5-23-07 Amsterdam

Yesterday was a good day despite my lack of sleep crankiness. As a group we went to the Anne Frank House. It was somber, but in a good way. In fact, it reminded me that I was cranky because I was traveling the world and wonderfully privileged. I guess the most cultural observations that I did there were of the tourists. It was hard to watch people being less than somber, but I suppose you can't force anyone to be respectful, especially Americans. I was disappointed in myself for how much I had forgotten about her book. I remember it affecting me in school, but now I'm starting to wonder if I was old enough to appreciate all of it. I'll have to read it again.

They had a little movie running after going though the house. It was about human rights and freedoms, and it was clearly biased and liberal. According to the pamphlet it was an EU production, but it struck me as very similar to American, liberal propaganda directed at college students. I don't know that I expected Europe to be more subtle. In fact, I don't even know if they strive for impartial and unbiased like America claims to. I value unbiased reporting, but I think that opinionated reports have their place too. Whether the Anne Frank House is a place for those opinions is something I hadn't thought about. I know what bothers me in America is the claim to be neutral when it is not. I know that some countries have a blatant and open bias for the government (usually because the networks are government controlled), and I don't think that is always good. If all of the media works on behalf of the government, and the people get upset with the government, the media won't be able to tell them anything - even if it is good or unrelated.

I knew in my head that people rode their bicycles everywhere in Europe. I even envied the stories I heard about well-sized and well-respected bicycle lanes. My head never worked out what it looks like to see people riding their bicycles everywhere. When I previously thought of bicyclists, I imagined kids, and people in sportswear. Here it is everybody and every type of attire. The men and women in their business suites is what I couldn't imagine before. It makes sense, but it still caught me by surprise to see. The women in skirts still makes me curious. Do they do something (like wear shorts underneath) that makes it ok, or is it completely a social difference? If I rode a bike with a skirt I would be extremely self conscious. Short skirts I would worry about riding up and long skirts I would worry about them flapping against the tire and possibly getting stuck in the spokes.

Bicycle Parking Deck