Day 3
Sunday - Day
Woke at about 9.30 feeling surprisingly active, R was already up rolling a nice one and as he did I made some fresh coffee and toast and jam. Given it was raining (which cleared up later to be a gorgeously warm spring day) and all the walking we’d done on Saturday, we decided to keep the fannying about to a minimum. A quick look at the ACD map and it was decided, we were off to the top of the Singel and in particular Pink Floyd.
Jumped on a tram outside Mellow Yellow and alighted at Centraal. I’d never been to Pink Floyd before but found it fairly easily. And straight away I was impressed. Rogers Waters in concert on the plasma screen, good food menu and a excellent herb menu (love the way it lights up) although strangely enough I cant recall the decor. Settled for an OJ to drink, a large salami baguette and most importantly a gram of their Dirty Jack I’d heard so much about. The baguette was huge and filled the hole, washed down with the orange - perfect! And the Dirty Jack - what a smoke, in a little red baggie, lovely bud, fresh, broke apart easily, covered in crystals, cool smoke and fuck me like being hit in the face with half a house brick. The stoned came on so fast and strong. Half way through the joint I was beginning to worry about the state I would be in once I’d finished it, and to be honest it did take me a while for my brain to level out. Me and R shared another J and I was twatted, the walls and ceiling began to close in and I needed to be outside in the open air. Once out the door I could enjoy myself. Began to really appreciate how Amsterdam lends itself so well to a stoner. The architecture took on a new slant (in more ways than one), I started to muse that the whole city was like the biggest domino set and if you knew where to push all the houses would topple in turn.
Anyway, myself and R found our way to Doors but couldn’t get a seat and R didn’t fancy Rokerij so we set off in search of Amnesia on the way we decided to detour via Doors Palace. Now this is a CS that has passed it’s best. Always make a pilgrimage every trip as have had some cracking times there over the years but these days it’s looking very shabby and just seems to be trading on the Doors name. However, they sell beer and the pool tables upstairs were free (not in use). Actually, I think we were the only people in. The tables were in a mess though, ripped almost bare felt, the cue ball kept getting stuck, expensive at 2 euros a game and to cap it all R beat me 3-2. As we left I said to R ‘wont bother going there again’ which was a shame given all the good memories I had of the place.
The upshot of going in the Doors Palace was as it isn’t on the main ACD map we couldn’t work out where in relation to Amnesia we were so we ended up spending a bit more time looking for it than we really should have but again I was happy to wander around just soaking up Amsterdam in the Spring. It didnt take too long to find it though. We decided to sit towards the far end and there was a funny moment when neither of us wanted to sit on bench as we both considered all brightly covered scatter cushions so thoughtfully laid out to be a bit erm (how can I put this) effeminate. But R convinced me to sit there as he was going to get some smoke in. I think (he doesn’t know) he bought a Diesel or Haze which had a lovely effect, dreamy almost. Don’t think myself and R exchanged more than a word or two the hour or so we were there. R wanted to get the Sunday papers in so we were off again, via a news agents and headed vaguely in the direction of the RLD.
Against R’s better judgement I persuaded him to go back into Hill Street Blues, but we were in for a treat. The large leather sofas in the window overlooking a busy Damrak were vacant, warm sun was streaming in and a round up of Saturdays goals from all the football leagues was on TV. Coupled with a steady supply (not too much though) of cold beer and some top notch weed. What else does a man need? We settled down to a perfect Sunday afternoon, R commenting that the hours we spent there had repaired the experience of the day before.
Come late afternoon we made a move back to the apartment. We had planned to catch a tram to just before Mellow Yellow and pop in the supermarket there to purchase some goodies (cheese, breads, cold meats, wines) for a big slap up feast when we got back later that night. Unfortunately, we missed the stop and ended up outside Mellow Yellow and realised it was a deceptively long walk back to the shop so we opted for a quick spliff stop. However, this turned into bit of a session with the Dirty Jack knocking us (well me) sideways again. The trip to the supermarket turned into a farce as neither of us could agree what to buy so we ended up with two packets of pstaccio (sp) nuts, a bottle of mineral water and a six pack of Heineken (over the next couple of days we drank two). Oh well, aye.
Back at the apartment we decided it was time to try the Crystal Clear from Katso. About a third of it in a J. Then headed for Rookies. And boy did I enjoy it. I didn’t find stoney at all, quite uplifting but my body felt all dis-jointed, walking was fun felt like a cross between Mr Soft and Bez’s (Happy Mondays fame) dancing. It kind of made me feel I had a rhythm to my walk. I loved it!!!! Although the buzz didn’t seem to last too long.
R bought a big bag of Purple Skunk (I think) in Rookies and after a beer and smoke or two I decided I should introduce him to the best Mexican restaurant in Amsterdam: Los Pilones on Kerkstraat. If you are out that way and only take one thing from my rambling reports make sure you get down there! Its tucked away a bit and is quite unassuming both inside and out but the food is fantastic. No Fajitas or Tacos. I think I had some steak in a chocolate sauce for main -cant remember the starter but it was excellent - followed by a home made Strawberry Cheesecake the like of which I have never tasted before. Combined with half a dozen Dos Equis (sp). Perfect! R was suitably impressed. And all for approximately 30 euros each.
From the restaurant we headed to the Dampkring where R bought the NYC Diesel and I the Kali Mist Haze. Both were very fine smokes, the Kali Mist Haze was one creeper. One minute your fine, next your head is buzzing, mind all over the place, surreal thoughts, very clear head but without actually realising how stoned you’ve become. The NYC was very similar but more of a rush. From there we headed to Abraxas and got one of the tables upstairs. Couple of cappuccinos, smokes and the funniest sport I’ve ever seen on TV. Red Necks getting their dogs to run and jump for a thrown frisbee into a lake and scoring of which mutt jumped the furthest. It was like the programme schedulers knew me and R would be watching. Great fun!
After Abraxas it was back to Dolphins, downstairs was full but upstairs had some seats which suited us fine and we stayed here drinking large OJs and working our through our stashes until 12 or 1am then back to the apartment - Rookies was standing room only - for a few J’s around the breakfast table, before stumbling to bed. I managed to get my clothes off and actually get into bed this time. Result!
