Amsterdam

Over the last twenty years the Europeans appear to have forgotten that the U.S. is intrinsically the most fabulously important nation on Earth.  In fact, they seem to have started thinking of it as just another country, and one with a devalued currency at that. This is particularly clear in the economic powerhouse called Amsterdam.  The city is packed with Europeans of all nationalities, and the endless rows of fashionable clothing stores and boutique electronic shops reflect almost no American influence.  Of the hundreds of huge commerce banks that make Amsterdam their home, very few have a visible presences in the American market at all.  England may still be the 51st state, but the rest of Eurpoe is following the banner of the Euro to something big and beautiful and totally its own -- and Amsterdam is out in the vanguard.

The last time I was in Amsterdam I was just starting to deal successfully with my agorophobia.  I had rented an apartment at the back of the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, but I remember how intimidated I was by the foyer, and the Winter Garden, and frankly from the fact that it had "Grand" right there in a the name. Six years later the Winter Garden is still beautiful and the hotel is still Grand, but it's all much less intimidating. Also, the standard rooms are really small.  Stay in the apartments.

An advertising slogan you probably would not see in the United States.

It's my fond hope that when the aliens do show up, they end up in Amsterdam.  There's good shopping, you can get legally stoned, and the women in the Red Light district would probably welcome the variation.  Even if the aliens started out with hostile intentions, we would find them there a year later living on a houseboat and teaching Alienese to tourists for beer money.

To put it more succinctly, "Please don't use the elevator if you're on fire." (this was also the only sign I saw in Amsterdam that was only in English)

I've always thought so.

Cheapshot #2

This is a nice way of solving the adults only vending machine problem. The front desk has a stash of AgeCoins, which the vending company just replenishes when they empty the change from the machine.

These last three shots are simply pictures of an extraordinary stairway railing inside the Krasnapolsky.  It's things like this and the Winter Garden that make a hotel truly grand.

The woodcuts are figures from human history, all the way from the Garden of Eden to the Steam Train.

I think they need to add another flight of steps in this part of the building, so they can pick up in the Age of Steam and carry through to modern times.