Day 1, Friday 17 July:
Beautiful Amsterdam! The weather reports could not have been more wrong. Many millimeters of rain were called for. There were meant to be only scant minutes of sunshine each day of our trip.
We were prepared for the worst.
I had intentionally left behind my sunglasses and brought only my heavy waterproof boots. Maybe this created the right mojo for the trip however, as the gods relented and there were only the briefest moments of light rain occasionally throughout our three day stay. Mostly the sun shone through quickly passing clouds. In fact, after checking in at our hotel near Vondelpark, one of our first notable sights was of sunbathers in the park!
I'd screwed up badly not printing out the vouchers for the iAmsterdam cards my wife and I had bought before the trip, so no amount of cajoling, pleading or wheedling could get the lovely ladies at their counter in the Schiphol plaza to produce the cards for us. This meant an unplanned excursion from the Central Station, hoofing it to the new library on Oosterdokskade for internet access and a printer. The library is supermodern and the folk there are helpful. €0.20 and a walk back to the CS later and we had our travel and museum cards in hand. Time wasted through husbandly foolishness: about an hour and a half.
So after that trek and the tram to our hotel check-in, our very late lunch at Tapa Feliz was very welcome. We sat outside on the Emmastraat, a quiet tree-lined street a couple blocks south of the Vondelpark. Assorted tapas, well-prepared and generous servings, with a few cold beers. Delicious stuff, we'd definitely return!
Refreshed, we were off to our first planned stop: Yo-yo coffeeshop. Much as I remembered it from my solo trip last fall, Yo-yo is quiet, off the tourist path (although quite easily reachable by tram) and very welcoming. On our arrival near 3PM on a Friday, there was only the staff present. We chose a couple of espressos (serviceable if unremarkable) and a gram of the Majesteit greenhouse weed. This was a very good choice for us, having gone nearly a year without smoking. Nice taste. Perhaps unavoidably, Bob Marley is playing. But hell, it is my favorite, Exodus. The high establishes itself quickly but gently and after spending only a few moments at a sunny bar table we feel energized for a walk north into the 7 bridges area.
Nice place for a walk on a sunny day. More people out pursuing their tans. Feeling very good about not having brought those sunglasses, like I'd pulled one over on the powers that be. Ha!
And what's this now? We've stumbled by accident (or so I persuade my innocent wife!) upon Stix on the Utrechtsestraat! We must go in, we must! This is another place slightly outside the most popular tourist paths, but just two blocks south of the crowded Rembrandtplein. A very kind lady budtender shows me all of the hashes on offer and I elect for a gram of the Nepal Temple Ball, which looks like nothing other than a thin chocolate gummy worm. We sit in one of the small bench spaces in the window (there are only two tables there, as I recall it now) and smoke some more bowls of the Yo-yo Majesteit. Happiness seems to have come to stay for a while. We tram up to the Centrum.
An hour or two blurs past as we walk around the Centrum. Late in the afternoon, we reach Homegrown Fantasy as planned, but as there are no open tables and we're still pleasantly baked, we walk right back out. A little further up Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal we do stop in Grasshopper, but the vibe is just wrong for us -- we have a coffee and leave without either buying any new gear or even hitting our stash, because I realize that we are really only several steps away from 4:20 coffeeshop. We head there.
Reviewing 4:20's menu, I ask the budtender for a look at the Neville's Haze, following a tip from this board. Before I can properly see it, the scent from the opened container hits me -- I already know I'm buying it right then. The buds are lovely, hairy, sticky things. But just a gram, since I don't want to crowd out future planned purchases. We roll one up (OK, my wife rolls one up -- my spliff skills are limited to consumption, not production. Left alone, I'd use the pipe exclusively) and hit it there and then. This for us is a really expansive, dominating high. The missus later explains she can't smoke any more of _that_ one on this trip!
Another short walk over to Greenhouse Effect lounge for a beer and to check the drink/smoke scene. The area seemed to be reserved for hotel guests, but the bartender told us to just duck under the rope and join the crowd, which we did. Not really a big area for smoke-and-drink, but comfortable enough. Couldn't stay too long, because...
Hey, it's time to head to our concert! Unable to figure out where to get a tram 25 or 26, we again hoof it. We're soon enough at the Bimhuis, where it rapidly becomes clear that I needn't have worried about getting tickets. This is going to be no sellout show. Plenty of time for drinks in their cafe, overlooking het IJ at sunset: more Amsterdam beauty. We have a couple of Palm beers and are in the concerthall right on time.
Mary Halvorson Trio are not any kind of household name, not even at my house and I've got their CD. Nevertheless, they are one fabulous little jazz group. The 30 or so of us present were in for a real treat. Not some kind of abstract free thing (like Brötzmann, if you will), each song is in the neighborhood of 6 minutes, almost miniatures really in a genre where 20+ minute 'songs' are quite typical. It's all very clear compositions, with strange and unexpected platforms for improvisation by guitar, drum and bass. Don't miss 'em.
We don't stay for the 2nd set, since dinner is necessary, now! Happily the 25 tram takes us quickly down to de Pijp, and we find Kagetsu open. Japanese noodles. We are sated. I keep their business card with a map on the back, mentally planning many future 'Dam trips...
Back to the room, and our delightful balcony overlooking Vondelpark. Couple of tokes and it's time to get some sleep. But we try the room TV and find a repeat of Lost from last season -- the one where Ben interrupts John's suicide attempt and then murders him. This is absolutely harrowing and I find I can't sleep for hours, repeatedly returning to the balcony and sitting in the cool park breeze. Eventually I do manage drop off to sleep, thank goodness. There's a big day ahead in what is going to be a much too short weekend.
Ron and Liz are tourists!
Ron and Liz are tourists!
Last edited by RonZen on Sat 25th Jul 2009 12:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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spidergawd
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Day 2, Saturday 18 July:
Up today early enough for a quick pull on a pipeful of the Haze before showering and out to grab "breakfast" (just some pastries really, but they were good) at Brood bakker Simon Meyssen and then wait for our 2 tram to take us to the Rijksmuseum.
We spent quite a bit of time in the museum, or rather that bit of it that can be viewed while it's undergoing its seemingly endless renovations. They call this "The Masterpieces" and it really is that, a great selection of paintings and objects that, if you're like me, you dimly recall from history classes.
Leaving, we see that the crowd has built rapidly, and we're glad we arrived at the opening hour. We take the 2 tram further into the Spui area, our intention being to cruise some coffeeshops as we mosey to the Museum Het Rembrandthuis. Somehow our path takes us by only Kadinsky, Rusland and Basjoes (maybe there's more down in this area, but we didn't see it) -- but I can't drag the wife into any of them since a) she's getting hungry, b) she wants to get to the next museum, and c) "you've bought enough for now anyway." Huh?!?? I bite my tongue.
We do find a little jewelry shop, Beau-fort in Grimgurgwal, where Mrs. RZ can't pass up on a small pair of earrings. The weed money fades in significance, at least in _my_ mind...
The museum proves difficult for me to find, so an aside here to those who bought the Lonely Planet Amsterdam guide book: Museum Het Rembrandthuis is NOT located where they show it marked on their map, in Oude Hoogstraat, although hey, there are a lot of coffeeshops here... But going into any of them is even more out of the question now than it was before! After some stumbling around and retracing of steps, I consult the book itself rather than the map -- the address is given there as being in Jodenbreestraat, where we do indeed finally find it. Maybe a good thing I wasn't permitted to stop in Rusland first, or we may never have found it!
Well we're _both_ feeling those hunger pangs now, so we go into a dim sum place called Nam Tin, across the street from the museum. This is the right decision -- the food is good, the service is prompt and the price is right. We can now go to the museum, bellies full. Coffeeshops, still, are apparently for later...
About the museum: there really isn't that much work by Rembrandt in there! I understand that the exhibits change from time to time -- right now, the great bulk of what's there is by a contemporary of Rembrandt's. I am far from well-informed about art -- for me it was only mildly interesting to see the master's former digs and studio, but I guess the motto is know what you're getting into.
A motto which you, dear readers, should bear in mind if you are perhaps thinking "where's the bloody weed and coffeeshop reviews!??!" My headline after all does say we "are tourists."
Mrs. RZ reminds me that after the museum we did make a brief stop in Rusland after all! Cozy place, but following our pattern we stay only long enough for a drink and a few pipe tokes, 'cuz there's stuff that needs doin'!
On the tourism agenda next is seeing the "Nine streets" for some window shopping, so we trek over to the other side of the city. I happen to know that we'll be finding Sanementereng over that way as well, but choose not to mention it yet to Mrs. RonZen.
We do the shops thing, taking in the Toothbrush place, the Eyeglasses place, etc. For me, more hohum. Mrs. RZ is welcome to prepare her own report if there is disagreement on this or any other issue! We stop for a couple of beers in Cafe Van Puffelen while we're nearby. Very nice place.
Now we're just down the road from a really unique coffeeshop, I say, suggesting we take a look. And so we walk the few steps from the cafe to Sanementereng. It is indeed a one-of-a-kind! The place is a kind of junk shop, hiding a coffeeshop within. When we go in, we find the budbar in the back of the establishment with a couple of tables, one packed with locals and the other empty, at which we plunk ourselves down. I don't have any notes on what else was on the menu, but we bought a gram of the Power Plant for €8. Mixed it with what little remained of the Majesteit and smoked a fat one at the table. We cool our heels here for a bit, enjoying a very relaxed high.
Conversation eventually turns to dinner. We agree on Indonesian and set out for Utrechtsestraat again since there are a few places there recommended in the guide book.
Looks like there's no getting in at Tempo Doeloe, so we try Tujuh Maret. Do we have a booking? No we don't -- sorry nothing available now. The place is actually only about half full, so I ask can we make a booking for later. Yes, we can return in half an hour, great!
In the meantime, we hit Stix again since it's just a block away. I buy a gram of the cheapest, Purple outdoor weed. A €6 mistake, we will find out later! We smoke a few bowls of the tasty stuff acquired at Sanementereng and it's dinnertime.
I will certainly be going back to Tujuh Maret in September, the food is really great. We didn't get Rijsttafel because it's minimum two person order and is the most expensive thing on the menu, so that remains an experience for another time. But the Nasi Kuning I got was a great sampler of nine or ten different things, and Mrs. RZ's smaller Nasi Rames sampler was also top-notch. We devoured everything with little attention to whose plate was whose!
Later, back at the room again, we found the Stix Purple to be virtually unsmokable. Spliffs would not remain lit. I dunno if it was improperly/incompletely cured, or what, but it was next to useless. The only thing I could find to do with it was make a base of it in the pipe for smoking the Nepal Temple Ball. That was very nice indeed! Most of the Purple found its way to the toilet.
Thanks for sticking with me. See you tomorrow with the Day 3 report!
Up today early enough for a quick pull on a pipeful of the Haze before showering and out to grab "breakfast" (just some pastries really, but they were good) at Brood bakker Simon Meyssen and then wait for our 2 tram to take us to the Rijksmuseum.
We spent quite a bit of time in the museum, or rather that bit of it that can be viewed while it's undergoing its seemingly endless renovations. They call this "The Masterpieces" and it really is that, a great selection of paintings and objects that, if you're like me, you dimly recall from history classes.
Leaving, we see that the crowd has built rapidly, and we're glad we arrived at the opening hour. We take the 2 tram further into the Spui area, our intention being to cruise some coffeeshops as we mosey to the Museum Het Rembrandthuis. Somehow our path takes us by only Kadinsky, Rusland and Basjoes (maybe there's more down in this area, but we didn't see it) -- but I can't drag the wife into any of them since a) she's getting hungry, b) she wants to get to the next museum, and c) "you've bought enough for now anyway." Huh?!?? I bite my tongue.
We do find a little jewelry shop, Beau-fort in Grimgurgwal, where Mrs. RZ can't pass up on a small pair of earrings. The weed money fades in significance, at least in _my_ mind...
The museum proves difficult for me to find, so an aside here to those who bought the Lonely Planet Amsterdam guide book: Museum Het Rembrandthuis is NOT located where they show it marked on their map, in Oude Hoogstraat, although hey, there are a lot of coffeeshops here... But going into any of them is even more out of the question now than it was before! After some stumbling around and retracing of steps, I consult the book itself rather than the map -- the address is given there as being in Jodenbreestraat, where we do indeed finally find it. Maybe a good thing I wasn't permitted to stop in Rusland first, or we may never have found it!
Well we're _both_ feeling those hunger pangs now, so we go into a dim sum place called Nam Tin, across the street from the museum. This is the right decision -- the food is good, the service is prompt and the price is right. We can now go to the museum, bellies full. Coffeeshops, still, are apparently for later...
About the museum: there really isn't that much work by Rembrandt in there! I understand that the exhibits change from time to time -- right now, the great bulk of what's there is by a contemporary of Rembrandt's. I am far from well-informed about art -- for me it was only mildly interesting to see the master's former digs and studio, but I guess the motto is know what you're getting into.
A motto which you, dear readers, should bear in mind if you are perhaps thinking "where's the bloody weed and coffeeshop reviews!??!" My headline after all does say we "are tourists."
Mrs. RZ reminds me that after the museum we did make a brief stop in Rusland after all! Cozy place, but following our pattern we stay only long enough for a drink and a few pipe tokes, 'cuz there's stuff that needs doin'!
On the tourism agenda next is seeing the "Nine streets" for some window shopping, so we trek over to the other side of the city. I happen to know that we'll be finding Sanementereng over that way as well, but choose not to mention it yet to Mrs. RonZen.
We do the shops thing, taking in the Toothbrush place, the Eyeglasses place, etc. For me, more hohum. Mrs. RZ is welcome to prepare her own report if there is disagreement on this or any other issue! We stop for a couple of beers in Cafe Van Puffelen while we're nearby. Very nice place.
Now we're just down the road from a really unique coffeeshop, I say, suggesting we take a look. And so we walk the few steps from the cafe to Sanementereng. It is indeed a one-of-a-kind! The place is a kind of junk shop, hiding a coffeeshop within. When we go in, we find the budbar in the back of the establishment with a couple of tables, one packed with locals and the other empty, at which we plunk ourselves down. I don't have any notes on what else was on the menu, but we bought a gram of the Power Plant for €8. Mixed it with what little remained of the Majesteit and smoked a fat one at the table. We cool our heels here for a bit, enjoying a very relaxed high.
Conversation eventually turns to dinner. We agree on Indonesian and set out for Utrechtsestraat again since there are a few places there recommended in the guide book.
Looks like there's no getting in at Tempo Doeloe, so we try Tujuh Maret. Do we have a booking? No we don't -- sorry nothing available now. The place is actually only about half full, so I ask can we make a booking for later. Yes, we can return in half an hour, great!
In the meantime, we hit Stix again since it's just a block away. I buy a gram of the cheapest, Purple outdoor weed. A €6 mistake, we will find out later! We smoke a few bowls of the tasty stuff acquired at Sanementereng and it's dinnertime.
I will certainly be going back to Tujuh Maret in September, the food is really great. We didn't get Rijsttafel because it's minimum two person order and is the most expensive thing on the menu, so that remains an experience for another time. But the Nasi Kuning I got was a great sampler of nine or ten different things, and Mrs. RZ's smaller Nasi Rames sampler was also top-notch. We devoured everything with little attention to whose plate was whose!
Later, back at the room again, we found the Stix Purple to be virtually unsmokable. Spliffs would not remain lit. I dunno if it was improperly/incompletely cured, or what, but it was next to useless. The only thing I could find to do with it was make a base of it in the pipe for smoking the Nepal Temple Ball. That was very nice indeed! Most of the Purple found its way to the toilet.
Thanks for sticking with me. See you tomorrow with the Day 3 report!
Last edited by RonZen on Sat 25th Jul 2009 12:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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StonedSince67
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enjoying the report and i for one managed to find the weed and coffeeshops in your report easily enough so that's cool and it all sounds good so far, tourists and allRonZen wrote:... if you are perhaps thinking "where's the bloody weed and coffeeshop reviews!??!" My headline after all does say we "are tourists."
sometimes the weed is a bit wet and won't burn and benefits from a night exposed to the air to dry out, it helps if the weed is broken apart a bit to let the air in everywhereRonZen wrote:we found the Stix Purple to be virtually unsmokable. Spliffs would not remain lit.
your idea of using it as a nest of ashes for the temple ball is sound in my opinion
looking forward to it ...RonZen wrote:See you tomorrow with the Day 3 report!
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spidergawd
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Mrs. RZ sez: "Too many cats."spidergawd wrote:What did Mrs. RZ think of Sanementereng? Never been there but it sounds like my other half would find it a gas.
"Were there a lot of cats???"
"Well, there was one."
She allows as how their tea was very good. And says it felt (and I quote) "woman oriented" to her. Maybe the spidergawdess would agree?
Huh. I didn't feel the estro vibe myself. As with Yo-yo, this place is pretty well off the usual tourist route. And imo, it benefits from that. I plan to return on my solo trip in September to sample further wares from their menu...
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TwoCanucks
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The absurdity of Mrs. RZ's statement, if not already obvious enough, will be brought into even sharper relief by a small but telling edit I had to go back and make above -- something about a jewelry shop, how could I have forgotten it? But the receipts tell the story!TwoCanucks wrote:Whoa girl... that sounds like trouble... lol. You're not getting her high enough! lolRonZen wrote:, and c) "you've bought enough for now anyway." Huh?!?? I bite my tongue.
Anyway, no one should have the wrong idea about the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. RonZen: There are disagreements, of course, but really, these last 600 years have simply flown by!
The tale of Day the Third probably gets posted late tonight...