Today started of well with a good night’s sleep after a long day yesterday. The day started at 8am with a delicious breakfast at the hotel. This breakfast included meats, cheese, breads, pastries, pancakes, and more. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of options because hotels that I have been to previously in Europe typically serve a croissant and butter/jam for breakfast. We first embarked on a river cruise that guided us as we passed along interesting sights. The thing I found most interesting was learning about the houses/apartments. We learned that the reason why they were almost all made of brick was due to two large fires in the city in the 15th century that burned down a large portion of the city’s mainly wooden buildings. After these fires, the city required all new buildings to be made of stone or brick. Another fire came along in the 16th century and wiped out many of the wooden buildings, causing most of the buildings to be made of bricks. We also learned that most of the apartments in Amsterdam used to be warehouses because due to the importance of its port. During the cruise we saw many house boats lined along the canal, which were supposed to help with the housing crisis in the 1960’s, but now many of them cost in the millions of Euros. That might be why they all looked beautiful and new on the inside. This is different than anywhere I’ve been in the U.S. where houseboats are seen as a cheap option for housing.
After the river cruise we split off, and I went to a grocery store by Amsterdam Centraal train station. We enjoyed a cheap lunch by the water before meeting up with a tour guide who gave us an excellent tour of the city center. He informed us on all sorts of things. What I found most interesting and different from the U.S. is the laws around drugs. When we walked down one street, the guide explained that it used to be the most dangerous place in Amsterdam due to the large amounts of drug vendors on the street, but now it is the most popular street in the city because of the country’s decriminalization of these drugs. Instead of putting addicts in prison, the Dutch government decided it would be better to put them in rehabilitation centers. The guide said that there were less than 200 people in these programs currently. This is very different than most of the U.S. where addicts are placed in prison, I think that we could learn a lot from the Netherlands in regards to this.
The last thing we did was visit Cacao & Spice, a sustainable chocolate shop in Amsterdam. The owner of the shop told us how everything in the shop comes from companies that have paid above fair trade value. I though this was interesting because I would have thought that fair trade value meant that everyone involved in the process of getting the chocolate from concept to customer would be paid a livable wage, but she told us that that is not the case. This is why she makes sure all of her chocolate comes from sources that pay above fair trade value. She also told us that 70% of cacao was grown in Africa, but only 1% of chocolate is made there. This was very sad to hear because this means that international companies are taking advantage of Africa’s natural resources and child labor to get the ingredients, but they then take the ingredients to other countries to produce the actual chocolate and bring the manufacturing back to their countries. Cacao & Spice buys chocolate that is grown, and manufactured all in the same country so that the country is invested in and is able to use their natural resources to their advantage. We also got to try some delicious chocolates, including the only white chocolate that I’ve ever liked.
I look forward to visiting the tulip auction and farm tomorrow!