Ron and Liz are tourists!
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liquidSwords
- Posts: 1400
- Joined: Sun 11th Jan 2009 11:21 am
- Location: East London
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spidergawd
- Posts: 4420
- Joined: Sun 11th May 2008 09:21 pm
- Location: The Mars Hotel
Cheers re. "Samentereng"
quote;
Mrs. RZ sez: "Too many cats."
"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?
she said we have to go there and in fact she will feel quite at home as I think she was a cat in a previous life. I don't know when that will be though as we are expectant grandparents once again and she doesn't stray too far from the home front on these occasions. But me... that's different and I am just trying to make up my mind over August or September. After reading so much about it on the forums I really fancy the Cannabis Cup time, but November is such a long time, I dont know.
quote;
Mrs. RZ sez: "Too many cats."
"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?
she said we have to go there and in fact she will feel quite at home as I think she was a cat in a previous life. I don't know when that will be though as we are expectant grandparents once again and she doesn't stray too far from the home front on these occasions. But me... that's different and I am just trying to make up my mind over August or September. After reading so much about it on the forums I really fancy the Cannabis Cup time, but November is such a long time, I dont know.
What a long strange trip it is.
Day 3, Sunday 19 July:
Early rising again since we want to get to the Van Gogh museum when it opens.
But do we have time for a travel-related freekout? Do we! Our flight Monday will be at the mad hour of 7AM. Mrs. RZ intends to go directly from London City airport to the office, such is her dedication to her employer's fortunes. It has now occurred to her that public transport to Schiphol will not be operating at 5AM. The temperature in the room rises by several degrees. We ring the hotel desk and they suggest a couple of numbers for taxis. We call one, they say sure, we'll call you back, and they hang up -- they haven't got our room number -- we don't hear from them again.
The other number transfers into a voice mail system, in Dutch. It again gets hotter in the room.
I dive into the tourist guide book looking for some kind of help. Aha 7x7 Taxi, at 777-7777. They answer, they know where we are, they will come at 4:30AM, they save my skin. We head out to the museum. We will spend the day noticing the little black 7x7 cabs everywhere...
Ours is a non-smoking hotel, I don't think I've mentioned that yet. I have never asked them about 'the weed' and just assumed that smoking on the balcony would be cool. Had a different room in the place last year, same deal. Anyway, this morning as we go into the hallway and down two flights of stairs, there is no question but that the whole building is absolutely stinkin' with the fumes of Amsterdam's finest. And nowhere is the smell more intense than at the bell desk.
Just sayin'.
Right, if you are visiting this beautiful city and you fail to get to the Van Gogh museum, you are making a big mistake. That's just my opinion, but it so happens I'm right about it. As I've been twice now, I labor under the delusion that I am an expert and so offer this advice: if you at all able, go on Friday night, say 8:30 or 9PM. You will be able to enjoy yourself much more. It's too damn crowded the rest of the time. On second thought, never mind -- stay away altogether
We buy souvenirs and gifts in the shop, of course. We agree: better to go back to the room now to drop this stuff off than to carry it around all day. And if there's time for another puff on the patio, well who's hurt by that, I ask you!
The hours are getting away from us and there are still some more "must do" touristy things on the list. Topping it: Canal boat tour. Two companies' tours are included in the iAmsterdam card: we opt for Blue Boat as it's a 75 minute tour versus 60 minutes from the other. Brought some drinks aboard, no problem. The cruise was a pleasure, the expected site announcements not too intrusive. But there must be some kind of kickback arrangement with the NEMO science center, as we pulled our craft within touching distance of the place, lingered, and got the multi-lingual (GB, DE, NL) spiel on it. Whatever, guys.
We're both ready for lunch after the tour, so we wander across the Singelgracht and find Mykonos greek in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat, right next to Rokerij. Food's OK but service is nonexistent. We watch the foot traffic in and out of Rokerij -- like looking in a mirror, loads of late 30's-40-somethings. The Mykonos owner seems also to be paying more attention to Rokerij than to his own place, pacing around with a look of utter contempt on his face, sneering. Yuk. We can't pay ang go quickly enough. Literally. We can't. Where's the goddamn bill!?!? A must to avoid.
Though Rokerij looks good to us we want to geet some distance from our lunch experience. So right about here I manage to shoehorn in a visit to Paradox -- I pick up two space cakes. Read many favorable comments on these boards about this product. Turns out that I will be very disappointed tomorrow... We have some coffee and smoke the last of the Sanementereng Power Plant. The place strikes my wife as the most retail-y seeming coffeeshop we've been in on the trip. "Not seedy." She regards this as her favorite shop, Sanementereng being second.
It's become clear there's not going to be time do everything we want (never were truer words written!), so some tough choices are made: The Whisky Cafe or Wynand Fockink? C'mon, it's no contest. Tradition demands and we obey. Down an unassuming alley from the Oudezijds Voorburgwal we find the jenever bar. A peak experience of our trip!! First round we both got the three-shot sampler of various jenevers. Next round we both elected the yummy korenwijn. Bend, slurp, grin. Repeat visits on future trips to Amsterdam are certain.
Maybe I was a little drunk, or maybe it was the memory-erasing bout of hash smoking to come later in the evening, but I don't recall our dinner at Cafe de Pijp at all. Mrs. RZ assures me that it occurred and was nothing to remember anyway. So there you are.
We've got an early wake-up ahead, so it's an early night in, for Mrs. RZ anyway. I hang out on the balcony for some hours smoking the remains: Nepal Temple Ball, and some Polm we've picked up somewhere I can't recall. Goodbye Amsterdam again. I love you.
Day 4, Monday 20 July:
Scarfing spacecake at 4AM, shower, taxi, airport, plane, home. "Space" cake, huh? Well I'll be back in September and that's one more small mistake I won't repeat.
Early rising again since we want to get to the Van Gogh museum when it opens.
But do we have time for a travel-related freekout? Do we! Our flight Monday will be at the mad hour of 7AM. Mrs. RZ intends to go directly from London City airport to the office, such is her dedication to her employer's fortunes. It has now occurred to her that public transport to Schiphol will not be operating at 5AM. The temperature in the room rises by several degrees. We ring the hotel desk and they suggest a couple of numbers for taxis. We call one, they say sure, we'll call you back, and they hang up -- they haven't got our room number -- we don't hear from them again.
The other number transfers into a voice mail system, in Dutch. It again gets hotter in the room.
I dive into the tourist guide book looking for some kind of help. Aha 7x7 Taxi, at 777-7777. They answer, they know where we are, they will come at 4:30AM, they save my skin. We head out to the museum. We will spend the day noticing the little black 7x7 cabs everywhere...
Ours is a non-smoking hotel, I don't think I've mentioned that yet. I have never asked them about 'the weed' and just assumed that smoking on the balcony would be cool. Had a different room in the place last year, same deal. Anyway, this morning as we go into the hallway and down two flights of stairs, there is no question but that the whole building is absolutely stinkin' with the fumes of Amsterdam's finest. And nowhere is the smell more intense than at the bell desk.
Just sayin'.
Right, if you are visiting this beautiful city and you fail to get to the Van Gogh museum, you are making a big mistake. That's just my opinion, but it so happens I'm right about it. As I've been twice now, I labor under the delusion that I am an expert and so offer this advice: if you at all able, go on Friday night, say 8:30 or 9PM. You will be able to enjoy yourself much more. It's too damn crowded the rest of the time. On second thought, never mind -- stay away altogether
We buy souvenirs and gifts in the shop, of course. We agree: better to go back to the room now to drop this stuff off than to carry it around all day. And if there's time for another puff on the patio, well who's hurt by that, I ask you!
The hours are getting away from us and there are still some more "must do" touristy things on the list. Topping it: Canal boat tour. Two companies' tours are included in the iAmsterdam card: we opt for Blue Boat as it's a 75 minute tour versus 60 minutes from the other. Brought some drinks aboard, no problem. The cruise was a pleasure, the expected site announcements not too intrusive. But there must be some kind of kickback arrangement with the NEMO science center, as we pulled our craft within touching distance of the place, lingered, and got the multi-lingual (GB, DE, NL) spiel on it. Whatever, guys.
We're both ready for lunch after the tour, so we wander across the Singelgracht and find Mykonos greek in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat, right next to Rokerij. Food's OK but service is nonexistent. We watch the foot traffic in and out of Rokerij -- like looking in a mirror, loads of late 30's-40-somethings. The Mykonos owner seems also to be paying more attention to Rokerij than to his own place, pacing around with a look of utter contempt on his face, sneering. Yuk. We can't pay ang go quickly enough. Literally. We can't. Where's the goddamn bill!?!? A must to avoid.
Though Rokerij looks good to us we want to geet some distance from our lunch experience. So right about here I manage to shoehorn in a visit to Paradox -- I pick up two space cakes. Read many favorable comments on these boards about this product. Turns out that I will be very disappointed tomorrow... We have some coffee and smoke the last of the Sanementereng Power Plant. The place strikes my wife as the most retail-y seeming coffeeshop we've been in on the trip. "Not seedy." She regards this as her favorite shop, Sanementereng being second.
It's become clear there's not going to be time do everything we want (never were truer words written!), so some tough choices are made: The Whisky Cafe or Wynand Fockink? C'mon, it's no contest. Tradition demands and we obey. Down an unassuming alley from the Oudezijds Voorburgwal we find the jenever bar. A peak experience of our trip!! First round we both got the three-shot sampler of various jenevers. Next round we both elected the yummy korenwijn. Bend, slurp, grin. Repeat visits on future trips to Amsterdam are certain.
Maybe I was a little drunk, or maybe it was the memory-erasing bout of hash smoking to come later in the evening, but I don't recall our dinner at Cafe de Pijp at all. Mrs. RZ assures me that it occurred and was nothing to remember anyway. So there you are.
We've got an early wake-up ahead, so it's an early night in, for Mrs. RZ anyway. I hang out on the balcony for some hours smoking the remains: Nepal Temple Ball, and some Polm we've picked up somewhere I can't recall. Goodbye Amsterdam again. I love you.
Day 4, Monday 20 July:
Scarfing spacecake at 4AM, shower, taxi, airport, plane, home. "Space" cake, huh? Well I'll be back in September and that's one more small mistake I won't repeat.
