Amsterdam has it's own 'nipple-gate'. No, it's not about some flesh that was shown on AT5, Amsterdam's local TV channel. And it's not about a nipple either. In this case it's about a vagina. Fanny-gate so to speak. Dutch poet Jacob van Lennep has a street and a quay named after him in Amsterdam. Some time ago the council thought it would be a nice idea to put one of his poems on a boring wall in the Jacob van Lennepstraat to liven up things. Little did they knew that this would liven up things indeed...
The poem that was chosen, and that was put on the wall a few weeks ago, is about this young woman called Roosje. The artist thought it would be a good idea to not only paint the words of the poem on the wall, but also an image of how he sees this Roosje. So he painted a stark naked woman on the wall as well. People who live opposite the wall now have to face Roosje's private parts whenever they look out of the window.
Some of them are not happy.
So the council has come up with this fab idea. People who live opposite the painting can go to the council and they'll get some money to buy plants or a special plastic to obscure their windows. In the meantime Roosje's been subjected to some serious graffiti...
It's bit weird, banning explicit postcards in the Red Light District even tough that area oozes sex, and at the same time giving the all clear when it comes to painting a huge vagina on a wall in a residential area.
Jamie Oliver will open a new restaurant, Fifteen Amsterdam, in the capital later this year. It will be located somewhere on the Oostelijke Handelskade. At the moment he's recruiting out of work Dutch staff. The chosen few will get a training first and then a job in the restaurant, just like what happened in London. The training starts in August and the restaurant will open somewhere in autumn. Of course there will be a TV-series about the whole thing as well. If you'd like to work for Jamie, go to www.fifteen.nl to see if you qualify for the training. Sadly I'm too old - or I would try to join and go 'undercover' to write an article about it.
A new survey shows that Amsterdam is number 26 on the list of most expensive cities in the world. Last year Amsterdam was ranked number 52. It comes as no surprise that the Euro is to blame for Amsterdam's higher position. Even a fast-food meal is more expensive here than in London, not exactly known for it's cheapness and number 2 on the list of most expensive cities in the world (Tokyo is number one). Ah well, fast food is bad for your health anyway
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© 2004 Willem de Blaauw
