Tiny Christmas Tales. Part I. The Netherlands
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December 30–31, 2013
The Netherlands is a country that has achieved perfection in creating an educated, highly developed society. At the same time, it’s genuinely European: not a single restaurant serves fresh-squeezed juice here.
Amsterdam
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The belts on the retractable barriers at Schiphol Airport attach to the stanchions via magnets, rather than having to slide them into annoying grooves. Snap—unsnap. Snap—unsnap. Incredible!
The canals are all lined with landing stages and houseboats.
Utrecht
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A very charming city, notable for the fact that the canals are located one story below the main sidewalks.
It also has nice street urinals.
Rotterdam
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A cold, soulless, boring city with architectural antics of various kinds.
But I did find a homey, ingenious street bench with a built-in table and wheels, which can be used to roll it out onto the sidewalk in front of a café.
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