May 15-19

geoffk · Post by **geoffk** » Fri 30th May 2008 08:46 pm

We've had a crazy couple of weeks prior to our trip. We bought a condo and had a death in the family. Due to this stress we tried to relax as much as possible and slept in quite a bit. Ended up smoking quite a bit less than usual, but I was more critical and could notice the subtle effects of the different strains. I'll have to revise this report when I can get to my notes, but here is the short list:

KATSU
A really mellow shop with a knowledgeable budtender.

Cheese-the first smoke of the trip, excellent smell and good flavor. I love that cheese stone. Very relaxing.

Black Widow-sweet smell and more sativa high than I had guessed. The menu said "Brutal", so I took that as a challenge

. Tasted great and the high was potent. I smoked this at the Ween show at Paradiso. Left me with a case of the "dum dums"

CLUB MEDIA
At first I thought this shop was a little too bright, but this ended up being our overall favorite. I normally don't care much for watching TV at coffeeshops, but enjoyed the motor bike races while having a coffee and joint. I also liked the mix of hip hop, R&B and reggae. Best coffee of the trip too.

Hindu Kush-all Indica baby! I felt like I had smoked some opium (which I have before) after smoking this. Perfect for the end of the day or a long nite of sex. Not much flavor or taste though.

Silver Haze-hazy and spicy tasting with a nice up high. Not the strongest though. Seemed a fair deal at 1.4 grams for 11 Euro I think.

MELLOW YELLOW
I just dropped by to pick up some SSH and Cheeze, as I had originally bought it for my wife, but smoked it all myself

Cheeze-a little more crystal covered than the Katsu. No difference in strength. Tasted better in a joint, but I can't really compare fairly as I used Clubs to roll the MY Cheeze.

Super Silver Haze-we have a winner! This was by far my favorite of the trip. Perfectly cured and beautiful. Slightly sweet smelling too. The high was strong and lasted a long, long time. No burnout either. I'd love to have more of this.

ROKERIJ
This place seems to be more packed every time I visit.

Sour Diesel-I asked the budtender for some Kali Mist. "I wish" was all he said and pulled out a tub of Laughing Buddha. I took a whiff, but wasn't moved to try it. I asked for some Sour Diesel and he pulled out a tub. Lemons was the first thought that came to mind when I smelled it. I bought a gram. Very nice smell, but I didn't seem to come through so much in the taste. I liked the effect though, I smoked it at Greenhouse Namaste before a trip to the Hortus. I didn't knock me out, but had me feeling a little of the sativa and a little indica. Nice mental high.

I'll try to get some pics up as soon as I can. Thanks to sh@dy and Puffin for the tip on SSH at MY

Puffin13 · Post by **Puffin13** » Sat 31st May 2008 07:18 am

Sorry to hear about the death in the family.

Great report though, geoffk! Sounds like you had a smokin good time. Glad you got to sample some of the SSH. That's some really good herb. I need to go and try some of that opium herb...err...I mean Black Widow.

Sounds awesome. Thanks. Peace.

Szyslack · Post by **Szyslack** » Sat 31st May 2008 08:17 am

Nice in-depth write up. Seems like Club Media is going on the list for early July..

Twichaldinho · Post by **Twichaldinho** » Sat 31st May 2008 12:04 pm

thanks for sharing man, just what I needed before I travel on wednesday.

* note to me, must go to Katsu and Media*

geoffk · Post by **geoffk** » Sun 1st Jun 2008 05:41 am

Thanks folks. We stayed at a Citymundo apartment in De Pijp, and I really liked this neighborhood. I've always liked hanging out in Jordaan, but it's so damn yuppified. It was nice to hang in a "regular folks" part of town, if that makes sense. Katsu and Club Media were very close. Mellow Yellow was also not too far. Having our own kitchen made eating pretty cheap. Groceries in Amsterdam are far cheaper than they are where I live, and we ate mostly organic (bio). I couldn't get over just how cheap it was. Paris is another story. I did find a new snack favorite while out: tandori pizza!

I only needed the map to find Club Media, as it didn't look at all like the pic. I should've taken one. It was in a pretty non-descript building with only the name in white on a glass window. Seemed like mostly young locals. I guess I assumed this because I heard mostly Dutch spoken. They have two rooms, one with a small pool table.

Katsu is very easy to find; if you are walking west to east through the bazaar, turn right on the pedestrian only street. Crazy looking building with a big logo. Not very big, but a good mix of people. Mostly classic and '80s rock playing. Heard some stuff I hadn't heard for a while. We did have an odd thing happen though; my wife and I were playing a word tile game (like Scrabble) at the large communal table in the front and I forgot my lighter, so I asked a guy sitting across from me if I could borrow his. He said "no". I was kinda taken aback. The only time I've had this happen, I thought maybe he didn't understand me so I asked again; "no". Never did figure that one out.

I used to love hanging at Rokerij, but it gets so damned crowded that it's not fun anymore. Oh well, on to greener pastures. I did like the Sour D. The only downside is it didn't taste as good as it smelled. Maybe it would've been better vaped.

We did stop in Greenhouse Namaste to smoke some we brought as we were on our way to the Hortus. I hadn't been since 2000. I'm sure you all know about the entry gate. It also seemed much smaller. They were playing some kinda Daft Punk sounding tunes which I didn't much care for. It just didn't suit me for my first spliff of the day.

I only dropped in to Mellow Yellow to buy and fly while my wife was sleeping. It seemed like a really nice shop with plenty of room. There was a group of people sitting to the right of the door chatting and the place had a good vibe. I'll be hanging there for sure on my next trip.

We also stopped into Reefer to smoke the remainder of my 1.4 gram bag of Silver Haze and have a cuppa. Seemed like a nice little place in a good spot for people watching. They did have a tip jar at the counter which was kinda a turn off.

Black Widow

Cheese from Katsu

Super Silver Haze

I'll try and get some non-weed pics up as soon as I can.

Valo · Post by **Valo** » Sun 1st Jun 2008 02:09 pm

Nice report...glad you had a good time. I'm happy to see the Black Widow is still on the menu - i had this last summer and was very impressed by it back then.

A bit odd about the 'lighter' guy...I can only guess the last time he lent someone a lighter that he never got it back. Or else he's just a tight ass!

I not been to Mellow Yellow for about 3 years, before the owners of the Noon took it over. I enjoyed it then so surprised I never made it back, will for sure make an effort next time though as I heard some great reviews of both the smoke and the atmosphere recently.

geoffk · Post by **geoffk** » Sun 1st Jun 2008 05:24 pm

cheese · Post by **cheese** » Sun 1st Jun 2008 07:27 pm

awesome report man!!!

really enjoyed reading that. i also really enjoyed mellow yellow.. the seating at the front is quite nice and they also have a room up behind the budtender. its very spacious and has a pinball machine as well.

cheers dude!

geoffk · Post by **geoffk** » Sun 1st Jun 2008 10:55 pm

MUSIC, CULTURE & BIER:
This being my wife's first time we hit the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum. Unfortunately only a small portion was open in the Rijksmuseum, but maybe this wasn't too bad as we were off to Paris for 6 nites, and too many museums can burn ya out. We also hit the Allard Pierson museum and the Hortus Botanicus. The Hortus was the highlight museum/site of the trip. Very cool, and as the weather was cold and rainy we could warm up in the 7 greenhouses. We walked into the butterfly house and both of us thought they were piping in some kinda ambient music. Turns out it was the concrete floor slabs vibrating at different tones. I'll blame that one on the Sour D

The Allard Pierson museum was cool, but would have been cooler if we weren't off to the Louvre. We skimmed through most of the stuff, and found the Coptic section the most interesting.

I had my virgin experience at the Paradiso. I swear Amsterdam is one of the best places for a concert. I'd been to the Melkweg, but never Paradiso. It was much bigger than I had expected. We were on the mid balcony level which luckily had chairs, which I needed after the Black Widow. I had always thought of Ween as a novelty band, but I was blown away by their ability to rock out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ9a8rYYOVY

Another bonus about De Pijp is the location of a Gollem in the neighborhood. Excellent choice of beers. I actually drank less on this trip than any other, maybe that's why I could differentiate the weed strains. But I would recommend this pub.

Bollo · Post by **Bollo** » Mon 2nd Jun 2008 01:13 am

cheers for that, great read! Looking forward to trying the black widow.

Puffin13 · Post by **Puffin13** » Mon 2nd Jun 2008 04:26 am

geoffk wrote:I only dropped in to Mellow Yellow to buy and fly while my wife was sleeping. It seemed like a really nice shop with plenty of room. There was a group of people sitting to the right of the door chatting and the place had a good vibe. I'll be hanging there for sure on my next trip.

I'm one of the ones that sits in the window seat, to the right of the door at MY; usually in the mornings. Next time you're at MY, ask the bud tender if I am there. Be happy to share a joke n smoke with you, geoffk.

Peace.

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Mon 2nd Jun 2008 12:50 pm

Thanks for the reports Geoff - Hope Paris is as much fun for you...Kinda thinking MY might be our first stop next Monday. Close to Hotel and (am I right ? ) opens at 9 ...

geoffk · Post by **geoffk** » Mon 2nd Jun 2008 12:57 pm

Puffin13 wrote:
geoffk wrote:I only dropped in to Mellow Yellow to buy and fly while my wife was sleeping. It seemed like a really nice shop with plenty of room. There was a group of people sitting to the right of the door chatting and the place had a good vibe. I'll be hanging there for sure on my next trip.
I'm one of the ones that sits in the window seat, to the right of the door at MY; usually in the mornings. Next time you're at MY, ask the bud tender if I am there. Be happy to share a joke n smoke with you, geoffk. Peace.

You got it.

Valo · Post by **Valo** » Mon 2nd Jun 2008 07:01 pm

geoffk wrote:MUSIC, CULTURE & BIER:Unfortunately only a small portion was open in the Rijksmuseum,

It seems like the Rijksmuseum has not been fully open for at least 18 months now. My friends I went with in January 2007 were saying the same thing as you back then.

Sounds like a good trip though. Thanks for posting.

geoffk · Post by **geoffk** » Mon 2nd Jun 2008 07:08 pm

Valo wrote:
geoffk wrote:MUSIC, CULTURE & BIER:Unfortunately only a small portion was open in the Rijksmuseum,
It seems like the Rijksmuseum has not been fully open for at least 18 months now. My friends I went with in January 2007 were saying the same thing as you back then.

Sounds like a good trip though. Thanks for posting.

Yeah it was no big deal though. I think they discounted tickets, and we could still see "Nightwatch".