Wine

[Hoople]

I was exploring the streets of Amsterdam alone one day while my host was at work. I dopily stumbled into a "cafe" and was struggling to equate the suspicious looking menu, which was in English, with our selection of cafe' and Latte this and that here in The States. I noted the enervated and unkempt clientele moping around like a modern remake of the Degas painting "The Absinthe Drinkers". "OH!", I blurted out to the scruffy, impatient and humorless clerk at the window waiting for me to order (with his elbow on the counter and head resting on his fist), and excused myself PROMPTLY. They really have pot bars in Amsterdam! The atmosphere gave me the creeps. The few people in there looked down on their luck and in desperate need of hygiene 101. http://www.theartgallery.com.au/ArtEducation/greatartists/Degas/Absinthe/

The Dutch people I met wouldn't go near pot because of the stigma. All you have to do is go into one of those bars and you understand. I thought it was just a generational thing, you know... defining your generation by denouncing the prior one, but I believe it was more a desire not to be associated in any way with the kind of people I saw in that bar.