You can’t take photos in the Red Light District in Amsterdam; a rule I was happy to obey as it forces you to really look at what’s in front of you.  This one incredibly gorgeous Amazonian goddess in librarian glasses was standing in her window, and I was transfixed.  She was having a conversation with a teenage tourist about how she should take up modelling.  There was nothing odd about it.  It was simply two women conversing, but it made me feel like being a tourist here was really not the point.  In that moment I was jarred by my need to satiate my curiosity, but I had to forgive myself my own humanity.

Upon leaving, I found myself walking across a bridge behind the main strip.  Two women catching up on the canal, taking a break.  A moment of shared tranquility, and I couldn’t help but feel deeply connected to their reality behind the veil.