In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a “Bed-In for Peace” at the Hilton Amsterdam, the same hotel the orchestra is staying at.  John and Yoko sat in bed in room 702 for an entire week.  It was a non-violent protest in the middle of a violent world — a sit-in to prove that peace and love are better than war.

 

It is not surprising that John and Yoko chose Amsterdam for their Bed-In.  Amsterdam is a very peaceful place.  Wide canals wind throughout the huge stone townhouses like a comfortably settled Venice.  Away from the city’s bustling center are quiet residential streets, where the silence is only broken by a passerby on a bicycle.

 

Transition from Minneapolis to Amsterdam is an easy one, because the people here seem to know a thing or two about “Minnesota nice.”  Nearly everyone gives a friendly smile, from a waiter at a small care to a biker whose path you accidentally step into.  John and Yoko would have felt so welcome here.  It is the perfect city to begin the tour in.

 

by Laura Sturm