European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 9, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A replica of the voc Amsterdam an 18th-Century East India merchant vessel lies at Anchor near the Netherlands maritime museum left. Visitors can tour the ship which is part of the museum. The Netherlands maritime museum is a former naval Arsenal Abow. Supermarkets sex movie houses sex museums sex magazines and of course sex a euphemistically called Quot body Massage Quot in advertisements in the local throwaway tourist magazines. As one prowls the red Light District however where the night air is tinged with occasional whiffs of marijuana smoke it is possible to find some Low testosterone cannabis free entertainment. At Quot duty Nelly a Quot the Only taboo they seem to break is violating the fire code by attracting too Many Irish Folk music fans. Just As the City attracts the Irish  i m in Amsterdam a year tonight Quot said guitarist Noel Shannon 35, of Cork Ireland during a break in his gig. He said he stayed because Quot you can do what you want Here and nobody gives you any trouble. It s a very relaxed  there Are a few rules. A sign on the bar Wall said no smoking drugs Shannon s musical partner Mark Gilligan 28, from Dublin plays a variety of bizarre Irish instruments. Quot i was a full time musician but i gave it up because it was destroying my social life Quot Gilligan said. But he did t give up Amsterdam which he said offered him a better Standard of living. Pub manager Eric Holla 31, an Amsterdam native acknowledged that his City is a Patchwork quilt of ethnic  maybe it s because Amsterdam is one of the biggest ports in the world Quot he said. Quot there have always been a lot of International people Quot the next morning if one passed up the Chance to go on the cheese and windmills tour and one did the choices facing late sleepers were grim ones mainly because of the rain. Two impractical options were the Rijk museum and the Rijk museum Van cough. They open at 1 . On sundays they Are often crowded and the bus to Germany was leaving the hotel two hours later. A better option was the Netherlands maritime museum which opens at noon and offers lots of surprises for the 12.50 guilders $6.65 admission fee. Ship models full scale pleasure Craft nautical paintings parts of sunken ships sextants and other nautical devices hands on exhibits and scores of the old seafaring maps for which the dutch became famous Are on display on three floors. Visitors also can watch a 30 a minute movie about Mutiny diseases and other perils of an 18th-Century sea voyage on an East India merchant vessel Complete with thundering three dimensional sound effects. The museum s layout is convoluted. When you end up in the Coffee shop you can t figure out How to leave. Also the exhibits Are All in dutch with Only a line or two of explanation in English French and German. All the same the museum is Well Worth a visit. See Van. Coeh s smears if you must but the maritime museum r will show you How Holland became what it is today a wealthy country with its economic fingers still stuck m important nooks and crannies ail Over the world. Marcel Quot Rasputin Quot Gregoire awaits customers at the in crowd taboo shop at Waterloo Plein 123. His Tike minded Girlfriend works at a Quot piercing studio scarification and branding Quot shop several blocks away. A Gregoire said his shop was the Only one open because the other Amsterdam tattooists were attending a convention in Italy but he was wrong. Tattooing Needles at the Hanky Panky tattooing museum on nude Zieds voor Borgwat also were poised and ready. The bus picked up the stragglers at the hotel at about 3 30 ., and we headed Home. Our Only other Contact with Holland was a meal Stop at an expressway restaurant. Just before the incident involving the bus door Wolfgang offered prizes a a bottle of wine and a wooden shoe a to the passengers who could guess most accurately what the total distance of the trip was including Side trips. He said later it was 1,315 Kilometres 817 Miles. Some passengers heard that Paul the bus Driver had a few videocassettes that could be played in the on Board dosed circuit television. Quot however they re All in German Quot Wolfgang said. Several people said that was no hindrance. So without asking whether they wanted to see any particular movie Wolfgang plunked Pofi Zei Academie police Academy into the Var causing our conversational in to drop into the single digits. The bus arrived in Mannheim fairly promptly. The Transfer bus zipped off to Heidelberg some 30 minutes later and that was that. Dutch scouts listen a with a few exceptions a to a Pep talk on dam Square before soliciting passers by for donations to a playground construction project. A amps photos by cd Joseph Owen