I'm in Liverpool. Go Figure.

I'm sitting in a shopping centre in Liverpool, England. My first night in Amsterdam I ate at one of the city's many Indonesian restaurants and then explored the red light district nearby. It's incredible the way the prostitutes solicit there. In rows of glass-fronted cubicles, backlit in red and ultraviolet lights, dressed in nothing much, they wave and blow kisses to passers by. It's like a big vending machine for sex. I didn't see many takers, but the district is such a tourist attraction. Respectable looking middle-aged couples, Asian tour groups, and lots of very average people of all ages. I went to the Museum of Erotica (I think it's different to the Sex Museum). Lots of vintage erotica from around the world, etc, and plenty of European sleaze. Wednesday morning I went to the Van Gogh Museum. The paintings are ordered chronologically and you're given the story of his life as you walk around the galleries. It was actually really touching without being too biographical, and there's so much texture to his paintings that you could only appreciate them fully in the flesh. I stumbled upon the Torture Museum. They have replicas of different torture devices and little blurbs about their use in a winding passageway through a dark damp building. It was worth the five euros. Amsterdam is full of such ad hoc little museums. I milled around in Lambiek for part of the afternoon. I bought a stack of Dutch and German independent (ie. poorly drawn, poorly printed) comics, thumbed through many more. I picked up a big creepy book by the American outsider artist Joe Coleman, and the guy behind the counter made the same observation that I was thinking - they look like Bosch paintings. Then I smoked half a joint of pre-rolled house blend at the Blues Brothers Coffee House and read comics. And it was good. Walking through Amsterdam at 6am yesterday on my way to the train station, it was how I wanted to remember the city. No people. Just the odd tram. The channel waters were still. Bent and mangled bicycles chained to every tree, fence and lamp-post. Despite the hedonism of the place it's got undeniable charm. I flew into Liverpool's John Lennon Airport. Unbeknownst to me until I was already on my way here, Liverpool is the official European Capital of Culture for 2008. Obviously this requires a lot of construction work during the Winter months (when no sensible tourist would come here), because half of the city is currently behind construction fences, and every second person on the street is wearing a yellow vest and a hardhat. So it's not a town that screams "culture" just yet. They have a lot of playhouses, and the Albert Dock area houses a swathe of museums. And of course nobody is going to let go the fact that the Beatles came from Liverpool. The city is saturated in memorabilia. The Beatles Story (a dedicated museum) is a lot of fun, and is more a testament to the great artists they worked with on their album covers and movies, etc. I wish I could have had a run around this museum as a kid 15 years ago. On the other side of Albert Dock is the completely unrelated International Slavery Museum (Liverpool was once the main European centre for slave-trading). It was sad but well-presented. Then there's the Liverpool Tate which I found to be just as interesting as the Tate Modern in London. If not a lot more accessible and less exhausting. I went to the famous Cavern Club last night, where the Beatles played a lot in the early days. There was a cover band playing, in suits and wigs, and genuine Liverpudlian accents, the whole deal. The announcer claimed they were the best the Beatles cover band in the UK, and I wouldn't argue. They were excellent, and from my vantage point behind a brick pillar it could have easily been 1962. The older patrons peeled away gradually and after midnight it was a very young and friendly crowd. Some guy with a Gallagher monobrow tried to sell me cocaine and it was like a real club. The band played until almost 2am and I walked back to the hostel whistling Penny Lane. Yeah, Liverpool has been fun. But I'm catching a train south this afternoon. I've got a ticket to ride.