Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

First some back ground, my wife Robyn, myself, and our friend Roger went on this trip, our goal was to ride the high speed trains, drink some beer in Antwerp, eat Bouillabaisse in Marseille, and smoke some buds in Amsterdam. This trip we named “Buds Beer and Bouillabaisse”. We are all in our 50’s, this being our 6th trip to Europe and the Dam, Roger’s 1st.

In the past we have flown out of JFK or Newark, which required a 3.5 - 4.5 hour ride through two states, this time we took a connecting flight from a local airport. Only two red lights from my house to the Williamsport air port even with the tractor hauling a wagon of pumpkins in front of us for a short distance one of the dirt roads. We flew USAir and it sucked. KLM, Lufthansa, and British Air provided much better service, but the travel to the air port can be stressful and long term parking is not cheap.

We left on a Tuesday and arrived the next morning Wednesday Oct 7 at about 8:00 am. Through customs, taped MAC, bought train tickets to central, activated our rail pass, and picked up a strippenkaart, trained to central station, dropped our bags at the Hotel Nadia which is located on the Raddhuistraat next to the Keisergracht, with 36 steeps to the lobby and another 36 steeps to our room #412, which had a view of the homo monument and the back of Westerkerk, breakfast was typical Dutch; bread, rolls, jam, jelly, yogurt, cereal, juice, coffee, and tea. All in all, it was a very nice hotel.


Off to the BlueBird our traditional first stop and favorite coffee shop.
The changes to the BlueBird for the new tobacco laws disappointed us, as we loved the stools were you can gaze out at the 15’Th century portal to the Westerkerk, it is now the tobacco room. On the other hand there were two new vaporizers which weren’t there before.

We had both of them going, one for the Lemon Haze the other for the Zero-Zero, I love this town. The bud tender and bar person were helpful and kind, meet some young folks from our home state, (PA) small world.

We left, dogging rain drops back to the hotel for rain gear. We then went to the Amsterdam historical museum and bought our museum card and checked out the museum until “hungor” started to roar, went to find lunch.

Then we were off to the Amstelkring, cover by the museum pass, a real testimonial to Dutch tolerance. We then walked around the RLD during the day light hours, back to the hotel and took a nap.

We got up and headed to dinner at Nam Kee on the Zeedijk we have eaten here before but this time would be our last time. Back to the BlueBird for some, blue cheese, Northern light / white widow cross, and some G-13. After a quick smoke, and a walk around the RLD at night, we were back to the hotel were we spent the evening smoking our 5 different stashes, on our covered balcony watching the rain come down and the city go bye.

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A nice gentle start Willjay , looking forward to following your further travels.

Blue Skies

Thursday 8 Oct. Did not want to get out of bed but were down to breakfast by 8:30. Finished breakfast paid our hotel bill, you get a discount of 6% for cash, and went for a walkabout past the Anne Frank house, Robyn and I have been there before and Roger had no interest in going in, across the Prinsengracht and on our way to the Paradox

We arrived just as the owner, I think he was the owner, was opening for the day. The sun was out the coffee shop had just opened and we were in Amsterdam, I love this town. Roger bought some Jamaican and I got some Chockalope, had some drinks and a smoke. The chockalope was the stand out weed of this trip. We hung out for a while took some photos of the mural. We saw the green and white license in the window and commented on the fact that the paradox was #11; the owner was impressed and became even friendlier than before. We really liked this shop.

Left and went on our way to a lunch get-together with some “Fodorites”. Fodors is a travel web forum that my wife is active on. We meet Ron and his wife Deborah Ann, who are from the states, and Hetismij, who is from Great Briton but has lived in the Netherlands for over 20 years and is a wealth of information on her adoptive home, at the Café De Vergulde Gaper on the Prinsenstraat. We had a great lunch and get-together.

We parted at about 14:30 and headed for the Gray Area, now the last time Robyn and I were at the GA the bud tender was having an argument with, we thought was the voices in his head, until he turned and we saw his hands free phone. Anyway he was not having a good day therefore our time there was not pleasant. But if you learn any thing in life, it is that people are people and do not judge a CS by a bad personal encounter. This time every one was having a good day. I bought the Cheesiel and Roger got the Grey Grains Isolater Hash. We used the vaporizer, had a great conversation with the bud tender, an American, there was also a “Penn State” bumper sticker on the wall of stickers from all over.

Roger is a big Penn State football fan, (American style football) we appreciate the program because of the head coach, Joe Paterno. His program is more on building character and academic standards. He is also has the most wins of any collage coach.

We left the GA my wife with free lighter, a gift from the bud tender, I had bought 2. I miss the days when you could buy real souvenirs from the shops, the advertising bans suck, but I personally like the tobacco ban. After beating a 30 year addiction to that evil drug, it is nice to smoke pure and even nicer to vape.

Back to our walkabout, we headed for the Leidseplien to sign up for the St Nicolas Boat Club free canal cruise, but they were shut down.

Too early to eat we went to the Rokerij, had some drinks and smoked some stash we had. There was a camera (TV) crew, interviewing a woman in the shop, then a few shots outside then they were gone have no idea what it was all about, I know it was not a commercial, but maybe a documentary.

Back to the hotel to regroup and then off to dinner, an all you can eat ribs place we saw on the Leidseplien. Turned out to be a sports bar but the food was good. Ribs, beer, fries (chips for you on the island) and we were ready for a smoke, image that.

Stopped at the Dolphin, bought a gram of their special White Dolphin, had a smoke and back to the hotel to smoke ourselves to sleep. Tomorrow we leave for Antwerp Belgium.

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Great report. I'd love to hear the remaining non Amsterdam parts if you're so inclined.

Willjay wrote:Thursday 8 Oct. Did not want to get out of bed but were down to breakfast by 8:30. Finished breakfast paid our hotel bill, you get a discount of 6% for cash, and went for a walkabout past the Anne Frank house, Robyn and I have been there before and Roger had no interest in going in, across the Prinsengracht and on our way to the Paradox

Best thing about Anne Franks house is that Paradox is just round the corner

Nice reporting, and going to 3 of the shops i always try to get to when in Dam (Bluebird, Paradox and GA)

Friday 9 Oct. This is the day we travel to Antwerp, to start our ten day journey through the south of France. About an hour in to the train ride Roger realized that his passport is still in the safe back at the hotel. Now Roger has a cell phone that works in Europe and we call the hotel, the passport is safe, the manager now has it in his office. We are travelling with a rail pass for the three of us, unlimited rail in a 24 hour period, we will just do our thing in Antwerp, Rubens house and art, than train back to Amsterdam pick up the passport a quick smoke (gave up our Belgium beer) and a late night train back. Well all went well until we entered the Grasshopper, they are a rip off.
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Unlike the Grey Area, the Grasshopper will not get our money ever again, unless they locate in the PA, USA.

We smoked our two joints. Back to central station only to realize we did not read the scheduled right. The last train we thought we would take was on sat only. We missed the last train out of the Netherlands; they close the rail at night for freight only. Our luggage spent the night in Antwerp we spent the night in a triple room back at the Nadia. The people at the Nadia were very helpful and kind and we will stay there again.

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Nice reporting

Good to hear that you had a fairly nice experience at Grey Area. For service and atmosphere it was my favorite shop of our trip. Always helps to be a 'merican, as well

Saturday 10 Oct. We were up a 5:00 and off on our second day of our rail pass we got back on schedule in about two and a half hours after getting our luggage in Antwerp and on the train to Brussels to catch the TGV to Avignon.

You yanks know, that the USA has an interstate highway system, which thanks to Eisenhower displaced the once vibrant rail system that we had pre WW2, and we have to drive every ware. I do live in a rural area of Pennsylvania. Riding the high speed trains was as much of the trip as the destinations was.

Arriving in Avignon, we pick up our rental car, first time renting or evening driving in Europe, and head off to our hotel. Then turn around and head off to our hotel. Then turn around and off to our hotel. We finally got our heads around the French way of, not labeling their roads as well as changing rout numbers, and the round about which were cool no stopping. Arriving at the hotel Du Soleil in St Remy we freshen up go out in search of dinner. After dinner we discretely smoke a bowl of hash while walking around the streets near our hotel and turn in early.

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Sunday 11 Oct. Today is our day to explore the market at L’Isle-sur- La-Surge (sp), the Village Des Bories,Gordes,Roussillon, Goult, and Oppeede La Vieux. At the market we picked up some fruit, cheese (fromage not weed) a shirt for me Roger picked up some saffron.

The Village Des Bories is an old village with houses made entirely from stacked stone no mortar or timbers just stacked stone. Really interesting and you are able to just walk around and explore. In the USA everything would be blocked off so you could look from a distance but not touch ore heaven forbid get hurt and sue.

Gordes is what is described as a hill town. San Francisco is built on hills, Rome is built on seven hills, this was a cliff. We had lunch and picked up some wine.

Drove through Roussillon tried to buy some bread but the bakery was closed. Ochre the pigment comes from here and gives the whole area a red tint. Were as in Gordes the lime stone was white.

Goult is another old village but had a wind mill, driving through these old medieval towns was interesting and challenging at times. The winding roads from one hill town to the next gave opportunity for some great views and a chance to smoke a bowl.

Oppeede La Vieux is a Roman ruin and was built on top of the hill. Again exploring the ruins with the freedom, to climb, to look, and to imagine was refreshing and free.

When we were all young we used to drive around tokeing and exploring, we referred to it as space patrolling. Today was a space patrol.

Great read. Our last trip to Europe was our honeymoon, which started in Amsterdam and ended up in a flight out of Marseilles. We stayed in Arles and also explored St. Remy, an old Roman aquaduct and the old town of Les Beaux.

Monday 12 Oct. Today we went to Nimes bought a vistor pass which included Les Baux, and did all the tourist stuff, then went by car to the Pont Du Gard. This is a major engineering marvel from the Roman Empire, then by car to Uzes, Home to the springs that feed the water that flowed through the aqueduct to Nimes.

This day meant a lot to me, as the Romans invented plumbing, kind of.

http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/tour ... index.html

http://www.ot-nimes.fr/english_nimes/index.php

Tuesday 13 Oct. Today is the day that we rented the car for, well kind of, we are going to drive the two and a half hours to cross the Millau Viaduct Bridge. This is a major engineering marvel from our time. It is impressive, really impressive. Check out the web sight.

http://www.leviaducdemillau.com/english ... sites.html

But first we want to see the medieval war machines at Les Baux, check out this sight also. The sight was impressive but the Mistral winds were unbearable. We braved through the sight, had lunch then left for Millau.

http://www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/baux-o ... nce-2.html

Wednesday 14 Oct. was a travel day from our apt to Arles, by way of Olivades fabric outlet, my wife does quilting. We turned in the car and did a walk about the city. Turned in early with a bottle of cheap wine and watched a soccer game on TV

http://www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr/us/index_us.php

Thursday 14 Oct. We took the train to Marseille. The whole reason we came to the south of France was to eat Bouillabaisse.

Authentic Bouillabaisse can only be found in Marseille, from about 12 different restaurants. They were the ones who made that claim. Any way Roger, long before I knew him, was a trained chef from the Culinary Institute of American, he had always wanted Bouillabaisse.

So after doing all the tourist sightseeing stuff, for which we got a pass. Cleaning up in our hotel, the Hotel Kyriad, We arrived at the Miramar.

We are blue collar workers from the US, and soon found our selves surrounded by a dozen waiters , Robyn and I, remember Roger was a trained chef he new the different titles the wait people had, were over whelmed.But by the end of the night, three hours later and several chats with the chef who is an Obama fan, complementary limoncellos and dessert, we were the least profitable table but had a great time with the chef, when he learned we came there just for his Bouillabaisse.

http://www.marseille-tourisme.com/en/in-marseille/
http://www.bouillabaisse.com/

A weekend in paris and back to the Dam, more to follow

Friday 16 Oct After the best hotel breakfast of the trip, in France you have to pay extra for breakfast, we caught the train to Paris.

At the Paris Lyon train station, were we picked up our museum pass and metro tickets, there is a tourist info counter at the station very convenient for tourist.

Any way a lot of cities in Europe including Amsterdam have a pass or some sort of special that makes traveling easier and more affordable. The Netherlands has the Museum card, that gives you entrance into museums through out the country for a year, for about 40 euros. Not a bad deal for those of you that live in or close to the Netherlands. Was even a good deal for us “culture vultures” and we were only in the country for 5 days.

We spent Friday and Saturday, 17 Oct, being tourist in Paris.

Sunday 18 Oct we took the high speed TGV to Strasbourg, remember the high speed trains were part of the trip and this run was the fasted train in the TGV system. Our original plan was to go to Strasbourg then hop a local to Germany for a beer, but we stayed in town and found the Brew pup Lantern instead. But first it’s over to the Cathedral to catch part of the Mass, the choir and pipe organ part, and then after Mass the Astronomical Clock, all free on Sunday.

Walked around the old town, very much German influenced architecture, had lunch, and walked some more, we finished the day at the above mention brew pup.
Trained back to Paris, Tomorrow back to the Dam.

Willjay wrote:remember the high speed trains were part of the trip

i am enjoying reading about your trip and share your interest in train journeys, thanks for the write-up so far

Monday 19 Oct. Left Paris on the Thalys for Amsterdam. Robyn and I had taken the Thalys in 1997 and remember it as being very luxurious; it is now a thread bare shadow of its formal glory.

Arrived at Central Station at about 14:30 shelped our bags through the metro to Neiwmarket and down to the houseboat we rented.

This was the first time we have used the metro in the Dam, it was easy as there was metro employees all over the place explaining the new chip card, and helping old hippies with their luggage on their way.

Dropped our bags, freshened up and were off to 420 CS for a 4:20 (16:20) talk and toke. NY Diesel was our choice, ordered some drinks, and sat down looking around for some other forum posters, we found, sitting at the table next to us, Cisco, it was his “talk and toke”, Spidergawd, and another guy(m8) who had not registered on this fine forum. At another table were Socratesfriend and his friend. It turned out to be a good time talking and toking. Amsterdam is the only place in the world that this can happen, so freely and safely, I love this town! Thanks Cisco and “High” and Hello to Spidergawd and Socratesfriend. After awhile “Hungor” started to rear its ugly head and the food on the Thalys sucked, so we were off to find dinner.

Dinner was at Wing Kee 76 Zeedijk, after dinner we picked up some provisions at the Albert Hein and dropped them off at the house boat.

Coffee shop Reefer right around the corner from the house boat was our next stop. There we picked up some silver haze and temple balls, up the Dutch stairs for a smoke. We were the only ones upstairs, felt very relaxed and enjoyed the decorations; the tree made from old 5 cent guilder coins was impressive, worth a look as well as the lighting, very cool. Being stoned and relaxed we came up with another list for the Albert Hein. Not having any idea were the market is, Robyn digs deep into her memory of the city and leads us right to the market, a different one than the earlier stop, we left the ACD downloadable coffee shop map on the table at Reefer, we were stoned, sated and in our pj’s back on the house boat, when we realized that we had left our only copy of the ACD map at the Reefer. We now had to riley on dead reckoning and memory from previous trips to find the shops for the rest of our stay.

Now for a little rant about the advertising bans that the coffee shops are forced to live with. On one of our earlier trips the, then new coffee shop organization the ones with the green and white numbered cards on display, had a great map of the Centrum area with tram and bus stops as well as coffee shops for free, did I say it was a great map for tourist and it was free. I miss those little things.

Great to read your travelogue Willjay, and it was a pleasure to meet you all. Please say High to Robyn and Roger. Love to meet up again some time.

Peace