Friday, 01 December 2006
Didn't get started until 11:30 downstairs at Rookies. I don't know why, but on this trip I seemed to be unable to stay up late for some reason. I slept past breakfast most days but still wanted to be asleep well before midnight. And that's unusual for me. I'm usually up well past midnight, and if in the Leidseplein area closing the bar at Rookies then up the street to Jazz Cafe Alto where they are open until 03:00 on weeknights and 04:00 on Fri-Sat.
My best guess (aside from Lesley hammering us the night before with tequila and Jagermeister :-) is I smoked almost all Indica on this trip. I kept some Sativa around for a wake-me-up, but that's the reverse of what I normally do. It's usually the best Sativas I can find for good energy all day and night while I'm cruising the city (and you know I love to keep moving, no way I'll waste an afternoon in a coffeeshop unless I have a window seat and it's raining a lot).
We vaped up some of the Power Plant/White Widow cross (PP#1) at Rookies over coffee and juice. TC (travelling companion) pulled out a pipe still loaded with Rookies Polm.
Over to Het Ballonetie. It took me about a half hour to figure out Tram 6 doesn't exist any more. If it did, we could have ridden straight up Roeterstraat to the UVA and there it is. So we rode out Sarphatistraat and got off the stop after passing Roeterstraat and walked a couple hundred meters. You could get off the stop before and walk about the same distance.
I bought a gram of Haze/Diesel, TC bought 2 grams of AK-47 at Ballonetie. The Haze/Diesel was one of favorite smokes of the trip, sweet and fruity, nice clear high with a very euphoric buzz.
The three of us went upstairs at Ballonetie and the trip back down is everything it is claimed to be. Wow. Upstairs, we talked with a young German fellow who spoke so low we could barely hear him. His English was good enough (a hell of a lot better than my German :-), and I wanted to converse with him, but he was a Low Talker. Just like the Low Talker that put Jerry Seinfeld on television with the pirate shirt. If you're a Seinfeld watcher, you know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, this German was Low Talker Incarnate. We got on for a short while, then he stumbled down the steps.
I really really really really really really like this place. It is absolutely worth the effort to get there, and explore the east side while you're at it. It is not that far of a walk from Bluebird. Otherwise take the tram, you lazy plonker :-)
https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/Ballonnetje.html
Here are a couple of shots of the Green Free (Groen Vrij) political party poster:
Over to Artis Zoo and such on the east side after that. This was my first adventure over there and I will definitely be going back. There is a killer LP shop on the street that runs north and south on the west end of Artis Zoo. TC wished he spent more time in there so we'll be going back. We cruised the neighborhood a bit to get a feel. Here's a typical street:
More or less opposite the botanical garden is a bar/cafe. We stopped there for about an hour for beers and coffee, this around 14:30 on a cool cloudy day. The above photo was taken just around the corner from that bar.
What an ingenious way to move furniture in and out of buildings without lifts or a proper stairway:
Walking west, up Plantage Middlelaan and onto Joedenbreestraat, we turned north to the Nieuw Market then again east directly to Stix. I much prefer this Stix to it's sister shop on Utrectsestraat. I bought a gram of Gunpowder, TC bought a gram of Nepalese Temple Ball, and I loaded some hot chocolate with the Gunpowder. Mmmmmm, body buzz.......
The Temple Ball was stunning, and we were well smashed so I thought the best course of action was to check out Bluebird, a short distance away.
I picked up Blueberry, 1g of Buddah's Sister (Soma) and 1g of Bubblegum/NL. Really, I can't say much for the Blueberry and BG/NL, but the Buddah's Sister is a knock out stone. Whew.
We then made our way to Nes at around 17:00 and caught up with DC there. TC bought 3g Pine Haze and gram of Stella Blue.
Epsilon: THANK YOU FOR THE CDs.
I signed the book, we talked to DC a while, and made it over to Voetboogstraat for some chips exactly at closing time.
Then around Prinsengracht to La Tertulia, more Gunpowder in hot chocolate with black coffee and juice for the others. We departed there about 18:20, then made our way around Singel to the Bulldog Rock Shop to meet Les. He didn't show. The Rock Shop was the first CS I ever stumbled into, and I got to know several of the good people working there including the manager Raymond, and Les of course. So agreed to meet there for dinner but Les didn't show. No problem, just go up Nieuwendijk to a particular Shoarma place where the night time guy knows me. He sees me walking up the street and waves at me now. So we had our shoarmas and chips, and about 22:30 headed back to Rookies for some beers, a few glasses of wine for Mrs. Lafe, some of that nice Temple Ball and whatever else was around. Thank you, good night.
