Didn't go to the Dam (went The Hague, Delft, Haarlem).

[archambaut]

Did i) - boring, apart from picking up a 1/2 pint of black Douwe Egberts at
the station kiosk. Head back toward town and the Malieveld. From the main road
this looks liek a large pond with trees behind. Wander in to the park and
walk a few meters and you see an enclosure. The park was pratty quiet beyond
the entrance, so I torch up a j and walk 200m or so to a bench.

Contemplate the wierd looking goats as I have black coffee and power plant for
breakfast:



'Tourists..'

I haven't seen deer this unfazed by humans since the time I was stared out at
ten paces by a muntjac in my local woods.

Finish the j, and chew a cereal bar to quell the munchies. I realise I need to
restock with HighAA Stonerade, so need to add Albert Hejn to my list too.

Hop on the tram to the Buitenhof, and wander toward the church initially,
then start looking for an Albert Hejn, in a generally non-systematic way,
getting distracted by architecture. This part of town seems to be different
again in terms of style, maybe 19th century?






Carried on wandering toward 'Chinatown' (well WagenStraat), and chance upon
an AH, so pick up supplies.

[archambaut]

Resumed aimless wandering around what seems to be the main part of town, some
real nice buildings here, but also lots of people and bikes ( I think I got
shouted at by some cyclists for being in the way, but was too stoned to
realise until they'd shot by).




A bit more wandering and I find myself back at the church. I guess I must have
one leg longer than the other, cos I certainly hadn't planned a circular walk.

Well, at least was the right place to be for Koffee en Dromen, which is on the
street running off the southern edge of the square. However, I needed to eat
and sit, so for the first and last time consulted my Lonely Planet guide,which
indicated a decent and good value eitcafe just under the church south wall.
Look across, that one? OK, cool, lets go for it.

[archambaut]

Order my brunch: espresso for the wait, omelette and black tea to follow.
I think this might make a good benchmark meal for eitcafes.

(I used to do a similar thing in the UK for pub grub. My benchmark meal
being a cheese ploughmans - almost always offered, almost impossible to
screw up badly and a good one (pukka cheese, pickles, salad and bread) is
the biz).

Got the lot for about 8E, so can't complain, and it was pretty good. They
brought the tea in a funky glass, it looks like a tumbler but it's hollow
like a thermos, so you can watch your tea brew and not worry about it
getting cold.

Blinder:



'Den Haag: the fun just never stops'


Suitably replete I check the time - 2:30, time to hit Koffee en Dromen,
then head for the beach.

[archambaut]

Koffee en Dromen is about 100m or so along Westeinde, running off the southern
end of the church square. It's pretty difficult to miss as there ain't much
else down that way, and based on the ACD reviews, I had high hopes for it.

It's quite a tiny place, bar to right of door, a few tables and a bar seating
area at the back. Look at the menu, and ask for something mild. The girl
serving points at something called dynamite, then above at diesel (that's a
bit stronger). I ask for dynamite(8.50E), and also one gram of caramello (or
cremarello) at 11E. I had no odea what the hash was, but I guessed it
might be some kind of manali cream or other charas thing.
Anyhoo, the shop was busy, so I ordered a espresso, and sat
down to roll one of each.

The place definitely had a convivial atmosphere, although I couldn't stay long
and didn't really speak, I noticed a steady stream of locals (clearly
regulars) both young and old. Even though the chairs weren't too comfy, I
would have liked to stay if I had had more time.
Just my luck to find a decent sit down place on the last day....more incentive
to return.

Anyway, the dynamite looked fairly standard crystally indica/sat hybrid. The
caramello was very sticky and had a nice smell and crumbled with barely any
heat. Knocked back the espresso, and went out, got a pleasant goodbye wave
from the staff and headed back to the Buitenhof to catch a 24 tram to Kijkdiun.



K+D Dynamite




K+D caramello/cremarello

[archambaut]

Looking at it there, maybe it's just some superior Moroccan - anybody who knows for sure?

[archambaut]

On the way to the tram stop on Spui, I am yet again ambushed by more public
art. This time it is a half dozen city centre sandcastles wit bas relief on
them, so obviously I had to stop and snap:



'Coolsville'

I guess if you're an artist in Den Haag, there's plenty of work.

Still, it made me even later, as I finally approached the tram stop I saw a bus
24, heading for Kijkduin. Ok,so it's a bus, this may take some time....which
is fine, as I'm baked enough, but it also means I'll need to factor that in
for the way back.

[archambaut]

Kijkduin is the beach at the southern end of town, and the one favoured by the
locals. Far more subdued than Scheveningen, there is a cluster of shops near
the bus stop, a small walkway across the dunes, and then a long flight of steps
down to the beach. From the top of the dunes I had spied a spot with at least
a 100m gap between bathers, such that I could fit in with 50m of clear wind
space between me and them.
It was a roughly 250m trudge through the sand past a beach cafe.

Now, at some point (not sure when) either before catching the bus, or as I
trudged along the beach, I had smoked up the polm (or double zero) j I had
hastily rolled that morning. (Impressive recall by now, huh).

Well, whatever, or when ever, by the time I got to my target spot I was
cream crackered. with sore feet and aching back.

Paused a few mins to take in the view, rehydrate and sugar up:



'Kijkduin - looking north'

This is my kind of beach



'Kijkduin - looking south'

See those cranes on the horizon - part of Rotterdam Europoort

Notice the absence of crowds of people, and tacky seaside retail outlets.

[archambaut]

Having caught my breath, I decide there is only one place for my feet, in that
water. So shoes and socks off, jeans rolled up and head to the shore. I step up
close enough that the breaking waves cover my ankles and oooooooooooh, nirvana(for feet anyways).

I know I looked like a total pillock, standing there in the water, with my rucksack,
and trainers knotted together hanging down, but I really didn't care, this was
the biz. I stood there a good five minutes until the steam stopped rising at
least. Then headed back up to my spot for a j and some sun.


Chose the caramello, which was lovely, nice and smooth, no harsh taste, and
fitted that moment in the sun with the breeze skimming over me just perfectly.
Could have stayed there till sundown - a nice way to finish things up.

Chilled out a good while there, letting the sun and wind dry my feet, then
carefully removing every last grain of sand (still a lot of yomping to do).

Put shoes back on, emptied bag of rubbish, and collected all my butt ends and
stuff - I really didn't want to leave any mess here, and slowly got ready for
the walk back to the bus. It's now 5pm, so the bus should have me at Centraal
Station by 6 - plenty of time.

Torch up the dynamite, but by the time I make it to the litter bins, I've
realised how bad I am from the previous j, so I bin it, and huff and puff my
way back to the bus stop.

And that's pretty much it, a long ride to the station, pick up bag, jump
on train, change at Rotterdam - not sure if I'm imagining things, but I'm sure
I'm getting funny looks from folks. Maybe I caught the sun a but, or I'm
really stoned looking.
As I board the train for Hoek van Holland, a couple of teenage girls start
giggling, and the woman opposite whom I sit looks at me in a slightly odd
way too.
When we pull out of the station, I realise why - basically I had forgotten
to roll down one leg of my jeans, so I've just gone all the way
from Kijkduin to Rotterdam via Den Haag with one leg up, one down.

DOH.

And that is pretty much it.

[Rufus]

As I board the train for Hoek van Holland, a couple of teenage girls start
giggling, and the woman opposite whom I sit looks at me in a slightly odd
way too.
When we pull out of the station, I realise why - basically I had forgotten
to roll down one leg of my jeans, so I've just gone all the way
from Kijkduin to Rotterdam via Den Haag with one leg up, one down

Excellent quality Arch, I have found the whole thread, interesting and hilarious at the same time, there are soooo many things I can relate to, like the incident above, except mine didn't involve a rolled up trouser leg !!!
Please visit again soon and continue the writing of these fab reports

[Cisco]

Thanks for the great report , its certainly makin me want to check out more of the country

[Willjay]

The h#ll with the work, it was fun reading your report, I enjoy travel throughout the Netherlands. There is so much to see in just an hour or two from anywhere you are in Holland.

[Dave near London]

Brilliant report - makes me plan my little excursion in September like this , been stoned in Vlissingen and Groningen , so appeciate the experience - whcih is probably better than Amsterdam as you get a better feel for the country and the loclaity. Top class report (plus the ferry is so civilised)

[archambaut]

Once again, thanks for all the appreciative comments. Bill Bryson I am not,
but at least it kept you all entertained.

A three and a half day vitamin T binge is like having a solar eclipse pass
across the memory so I'm glad I made the effort to do this, as it forced me
to piece together my vague recollections and really enjoy again what I saw and
did (and thank god for digital cameras and their time stamps).


Now I know the score with CS and Holland, I guess that 20/20 hindsight should
let me list out a few things I got wrong, or could do better next time:

i) obviously, don't get totally shitfaced before you've found your hotel and
checked in.

ii) book well in advance. I paid a premium for my hotel room, which whilst
nice and having the bonus of a private garden, was quite pricey. Had I booked
further in advance/out of season/shopped around, I could have had more money
for fun stuff.


iii) transport.
Again, not helped by the spontaneous choice to go in August.

Of the other options, flying wouldn't be that much cheaper (and I have a big
downer on flying since Bush II started the War on Tourism).

The 11 hour each way coach trip looks gruelling, and has bad arr. and dep.
times on the far side, so would require different logistics. It is alarmingly
cheap and may be an option for a longer (1 week +) stay.

iv) time.

I reckon I could have filled up the whole time in Den Haag, with a short trip
to Delft and still not seen all I wanted to. Haarlem needed more time too.
I had also had Leiden and Den Helder/Texel on the list, and didn't get close.

Also, I didn't sample as many CS as I would have liked, so next trip will be
better planned, with fewer targets, but more time spent on each.

The main problem seemed to be camera + dope + loads of ace stuff lying around in
town = time plan snafus. So I just need to try and do less, and allow more
time for it.


Worst CS visited were the Willie Wortel's (I'm afraid), best was Koffe en
Dromen, mainly due to the atmosphere, though marks for fair play have to go
to de Vlouw on Delft.

Best grass: Blue and White Power Plant, de Vlouw Thai and The Crow Utopia Haze.
'Worst' K+D Dynamite (it wasn't, but then I asked for mild).

Best hash: K+D Caramello for chilling, The Crow Super Polm for walking about.
'Worst' WW Sensi Primero Bullit and WWSat Temple Balls - both nasty tasting.

Can't say I was too disappointed with the effects of any, other than
the Dynamite.



Still, now I have had a taste of the place, I can't help feeling I'll be back
soon - I have the time and inclination just now, so watch this space...

Laters

Arch