind the fact that they have to buy and plant new bulbs every year. It's a prestige thing with them."

The Amsterdam Tulip Museum, like other public attractions in Amsterdam, is expected to have done very well when total visitor traffic is tallied at the end of this year.

All of Holland has gone into a frenzy to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of their most famous native sons.

The Rijksmuseum, the Rembrandthuis Museum and even the Van Gogh Museum are running year-long exhibitions of paintings, drawings and etchings by Rembrandt, many of which have been loaned from institutions and private collectors in other countries.

And, even more than usual, there are long line-ups at the Anne Frank House at 263 Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal) where tourists want to see for themselves the hidden quarters where the world-famous child diarist almost survived the Nazi purge of Jewish civilians.

Should you tour the house, you might want to lighten your spirits afterwards by crossing the street and spending an hour or so at the Tulip Museum at 112 Prinsengracht.

Not only will Sjoerd van Eeden take the time to answer even the most rudimentary questions about Holland's signature flower, he will suggest you descend the circular staircase to the basement where colorful panels provide a lively history of tulip growing in the Netherlands.

You'll learn a number of fascinating facts about this widely popular bloom.

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