JULY 2010 - trip summary with photos
Posted: Thu 15th Jul 2010 01:51 pm
As i proudly announced a few weeks back, my girlfriend and I were heading to Amsterdam on a one way ticket, with the intention of prolonging our trip for as long as possible. Well it turns out that we came home a lot quicker than i had originally hoped. Things started out very well, with us finding a nice studio apartment for the right money which was ours for the whole summer if needed. Amazingly positioned on that side road inbetween coffeeshops little and mellow yellow. However, a combination of the whole registering your social security number process, and the only offers for work were in english and irish pubs with a 3am shift finish, meant after a while we decided to bite the bullet and come home. Yes we could have taken the bar work, and lived the dream of living in Amsterdam, but what is the point, if you lose every evening through slaving away till 3am? i could do that at home.... and i wouldnt do that at home either.
the dream is not dead though, but from now on i will be focusing on finding a more 9-5ish job that will take me over there.
However it is not all doom and gloom, the time we spent in Amsterdam was one of the best trips ive had so far. A combination of the amazing weather, and our apartments location. we spent most of our time in de pijp, albert cuyp area, vondel park, savarty park etc. Holland were in the world cup, so there was an amazing atmosphere throughout the city, and we also took the time to go to Haarlem. So many good things happened, that to write up a trip report in the usual style (day by day) would take so long, that ive decided to do this summary report, just mentioning things of note.....
you will notice some words in the report are blue/grey, these are links to photos, so click away on the words to see what im on about....
smokes of note:
Silver haze - little
this was brilliant. despite being recommend another type by the bud tender, this was the best smelling. it really was a good clean high. only issue was the bud seemed a little squashed, so it didnt fluff up amzingly in a grinder, but the overall smell taste and high made this one of my favourites. a genuine competitor against the 'super silver haze' which is so good from mellow yellow next door.
Chocolope - HGF
loved this one. it was a perfect level of brittleness, so it fell apart nicely, but was still sticky and fresh. it was recomended by the bud tender and i had to agree it was very good. nice high, not as cerebral as some, but definatly a sativa.
Laughing Bhudda - Rokerij
we were sitting in the rokerij smoking away, when we saw delivery being made to the bud counter. the guy pulled out a giant bud of something and popped it into a box. i had to ask what it was that was fresh in, and was happy to see it was the LB (a regular fav of mine). i jokingly asked to buy the whole new bud, which the bud tender weighed in front of me at 17 grams!!!! this stuff, was amazing. the freshness really showed in the high. i had a genuine boost of silly energy and we powered around the streets after this smoke laughing and making obscure comments about stuff.
Domina Haze - bushdoctor
the domina haze didnt really look as good as other options, in the cristals department, but it had a brilliant smell to it. much deeper spicier smell, so i gave it a chance. i looked at it in the microscope and there were indeed thousands of critals all over it, but they were duller and no so obvious to the naked eye in comparison to some. the smoke was decent, tasty and a definate satica, but in comparrrison to the SH and LB, it couldnt compete.
Amnesia Haze - Amnesia
this was one of the two 'orgainc' options that amnesia have. the taste was very typical haze, which i like, and the high was very haze like too, which i also like. the bud was a good peice too, ground up nicely, but was firm and slightly sticky. very nice.
Power Plant - Samenentereng
i chose this purely on the name, so bought without checking the options, as power plant is a smoke of old, that we used to enjoy. i was not disapointed. it was a deep herby smell, and it was not very crystally looking, but it was a dense green bud. and it knocked us for six! a creepy stone too, we got through the whole joint, had a cup of tea and then felt the kick as we were walking along outside. im sure there are better options out there, but i was still be happy with this batch.
AK47 - Green Place
a dissapointment. by far my favourite strain of old, which i havnt sampled in years. green place was supposed to be the place to try it too. i was so confident of it being great, that i bought it with out checking anything. what i got was a mediocre smoke, in a bag of small buds and a twig! medium mong stone too. really was gutted as i have actually waited for so long to make that purchase. i would still be tempted to try again though, next trip, but ill make sure to check the freshness and the quality.
Nepal Pollen - Katsu
i wanted to try a nepalese hash this trip, as i had so so loved them when in nepal last summer. this stuff was dark, very sticky and nicely soft and bendy, but not a touch on the stuff i got in nepal. as hashes go it was pretty good, but not being a hash smoker normally, it didnt make me want to convert. still decent enough heavy stone.
shops of note:
Little - our first time in here. this was our local shop, being a minute down the road from our accomadation. naturally the other option was mellow yellow, which was very close too, but we preferred little. we really enjoyed it here, its small and comfy. and with the world cup being on at the time, we could watch the games here on the big telly. the staff (two guys who worked there every hour its open seemingly) were nice and we got on friendly terms pretty quickly. on one occasion we walked in, and there was about 15 people in there, which meant that we couldnt squeeze through to the counter. it appeared to be a group of spanish guys and girls, who were all together, and had chosen the worst shop possible to visit en masse. ha ha. most other times, there was always sitting space and we witnessed most customers did a fly-and-buy. silver haze recomended from here!
Katsu - first time visiting this place too, we visited a few times. loved the atmosphere in here, it was lively, chatty and fun. a good crowd. decent choice of sitting options, from bar stools, sofas to outside. the menu is really decent, and the hash options seem to be fantastic. i got my only bit of hash from here. its clearly popular with locals too, and is amazingly well positioned near albert cujp and bars/cafes/resturants. the venue has real character, with postcards etc. from fans and regulars stuck on the walls and beams. Hard working, and friendly staff too.
Easy going - another first time visit. this shop in haarlem was a suprisingly good fun, mainly on account of the staff. two young guys made us feel really at home, and even gave us some notes on dutch words for milky coffee etc. the venue was very light and with no other customers it was nice and airy too. the smoking area had a good feel to it, depsite being a single square room. decent comfy seating and big tv showing the football. had a nice smoke and coffee there. there is a fantastic shoarma shop next dorr, which is a real bonus too.
Samenentereng - first time here too and the highlight of the trip! it may not be ideal for every day use, but its unique setting was fantastic. i would recommend every one experiences this place, and i'm definatly showing all first timers i bring with me there. a peice of real excentric amsterdam. we stumbled upon it accidentaly, whilst looking for rokerij 4. the outside caught our eye first as we like wasting time in jumble sale shops. we then realised it was a coffeeshop too! the old lady running the place was quality, as was her friendly cat. the place is split into 3 small levels with only two tables and tons of antiques/bric-a-brac on every surface. we were the only two customers, and had free roam of the place to browse and chat. my girlfriend bought a nice necklace for 3 euros, and i bought a gram of power plant ha ha. the music playing in the shop was really old 1940's style ballads in dutch from an old record player. what a cool experience. on asking for the power plant, i couldnt help but smile as the nice old lady, who could have passed as anyones granny, opened a drawer full of bags of ganja, and held them to the light to try and read the labels on each bag. ha ha
Homegrown fantasy - an old favourite, come here most trips. just thought i would mention it again as the service is so good here. a real pleasure to buy from here as you get honest opinions of the weed and they will let you buy two 1/2 grams of different stuff if you want as well. its so refereshing to hear a bud tender admit that some strains are not as good as they used to be (ie. the cheese). always like the venue too, light and airy, so no falling asleep. one thing though..... its just so wierd taking a piss under the black light of the toilets.... milky urine!
De kroon & prix d'ami - terrible! i dont like to be negative, and quite frankly anywhere that sells weed cant be that bad (i'd gladly have them on my high street), but when you have a choice of shops, i could never see why anyone would go to these places. music ranging from 50 cent to little john to usher. the service in de kroon was insulting, we actually left without our order as they just couldnt be bothered, and we didnt even go in to prix dami as the sight of the interior from the entrance was horrid. now i know that everything is relative and its all about personal taste, but these shops really appear to be for the type of people who think 'MTV base' music videos are aspirational.
other incidents of note:
so many good memories, just thought i would share some of the random stuff that happened.
Our trip to Haarlem was a really good day. Beautifull weather and an amazingly beautifull town. despite the shock of the horrible industiral carpark and 'not so nice end of town' feeling you are first introduced to as you walk out of the train station, when you hit the centre, my god its beautifull there. we quickly made ourselves at home with a couple of hienekens on the main square. after picking up a map, we decided to do the sightseeing walk around the town, marvelling at the architecture and revelling in the history attached to some of the buildings for a good few hours. i cant remember how, but we discovered that on certain days at 4pm, there was a free organ concert in one of the cathedrals in Haarlem. it turned out to be that today was that certain day, and the thought of hearing a huge orgain played in its proper setting was too good to miss. i was imagining a huge cresendo of noise and drama, as the organist played songs that invoked images of transylvania. My god, we couldnt have been any more wrong. the church was huge, massive inside, and all very imposing and echoy. there was myslef, and caroline, and perhaps 15 other people all of whom were over 70, spread apart over the seating area. not looking good...... now i dont want to appear ignorant, and i really do love music, and i really understand time signatures and different keys etc. but...... we sat through 30 minutes of baroque harpsichord music, which was painfull. by this time i was wanting to leave and i was making gestures to caroline that we should do so... however caroline has an accute sense of politness and woudlnt let us. (im sure the real reason was that we would have to make very obvious echoey footsteps as we walked the 100 meters to the exit. i was so bored i was willing to take the embaressment). finally, the wierd drone of the harpsichord finished, and the little man made his way (a long way) up to the organ behind us over looking the whole place. here we go!.... no. here we dont go.... another 30 minutes of droning. some of the notes were 10 seconds long for christ sake. no massive power chords, no vampire bats, just the dullest chamber music ever. one old lady couldt take it and left half way through, doing the echoey walk of shame, but we had to stay. ha ha ha still, it was one of the strangest things ive ever done. going to a catheral for a recital. after the church we walked to coffeeshop easytimes, had a nice smoke, then a nice shoarma kebab, and then we found a bar that did the local Haarlem brewed beers. an amazingly good day!
Has any one heard of the 'horse menage' in vodelstraat? i had'nt, but we were reading about it in our apartment, and caroline who loves both horses and architecture couldnt resist a visit. Vondellstraat is a particularly beautifull street, and this horse menage (which is an exceptionally stunning horse riding school) is almost hidden between the houses. the place is supposed to based on some 18th century riding school in vienna, and it looks amazing. a real old money place. we were allowed into the stables and looked at the horses (which all look the same to me), and had a beer in the poshest setting ive ever had a beer in. im a big fan of manor houses in england, and this also was a briliant place to chill in, and look at. combine this place with the fact its 50 meters away from coffeeshop tweedy, and vondell park itself, and youve got a really nice afternoon on your hands.
The world cup was in full swing whilst out there, and we got to watch the Holland v Brazil game on rembrandtsplein. We spent the build up drinking duvel in a spanish bar down on Utrechtstrasse (or something), and then headed up and picked one of the many packed bars in Rembrandtsplein to watch the game. the amazing weather and outdoor tvs meant it was easier to get a space inside than out. I absolutly love football pub days, and even though i am English and proud, i have a real soft spot for holland and the dutch, so out of respect i wore my orange chelsea shirt. We both found ourselves getting very into it, and the result was amazing, even if it was an embarrasing display of diving from both teams. We watched the first half in a noisy bar drinking beer out of tiny plastic cups (very wierd feeling... you need pints at football!), and we wathced the second half sitting outside the Bushdoctor, watching a screen form the bar next door, smoking some domina haze. To cap off the great football afternoon, we headed off closer to Leidseplein and had a pizza, sat out the front of the resturant and enjoyed all the good natured drunken partying that went past us continuosly.
This trip to the 'dam was my 20th visit, and as i said one of the best. And i forever submitted this trip to memory, by getting a tattoo. It takes me a good few years to commit to getting a tattoo, and i have had my heart set on this one, for a long time. recently when i knew i was getting it, i decided to put it off untill in Amsterdam, as it would be very special to get it done there. I got a nice looking weed leaf inside of my left Ankle, in the style of the Chelsea lion on my other leg, black with shading. If anyone is considering getting any ink done, then i can recommend this place. its called 'derma donna' and its on the same road as green place and basjoe. infact its inbetween the two shops. the consultation was nice and they suggested things and so did i, and left me feeling confident, and the actual finsihed tattoo is excellent.
I also had decided that on this visit, i wanted to make (or begin to make) a photo encyclopedia of amsterdams coffeeshops. I managed to take photos of 89 different shops, and in future trips, i will visit and photograph more, to get the full set. I cant praise my girlfriend enough for letting me do this. she knows its a passion i have and happily followed me as we power marched across the city on a mission to take pictures. i have put all the photos i took of the shops in a photo slideshow to music on youtube which you can see here --->C.S.S Coffeeshop photo tour
Other Photos:
Amsterdam canal
Jack flash in the Cannabis College
Dutch Bikes
Haarlem Windmill
Snails for dinner
Mentalist on a canal
phew, that was quite a bit of typing/formatting.... there you go. hope you enjoed it.
the dream is not dead though, but from now on i will be focusing on finding a more 9-5ish job that will take me over there.
However it is not all doom and gloom, the time we spent in Amsterdam was one of the best trips ive had so far. A combination of the amazing weather, and our apartments location. we spent most of our time in de pijp, albert cuyp area, vondel park, savarty park etc. Holland were in the world cup, so there was an amazing atmosphere throughout the city, and we also took the time to go to Haarlem. So many good things happened, that to write up a trip report in the usual style (day by day) would take so long, that ive decided to do this summary report, just mentioning things of note.....
you will notice some words in the report are blue/grey, these are links to photos, so click away on the words to see what im on about....
smokes of note:
Silver haze - little
this was brilliant. despite being recommend another type by the bud tender, this was the best smelling. it really was a good clean high. only issue was the bud seemed a little squashed, so it didnt fluff up amzingly in a grinder, but the overall smell taste and high made this one of my favourites. a genuine competitor against the 'super silver haze' which is so good from mellow yellow next door.
Chocolope - HGF
loved this one. it was a perfect level of brittleness, so it fell apart nicely, but was still sticky and fresh. it was recomended by the bud tender and i had to agree it was very good. nice high, not as cerebral as some, but definatly a sativa.
Laughing Bhudda - Rokerij
we were sitting in the rokerij smoking away, when we saw delivery being made to the bud counter. the guy pulled out a giant bud of something and popped it into a box. i had to ask what it was that was fresh in, and was happy to see it was the LB (a regular fav of mine). i jokingly asked to buy the whole new bud, which the bud tender weighed in front of me at 17 grams!!!! this stuff, was amazing. the freshness really showed in the high. i had a genuine boost of silly energy and we powered around the streets after this smoke laughing and making obscure comments about stuff.
Domina Haze - bushdoctor
the domina haze didnt really look as good as other options, in the cristals department, but it had a brilliant smell to it. much deeper spicier smell, so i gave it a chance. i looked at it in the microscope and there were indeed thousands of critals all over it, but they were duller and no so obvious to the naked eye in comparison to some. the smoke was decent, tasty and a definate satica, but in comparrrison to the SH and LB, it couldnt compete.
Amnesia Haze - Amnesia
this was one of the two 'orgainc' options that amnesia have. the taste was very typical haze, which i like, and the high was very haze like too, which i also like. the bud was a good peice too, ground up nicely, but was firm and slightly sticky. very nice.
Power Plant - Samenentereng
i chose this purely on the name, so bought without checking the options, as power plant is a smoke of old, that we used to enjoy. i was not disapointed. it was a deep herby smell, and it was not very crystally looking, but it was a dense green bud. and it knocked us for six! a creepy stone too, we got through the whole joint, had a cup of tea and then felt the kick as we were walking along outside. im sure there are better options out there, but i was still be happy with this batch.
AK47 - Green Place
a dissapointment. by far my favourite strain of old, which i havnt sampled in years. green place was supposed to be the place to try it too. i was so confident of it being great, that i bought it with out checking anything. what i got was a mediocre smoke, in a bag of small buds and a twig! medium mong stone too. really was gutted as i have actually waited for so long to make that purchase. i would still be tempted to try again though, next trip, but ill make sure to check the freshness and the quality.
Nepal Pollen - Katsu
i wanted to try a nepalese hash this trip, as i had so so loved them when in nepal last summer. this stuff was dark, very sticky and nicely soft and bendy, but not a touch on the stuff i got in nepal. as hashes go it was pretty good, but not being a hash smoker normally, it didnt make me want to convert. still decent enough heavy stone.
shops of note:
Little - our first time in here. this was our local shop, being a minute down the road from our accomadation. naturally the other option was mellow yellow, which was very close too, but we preferred little. we really enjoyed it here, its small and comfy. and with the world cup being on at the time, we could watch the games here on the big telly. the staff (two guys who worked there every hour its open seemingly) were nice and we got on friendly terms pretty quickly. on one occasion we walked in, and there was about 15 people in there, which meant that we couldnt squeeze through to the counter. it appeared to be a group of spanish guys and girls, who were all together, and had chosen the worst shop possible to visit en masse. ha ha. most other times, there was always sitting space and we witnessed most customers did a fly-and-buy. silver haze recomended from here!
Katsu - first time visiting this place too, we visited a few times. loved the atmosphere in here, it was lively, chatty and fun. a good crowd. decent choice of sitting options, from bar stools, sofas to outside. the menu is really decent, and the hash options seem to be fantastic. i got my only bit of hash from here. its clearly popular with locals too, and is amazingly well positioned near albert cujp and bars/cafes/resturants. the venue has real character, with postcards etc. from fans and regulars stuck on the walls and beams. Hard working, and friendly staff too.
Easy going - another first time visit. this shop in haarlem was a suprisingly good fun, mainly on account of the staff. two young guys made us feel really at home, and even gave us some notes on dutch words for milky coffee etc. the venue was very light and with no other customers it was nice and airy too. the smoking area had a good feel to it, depsite being a single square room. decent comfy seating and big tv showing the football. had a nice smoke and coffee there. there is a fantastic shoarma shop next dorr, which is a real bonus too.
Samenentereng - first time here too and the highlight of the trip! it may not be ideal for every day use, but its unique setting was fantastic. i would recommend every one experiences this place, and i'm definatly showing all first timers i bring with me there. a peice of real excentric amsterdam. we stumbled upon it accidentaly, whilst looking for rokerij 4. the outside caught our eye first as we like wasting time in jumble sale shops. we then realised it was a coffeeshop too! the old lady running the place was quality, as was her friendly cat. the place is split into 3 small levels with only two tables and tons of antiques/bric-a-brac on every surface. we were the only two customers, and had free roam of the place to browse and chat. my girlfriend bought a nice necklace for 3 euros, and i bought a gram of power plant ha ha. the music playing in the shop was really old 1940's style ballads in dutch from an old record player. what a cool experience. on asking for the power plant, i couldnt help but smile as the nice old lady, who could have passed as anyones granny, opened a drawer full of bags of ganja, and held them to the light to try and read the labels on each bag. ha ha
Homegrown fantasy - an old favourite, come here most trips. just thought i would mention it again as the service is so good here. a real pleasure to buy from here as you get honest opinions of the weed and they will let you buy two 1/2 grams of different stuff if you want as well. its so refereshing to hear a bud tender admit that some strains are not as good as they used to be (ie. the cheese). always like the venue too, light and airy, so no falling asleep. one thing though..... its just so wierd taking a piss under the black light of the toilets.... milky urine!
De kroon & prix d'ami - terrible! i dont like to be negative, and quite frankly anywhere that sells weed cant be that bad (i'd gladly have them on my high street), but when you have a choice of shops, i could never see why anyone would go to these places. music ranging from 50 cent to little john to usher. the service in de kroon was insulting, we actually left without our order as they just couldnt be bothered, and we didnt even go in to prix dami as the sight of the interior from the entrance was horrid. now i know that everything is relative and its all about personal taste, but these shops really appear to be for the type of people who think 'MTV base' music videos are aspirational.
other incidents of note:
so many good memories, just thought i would share some of the random stuff that happened.
Our trip to Haarlem was a really good day. Beautifull weather and an amazingly beautifull town. despite the shock of the horrible industiral carpark and 'not so nice end of town' feeling you are first introduced to as you walk out of the train station, when you hit the centre, my god its beautifull there. we quickly made ourselves at home with a couple of hienekens on the main square. after picking up a map, we decided to do the sightseeing walk around the town, marvelling at the architecture and revelling in the history attached to some of the buildings for a good few hours. i cant remember how, but we discovered that on certain days at 4pm, there was a free organ concert in one of the cathedrals in Haarlem. it turned out to be that today was that certain day, and the thought of hearing a huge orgain played in its proper setting was too good to miss. i was imagining a huge cresendo of noise and drama, as the organist played songs that invoked images of transylvania. My god, we couldnt have been any more wrong. the church was huge, massive inside, and all very imposing and echoy. there was myslef, and caroline, and perhaps 15 other people all of whom were over 70, spread apart over the seating area. not looking good...... now i dont want to appear ignorant, and i really do love music, and i really understand time signatures and different keys etc. but...... we sat through 30 minutes of baroque harpsichord music, which was painfull. by this time i was wanting to leave and i was making gestures to caroline that we should do so... however caroline has an accute sense of politness and woudlnt let us. (im sure the real reason was that we would have to make very obvious echoey footsteps as we walked the 100 meters to the exit. i was so bored i was willing to take the embaressment). finally, the wierd drone of the harpsichord finished, and the little man made his way (a long way) up to the organ behind us over looking the whole place. here we go!.... no. here we dont go.... another 30 minutes of droning. some of the notes were 10 seconds long for christ sake. no massive power chords, no vampire bats, just the dullest chamber music ever. one old lady couldt take it and left half way through, doing the echoey walk of shame, but we had to stay. ha ha ha still, it was one of the strangest things ive ever done. going to a catheral for a recital. after the church we walked to coffeeshop easytimes, had a nice smoke, then a nice shoarma kebab, and then we found a bar that did the local Haarlem brewed beers. an amazingly good day!
Has any one heard of the 'horse menage' in vodelstraat? i had'nt, but we were reading about it in our apartment, and caroline who loves both horses and architecture couldnt resist a visit. Vondellstraat is a particularly beautifull street, and this horse menage (which is an exceptionally stunning horse riding school) is almost hidden between the houses. the place is supposed to based on some 18th century riding school in vienna, and it looks amazing. a real old money place. we were allowed into the stables and looked at the horses (which all look the same to me), and had a beer in the poshest setting ive ever had a beer in. im a big fan of manor houses in england, and this also was a briliant place to chill in, and look at. combine this place with the fact its 50 meters away from coffeeshop tweedy, and vondell park itself, and youve got a really nice afternoon on your hands.
The world cup was in full swing whilst out there, and we got to watch the Holland v Brazil game on rembrandtsplein. We spent the build up drinking duvel in a spanish bar down on Utrechtstrasse (or something), and then headed up and picked one of the many packed bars in Rembrandtsplein to watch the game. the amazing weather and outdoor tvs meant it was easier to get a space inside than out. I absolutly love football pub days, and even though i am English and proud, i have a real soft spot for holland and the dutch, so out of respect i wore my orange chelsea shirt. We both found ourselves getting very into it, and the result was amazing, even if it was an embarrasing display of diving from both teams. We watched the first half in a noisy bar drinking beer out of tiny plastic cups (very wierd feeling... you need pints at football!), and we wathced the second half sitting outside the Bushdoctor, watching a screen form the bar next door, smoking some domina haze. To cap off the great football afternoon, we headed off closer to Leidseplein and had a pizza, sat out the front of the resturant and enjoyed all the good natured drunken partying that went past us continuosly.
This trip to the 'dam was my 20th visit, and as i said one of the best. And i forever submitted this trip to memory, by getting a tattoo. It takes me a good few years to commit to getting a tattoo, and i have had my heart set on this one, for a long time. recently when i knew i was getting it, i decided to put it off untill in Amsterdam, as it would be very special to get it done there. I got a nice looking weed leaf inside of my left Ankle, in the style of the Chelsea lion on my other leg, black with shading. If anyone is considering getting any ink done, then i can recommend this place. its called 'derma donna' and its on the same road as green place and basjoe. infact its inbetween the two shops. the consultation was nice and they suggested things and so did i, and left me feeling confident, and the actual finsihed tattoo is excellent.
I also had decided that on this visit, i wanted to make (or begin to make) a photo encyclopedia of amsterdams coffeeshops. I managed to take photos of 89 different shops, and in future trips, i will visit and photograph more, to get the full set. I cant praise my girlfriend enough for letting me do this. she knows its a passion i have and happily followed me as we power marched across the city on a mission to take pictures. i have put all the photos i took of the shops in a photo slideshow to music on youtube which you can see here --->C.S.S Coffeeshop photo tour
Other Photos:
Amsterdam canal
Jack flash in the Cannabis College
Dutch Bikes
Haarlem Windmill
Snails for dinner
Mentalist on a canal
phew, that was quite a bit of typing/formatting.... there you go. hope you enjoed it.
. Top pics also. 
