One of my biggest dreams would be becoming an alchemist. And even though unlikely, the fact is that I live in one of the world's most important cities regarding hermetic sciences: Amsterdam!

The Dutch Republic of 1600-1700 was known for its relatively abundant freedom of speech and religious tolerance, hosting some of the most important thinkers of that time: Descartes, John Locke, Comenius and, of course, our very own Baruch Spinoza - just to name a few. 

Amsterdam became also the European centre of book publishing, which turned into a real industry: according to the Short-Title Catalogue, Netherlands, about 22,000 titles were printed in Amsterdam in 1600-1700, equivalent to one third of the total Dutch production. 

Many of these printed titles were forbidden everywhere else, specially the ones dedicated to esoterism, religion or politics - many key editions on these subjects were printed in Amsterdam.  

Among the forbidden authors was the German mysticist Jakob Böhme (1575-1624), whose works were published in Amsterdam from 1682 onwards - including the Aurora.

Amsterdam-born businessman Joost Ritman was 23 when he discovered the Aurora. This ignited his interest in spirituality, and for 50 years Ritman assembled a unique collection of codices and documents on the subject:

"Not a day has passed in the last fifty years when I didn’t buy a book.", Ritman says (here). 

Ritman made his collection public in 1984, through the creation of The Ritman Library (Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica), in the heart of Amsterdam - one of the reasons why the University of Amsterdam started a special chair of Hermetic philosophy. 
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After troubled times following Ritman's financial struggles, The Ritman Library can be visited by anyone interested in esoterism, and is currently located in the House of the Heads, the historical building at Keizersgracht 123, bought by Ritman in 2007- and what better place than this mysterious house, to host such incredible artefacts? 

More info:
Dutch Golden Age book printing here

The Ritman Library Homepage 

​http://www.amsterdamhermetica.nl/esotericism-in-the-academy/hermetic-amsterdam/

In 2016 the Dutch authorities took several initiatives in order to fight Synthetic drug mafias operating in The Netherlands, Belgium and other neighbour countries. 
In one of the operations, the policie raided several apartments in Amsterdam. Nevertheless, the officers were welcomed by two surprising hosts, as the police report reads:

"Detectives from the Amsterdam East district who are conducting a lengthy investigation into the trade in synthetic drugs, including Crystal Meth, have arrested 11 suspects since Tuesday, 23 February 2016. It was noticeable that the majority of the money was guarded by two life-size crocodiles. These animals were in a room where the money was stored so that one had to go past the crocodiles first." 

"Noticeable" is a very good example of Dutch euphemism, I guess. 

11 people were arrested and half a million euros worth of Crystal meth and €300.000 in cash confiscated. 

A few months later, the police answered a call regarding a "crocodile in an Amsterdam canal"; rushing to the place, they found the "beast" quietly floating:

Dutch humour never ceases surprising me!

Amsterdam is known for its bikes, but this wasn't always the case. In fact, during the post-WWII decades, the city was completely taken over by cars, making it extremely dangerous to bike.

​The immediate victims of this situation (which happened throughout all major Dutch cities) were children and bikers, confined to narrow, dangerous streets, full of traffic. The consequences were brutal:
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"The number of traffic casualties rose to a peak of 3,300 deaths in 1971. More than 400 children were killed in traffic accidents that year", reads this Guardian article.
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The decrease of bike usage in the Netherlands is clear in the next graphic:

In the early 70's the population started to manifest itself, creating the "Stop the Children Killing" movement (Stop de kindermoord, in Dutch).

One of the most successful and earliest initiatives demanding safer streets took place in Amsterdam, in DePijp in 1972. This over-populated working-class district was known for the cluttered multi-children families confined to small houses - the streets were the natural playground. 

The children invaded the streets and blocked all traffic, holding posters and banners. Cars were painted in graffiti with the words "Car Free" and violence escalated. City officials were forced to meet the children and hear their claims, in an extraordinary episode, summarized in the following video:

Today Amsterdam is the world's second most bike-friendly city - also thanks to this extraordinary episode (fuelled by the oil crisis of 1973...). ;)