It's surprising, however, how many people today still think of Amsterdam as caught in some rose-tinted time warp of free love, free drugs, and free everything. The heady heyday of the '60s and '70s--if it ever really existed to the extent that legend and the soft-focus afterglow of memory would have us believe--has given way to '90s realities. A tour of the burgeoning suburban business zones, whose award-winning modern architecture is light-years away from Golden Age gables, is evidence enough of Amsterdam's new priorities. The city government has worked assiduously to transform Amsterdam from a hippie haven to a cosmopolitan international business center, and there seems little doubt that it is succeeding.

Fortunately, it has not been completely successful. Amsterdam is still "different." Its citizens, bubbling along happily in their multiracial melting pot, are not so easily poured into the restrictive molds of trade and industry. Not only do free thinking and free living still have their place here, they are the watchwords by which Amsterdam lives its collective life. Don't kid yourself though. Holland's standard of living is among the highest in the world, and Amsterdam's "free living" is fueled not so much by clouds of hashish smoke as by the wealth generated by a successful economy.

A side effect of the city's concern with economics is that all you youthful backpackers out there who don't wash much, who stay in hostels or cheap hotels, and who think "coffee shops" are the high point of the city's cultural life are no longer quite as welcome as you used to be. You don't spend enough money, you see, and you contribute toward the city's image problem. When you come back in 10 years with a salary that lets you stay in a good hotel, buy tickets for the Concertgebouw and the Muziektheater, eat in a Japanese restaurant, and pick up a diamond or two, why then, everything will be different. Don't be offended: It's nothing personal, just business--there isn't a tourist zone on earth that wouldn't rather have more money than less. Still, all is far from lost: You can smoke hash to your heart's content if that's what you want. More important, you can still enjoy Amsterdam, its culture, history, and beauty, without stretching the limits of your credit cards.

The city will quickly capture you in its spell--especially at night, when the more than 1,200 bridges spanning the nearly 200 canals are lit with a zillion tiny lights that give them a fairy-tale appearance, or in the morning, when the cityscape slowly unfolds through a mysterious mist to reveal its treasures. Besides the many canals and bridges, Amsterdam offers such delights as the Vincent van Gogh Museum, the Rembrandthuis Museum, the Artis Zoo, the Albert Cuyp flea market, the floating flower market, antiquarian bookstores, and brown cafes and tasting houses, as well as chic cafes and nightclubs.

Amsterdam, the kind of place that's comfortable in a domestic way, is perhaps best summed up in Henry James's description of the city as "perfect prose." The city has been drawn to a human scale. Few skyscrapers mar the clarity of the sky; instead, narrow brick houses topped with plain or ornamental gables and keystones line the streets and canals. The populace mostly walks or bicycles from place to place.

But perhaps the city's greatest asset is its inhabitants. Every Dutch person seems to speak at least three languages, and many speak English fluently, and virtually all are friendly to visitors--if you plop yourself down in a brown cafe (the Dutch equivalent of a neighborhood bar) with nicotine-stained walls to enjoy a beer or a jenever (gin), you'll soon find yourself chatting with an amiable Amsterdammer.

Both the city and its people will make your trip to Amsterdam an extraordinary and rewarding experience.