staying in amsterdam one might think fast-moving traffic or crotch-high curb posts, pickpockets or too much mayo on your fries, certain unmentionables in the red light district or the turkish mafioso would be enough to be concerned about regarding general safety.
following a day and a half of police blockading the street and surrounding in large force the corner apartment just two houses down from the place i´m working and sleeping, it came to my attention other things are potential dangers.
seeing police getting out of a blocky paddy wagon in the environmental suits, the first story i heard was that there was a nuclear device (bomb) found and dismantled. wow! close call, almost being at the potential epicenter of a nuclear explosion.
this however did not hold up as true, but it seems another potentially explosive lab, a methamphetamine lab, was broken up and siezed. we had been smelling some funny smells in the air during the preceding week and other home-based drug operations had been dismantled by the friendly policie in the not-so-recent past. all manner of activity goes on in this great culturally diverse city.