Rick Steves Newsletter
 

I just finished reading the latest newsletter from Rick Steves,and one thing in particular caught my eye. In the section titled "Connecting with Europe" he has a bit of interesting advice for the Netherlands.He advises that one should visit a cafe,and if you don't have any future political aspirations you should "Inhale".Whats ironic is that on the cover of the newsletter is a photo of a smiling,60ish American couple off to see the sights.
I wonder if thats his target audience for the above advice?

Lovejoy, what age bracket are you in?

Many folks now in their 50's and 60's were young adults in the late 60's-early 70's. Have you heard of Woodstock? Does the phrase "don't bogart that joint" ring a bell? Ever hear of a band called the Doobie Brothers? :)>-

Ever hear of a politician who didn't inhale?

<i>Ever hear of a politician who didn't inhale?</i>

yes - and know of a few others I wish would stop.

If you visit the Rick Steves website, you will find that the &quot;graffiti wall&quot; message board topic &quot;Marijuana in Europe&quot; is by far the most popular. A letter from him also appeared recently on his website in which he rambles on a wide range of political, religious and social issues. I'll bet you won't find any mention of these topics if you look through his publications in the early years. He probably feels as though he can afford to espouse his views in public now that he is such a success (with much help from viewer and taxpayer-supported public tv).

Practically every mainstream guidebook to the Netherlands mentions coffeshops these days, making recommendations of good ones.

We're in our early 50s and haven't smoked in the U.S. for over 20 years, but we're most assuredly going to indulge a bit when we visit Amsterdam later this month.

What's ironic is that even without THC (the 'active' ingredient in marijuana), the smoke of this plant is still, well, smoke, no less and no more than that of tobacco. Therefore, I find it a bit disingenuous that anyone could support one and not the other (and frankly, I'm quite glad to see the end of smoke, period, in public places.)

Sue_xx_yy, great point. I had not looked at it that way before. Rick is
starting to stray from what made him a big success.