A Sobering Experience

Last night as I was returning from dinner, I had the opportunity to witness a guy try to pickpocket a guy who looked like a semi-reformed Hell's Angel. Why you would pick such a target, I have no idea, but suffice to say he botched the job and the guy almost kicked his ass down the street. The pickpocket tried to play it off, but the wallet was laying on the sidewalk. I don't think the tourist would have just dropped it there. lol I guess I've been lucky so far, but then I'm paranoid and take precautions when I go somewhere. Most of the time, my wallet lives in my front pocket along with the cash I'm carrying at the time.

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This morning I went to the Anne Frank house. I haven't had a reaction to the holocaust like this since I was at Dachau in 1995. I saw The Diary of Anne Frank when I was a kid on TV. The rooms in the show were spacious. The real place is so small I felt clausterphobic almost immediately. I can't believe 8 people lived in these tiny rooms for more than two years. Pieces of the original walls were put back in the space behind glass - the ones with her photos and cards pasted to them. Even water damaged and 60 years later, they smack you just like falling flat into the water from a high diving board. The remaining walls are covered in replicant wallpaper to the original pattern. Drab, dank and closed in don't even come close to the feeling this place has. I was sweating profusely. I couldn't wait to get back outside. These people didn't leave for over two years until the Gestapo got an anonymous tip and they were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Just before the exit to the museum there is a coffee shop that serves light food. I can't imagine how someone could wish to eat after being in the Annex. It took me better than two hours to even think about eating. Well, I guess the reaction is different for everyone.

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I went into one of 'those' coffee shops today... I don't partake, but I had to see it with my own eyes... The size of the spliffs these people roll is incredible. How they smoke an entire one and still function is beyond me. I also went into a seed shop. Sensi-seed. They sell seeds for over 100 kinds of hemp plants. They have this really cool catalog with pix and descriptions of the high and how easy the plants are to grow. Pretty wild.

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BTW - for you folks that are reading this regularly, feel free to post comments...