Hello from Amsterdam!

The sex trade is a fragment of what it once was. The workers blame the Internet, which is probably accurate.

Amsterdam is very different outside the center, and in many ways even more beautiful.

The reason people don't wear helmets is because it's safe. I always used a helmet before coming here: I never do now, not even one time!

Consider that more American pedestrians get killed by cars than bike riders, and a helmet would be protection - so why don't pedestrians wear them?

Bikes feel dangerous in America (and they are, thanks to hostile drivers), so you want to wear a helmet. Here, bikes feel safe, and people don't wear helmets.

Also, when the government was deliberating on these matters, they did a health analysis, and they concluded that the number of people whose lives would be saved by requiring helmets would be less than the number of lives lost because people would choose not to bike and not get exercise.

As for masking - I just don't get why Dutch people won't. People here really didn't and don't take COVID seriously. Now they are wondering why they can't find people to work. They killed or crippled them all, that's why!