An awesome surprise & belated trip report (Dec 2011!)

[Nepenthe]

Hello,
first off I owe you lot an apology, I went to Amsterdam last year and forgot to write a trip report! However I still have the photos I took and my notes, so better late than never. I've been lurking on here for the past month or so while booking what may be our last trip to Amsterdam (at the end of this month), and I hope to report on that too when the time comes.

Also, I mentioned a surprise in the title, and the surprise is what happened last night. My boyfriend has been working in mainland Europe this week and his connecting flight both ways was via Schipol - unfortunately less than an hour between flights both ways. I said what a shame it was that he was so close to Amsterdam but yet so far! So it was to my great shock and amazement when he arrived home last night and asked if I wanted a nice surprise, I said yes (obviously!), expecting some chocolates or something from the airport, and he smacked down a big bag of stinky weed on the table!


The crafty bugger had went to the airport early that morning and asked the KLM staff nicely if it was possible to change his flight. Turned out to be his lucky day - they changed it for him for free! He kept all this a secret from me, and I hadn't heard from him all day on the phone, which I thought was a little strange but I just assumed he was flying or had to have his phone off. So he now had 4 hours between flights instead of one. He arrived in Schipol around midday, put his luggage in a locker and jumped on a high-speed train to Centraal. Our first stop is always De Kuil (420 Cafe), so he headed straight there (also one of the few places he knows how to find on his own, I'm usually the tourguide!).

He ordered 5g of 420 Haze, one of our must-haves for every trip, grabbed the only free seat at the bar and rolled up a joint of the haze. Due to working away all week, he hadn't been able to smoke, so the haze hit him pretty hard, and halfway through the joint he was wrecked (in a good way ). Apparently he had grand designs of heading out in the direction of Amnesia/Grey Area but felt pretty stoned and wasn't 100% sure of the directions, so changed his mind and crossed the Damrak into the RLD. Although apparently he took some fucked up route to get there, even though I've told him "You just go out of 420 and turn right and keep walking", he apparently didn't go that way.

420 Haze

However he got there, he ended up at Baba on Warmoesstraat. He picked up 5g of skunk cheese while he was there and then started to head back to Centraal. Train back to Schipol and his luggage, where he stealthily concealed the stinky weed and checked it in, and flew back to the UK in a haze to surprise me!

Cheese Skunk

The cheese is pretty good, far better than anything we are getting around here, but it's not the best cheese I've ever tried. 7/10

Cheese Skunk

The 420 Haze however, is a top class smoke.

The smell as I opened the bag overwhelmed even the cheese, and cheese is supposed to be stinky! I'm not great at pinpointing smells, but it's a really thick sherbety-flowery sort of smell. The smell also translates well into taste, lovely tasting stuff. I felt baked after a joint of this compared to what I'd been smoking here (generic mass produced bud).


I will be a happy bunny for a few days until all this is smoked... a taste of things to come!

Time for dinner... Dec 2011 report afterwards, along with a joint of 420 haze

[Rusty Shackleford]

An epic surprise

Cheers for taking the time to throw em up

Roll on 2011

[Nepenthe]

Yes, truly epic.

So, turning back the clock almost a year to December 2011... our flight out was an evening flight, due to leave at 5ish on a Thursday night. Unfortunately due to Easyjet being shit we were delayed and didn't take off until about 9pm. As we were delayed and had time to waste in the airport, my boyfriend (J) bought me an early Christmas present, a new camera! I was still getting the hang of using it throughout this trip so some of the pictures aren't the best, but better than no pictures.


Leaving the UK - you can see the coast where it suddenly gets dark.

The plane was empty, about a dozen to twenty people on the entire plane. We took advantage of this and spread out over three seats each. However, on landing the cabin heated up massively, I had to strip off my outer layers and had my first ever experience of being sick on a plane (in one of those tiny paper bags). I don't usually get travel sick but it was pretty bumpy and extremely hot. As soon as we got outside and I hit the fresh air I was fine. Quick pit stop to the toilets to freshen up and our bags were waiting for us on the carousel. Adjusting for time difference, it was already past 11pm, so we raced for the train to Centraal, feeling cheated of our first night in Amsterdam due to flight delays.

We've never arrived in Amsterdam at night, and coming out of Centraal with all the lights of the night and the trams is fantastic. Feels a little bit more magical than when everyone is running about with bags and briefcases to work during the day. We had an apartment booked for our other 3 nights, but since we were arriving late our first night was in the Golden Tulip hotel in the RLD, on Beursstraat.

Photo from outside the Golden Tulip hotel the next morning, looking up towards the Grasshopper

Decent enough little budget place with obligatory steep twisting stairs (down this time!) to the room. We dumped our bags and walked straight back out the door and back along Oudebrugsteeg to try and catch De Kuil open. No luck, it was just closing up as we got there, no 420 haze for us!

I knew we'd have better luck in the RLD, so we retraced our steps (again!) and went to the first (well, second, didn't fancy the Grasshopper!) coffeeshop we saw, which was Speak Easy. A small CS next to the huge grasshopper, painted a clean white with big square latticed windows, with a pungent smell emanating from inside. I have vague memories of the door being a stable door with the top half open, but I could just be imagining this.


The entrance to the RLD. Easy Times is on the left hand side between a sex shop and a bakery (I think). The place is tiny, but has an upstairs, although we took a seat at the table across from the bar. Keen for a smoke, we chose 1g of L.A. Confidential from the menu (E11) along with a couple of loozas and a grinder from the vending machine on the wall. Ground up some of the LA Con and made a joint each, and finally felt at home in Amsterdam.


L.A. Confidential - Speakeasy

I've walked past Speakeasy multiple times on every visit to Amsterdam and never been in. I'm not sure why now as it's a decent enough little place, and seems to keep really busy, with people constantly in and out going upstairs while we were there. There are movie/music posters on the walls, but can't remember what music. And the open top to the door keeps it nice and cool. And the LA Con was pretty good, but not spectacular. We are still looking for the "roast beef" smelling LA Con we found on a visit about 4 years ago, from Centraal CS I think.

But nothing else on their menu took my fancy, and I wanted to see where else was still open, so we walked up Warmoesstraat and spied the bright lights of Hunters across from the new Burger Bar. ( !!!!)


We checked what time both establishments closed, and reckoned we had time for a quick smoke in Hunters before last orders at BB. I've been in the smaller Hunters down the street (the one that used to be the coin?), but not this one, it's much nicer with the big bar and fish etc. They have the weed in clear tubs stacked up behind the counter just the same as in the other shop though. The menu here has a lot to choose from, and quite a lot sounds appealing, but we decided on a gram each of Super Silver Haze (E12.50)

and Blue Cheese (E12).

Terrible pictures

We sat at a wee table at the wall with some fish in a tank in the wall next to us. I rolled up the SSH and J made one off the blue cheese, and we swapped halfway through. Both these were decent specimens, tasted how they should have and got us baked Would definitely return to this Hunters rather than the smaller one, the extra width makes the difference, and the decor looks like it has been updated more recently. We had a burger bar menu so salivated while deciding on our meal. Hunters called that they were closing just as we were finishing our joints, so we ran across and ordered some dinner, and just in time too Take-away only, but our hotel was only two minutes away, so we went back there and devoured a burger and fries

Another joint of something I can't remember and then bed... we were knackered!

[CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY]

Bloody hell thats a quality gift! Beats socks or toblerone!

Really enjoying the trip report too, nice writing style

[Nepenthe]

Friday

J was still asleep when I woke up so I took some pictures of the bud we'd bought, rolled a joint and went outside to take some more. I walked up by Centraal station, planning to buy some of the 3-day tram passes. I tried to buy them out of a machine but one of the guys who worked there told me I should buy it on the tram itself, so back outside I went to take some more pictures.



Testing the zoom on my camera

I went back to see if J was awake (I don't think he was but I woke him up by packing my stuff from the night before loudly). I wanted to get some food and visit a few coffeeshops before we had to check out at noon and go get our apartment keys. First stop was De Kuil, after it being closed the night before. I think we got a pastry or a roll from the croissanterie across the road beforehand, can't really remember. De Kuil was just opening when we got there so still pretty quiet - straight for the bud counter and a gram of 420 haze (E13), got a couple of coffees and sat near the front of the shop. The awesome female budtender here gave me a free pack of 420 filters and a smile that makes me think she remembers me from previous visits. I really love this place, the decor and the music, nice and relaxed atmosphere.


A pic from a visit later in the trip when we were sat at the bar.

420 haze didn't fail to impress, great first smoke of the day to start us off on our first full day in Amsterdam.

Huge big calyxes covered with hair, and that great hazey thick smell and taste There was only a little bit left to take a photo of later before it all got smoked!

Afterwards we headed west, down past this guy, which can mean only one thing...


Grey Area! We had to wait a few minutes for it to open but that gave me time to take the picture. There were a few people waiting outside as usual but it only took us a few minutes to get served once they opened up. We asked for a gram of exodus cheese (E13), but when he opened the tub the cheesy smell was so pungent we quickly upgraded that to 2g (E26).


We didn't have time to sit and smoke, and already the seats had filled up, we had to get back to the hotel to check out. We grabbed our bags and paid, then caught the tram from Dam square to Van Woustraat in De Pijp. Our apartment was right at the tram stop, one floor up, with nice people-watching views of the street corner / cross.


A view out of the window

The apartment:


Seperate bedroom and full bathroom. Bedroom had a little verandah with a table and chairs but it was a bit cold and wet to make use of it. The kitchen was great, it had a dishwasher an an oven, and a few handy bits like salt and spices, oil etc. Although I have memories of the fridge being hard to control properly, it was going too cold or something.

We found this on the shelf...


sat down to survey the situation...


and smoked some of grey areas fine cheese Feeling nicely baked, we decided we needed to stock up and wanted to explore this area a bit, so we walked in the direction of Albert Heijn, found it without much trouble a few blocks down, and shopped for some of their tasty fresh juices, eggs, crisps, bread, meats and cheese. There were loads of lovely little shops on the way down, chocolatiers, bakeries and trendy coffee houses. We stopped at one of the bakeries on the way back to get some croissants and donuts. The girl who served us was the daughter of someone who worked there, she looked around 14 and didn't understand my accent at all So I had to point. The food we bought from here was delightful, the donuts were some of the best I have had, really light and airy inside, not too sticky or oily.




Back at the apartment we enjoyed our lovely lunch and smoked some more while amusing ourselves with dutch TV ( the PUNT N L gets me every time, one of those things that makes me feel like I'm in Amsterdam, maybe that's dumb ). It was handy to have internet access in the apartment as we had our netbook with us.

It was December, so starting to get dark at about 4-5pm already... we noticed the light change outside and decided to get out for some fresh air and visit some more coffeeshops. We walked around through Saraphatipark and up to Katsu.


It was really busy but we grabbed a couple of drinks and a table. I don't have photos of buying anything here but I think we got one of their E20 deals. As I said Katsu was heaving with mostly locals, and soon we thought we'd move on and see if Media was a bit quieter, having much more space.

There were only a few groups of people sat inside Media, but all together joking and laughing in Dutch. We remembered the Amnesia haze from our last trip and so got a gram of that (E10), which is really nice, especially for the price.


The staff in here are always really friendly, even if you might have to wait for a drink sometimes if they are serving out the front. We had a bit of a smoke here along with some weird flavours of fanta (purple and something else) before taking a walk up towards Leidseplein. It was completely dark by now, even though not particularly late, great for some night time pictures.


Christmas tree at Weteringschans roundabout.


Korte Liedsewaarsraat

We checked out the Indian restaurant in this picture because we were getting hungry, but it looked empty inside, so we weren't convinced. Kept walking up here and along the canals for a bit, just enjoying the lights reflecting off the river and being stoned and chatting nonsense We passed by a CS called Easy Times I hadn't heard of before, but it looked like the place had just been done up, new seats, nice lighting. I think it was on the Prinsengracht. The menu didn't look particularly appealing though so we just got a couple of cokes and smoked some of our stash and rested our feet for a while. I realised we hadn't actually seen Leidseplein yet, so checked my map and realised we turned off just before it. Sorted myself out on which way to go and we headed back out into the cold Scarves, gloves and hats weather by now, but in a few minutes we were there.


Bulldog + Christmas lights at Leidseplein

We spied the red poffertjes tent and made a mental note for later, but felt we needed some "proper" food first, so kept wandering.


Spied people queuing up outside the Paradiso as it started to rain a little.

We sub-consciously started heading back towards Albert Cuyp St, past the Heineken museum.


Back on Albert Cuyp St, we found a nice Chinese restaurant - http://www.unclewong.nl/ I had duck, it was great! I think we'll visit again next time

We stopped back in to Club Media as it was on the way back to our apartment and bought a gram of Champagne Haze - E12.50 to enjoy after our meal. We sat back down at the same table we were at earlier and I made a joint with the haze while J got us drinks. This was one of my favourite smokes of the trip, it made me feel really giggly, which I hardly ever get from being baked anymore, lightheaded. We smoked all of that gram so I didn't get a pic, but here's one of some more we bought later...


We waited for a break in the rain to leave and get back home. Snuggled up on the couch with DVDs we'd brought with us and smoked till we fell asleep

[Quazer]

Thanks for posting this! Great report with lots of cool pics.

[mitcheli1]

great little report. better late than never!

All this little Reports get me more and more pumped for.... THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!

[yazeez]

Nice report! Looking forward to the rest.

Will also be there at the end of the month, maybe we can meet for a toke and talk? my dates are 20-28

[geekymonkey]

Great report! Really enjoying it- thanks

[Colino]

Nice report and pictures, thanks for posting!

[Lazaris]

Loved your travelogue. Brought back memories of me living in Amsterdam for 2.5 months in 2009. I wanted to move there, but had a really tough time finding a job. Since I was self-employed for over 15 years at that time, I could not get myself to actually become an employee, and that is what made it tough. There were a few decent offers, but I turned them all down. So after living there October, November, and half of December in 2009, I bought a bus ticket and went back home to my small country by the Baltic Sea.

Your pictures captured the weather of those 2.5 months perfectly, and both the pleasurable and not-so-pleasurable memories of that time were re-lived vividly. Have to thank you for that.

I have traveled to Amsterdam many times before I actually pulled the trigger and attempted to live there permanently, but those 2.5 months showed me something that I never perceived as a tourist. I would not define it as good or bad, but simply the structure of the culture and society was NOT my cup of tea

I have been planning on visiting next year, and will do so regardless of the wietpass becoming real or not.

Your photos are simply awesome and I really enjoyed viewing them. Your writing was also a pleasure to read.

Looking forward to more. Much more.

[ftcarer]

Bloody good read

[spidergawd]

Nice, thanks for sharing your memories .

Blue skies

[Xenomorph]

Great Write Up and nice Pics. Well Done

Looking forward to the rest!

Xeno

[Nepenthe]

I'd glad you're enjoying reading, I'm enjoying trying to recall what happened so long ago using only the timestamps on the pictures and very sparse notes from the first couple of days, it's really getting me excited about my next trip! Some of the details about where we ate, etc, are just gone but I'll do my best. This has also encouraged me to take better notes this time too.

Smoking the last of our cheese now.. goes so fast

Saturday
We woke up late, myself an hour or so before J. He loves his holiday lie-ins, whereas I'd rather be up and out doing stuff. I strolled out to the front windows of the apartment in my jammies and watched the world go by for a few minutes while the morning haze subsided a bit. Reading all the shop signs and attempting to translate; watching the cyclists deftly avoiding the trams and evaluating the weather. It looked dry at least, if not cold, with everyone wrapped up well in wooly hats and scarves.

Made myself a joint and smoked it while checking emails and making some breakfast. Checked online and made a list of the cup-winners that had been awarded the month before, with the aim of purchasing some cup-winning smokes for the day ahead. I knew the original Greenhouse was just down the road from us on Tolstraat, just past the Albert Heijn we visited the day before, so planned to make that our first port of call.


Eventually got J up and took a walk down there. It was still morning, and we tried the door which didn't open, so we assumed the place was closed, and we turned to leave when we saw someone inside. Realised the budtender was buzzing us in and tried the door again to get inside. The place was empty, just one group of 3 people (age 40-50, taking pics, clearly tourists) sat right at the back. We said we wanted to try the cup-winners (Hawaiian snow and exodus cream cheese) but the BT told us that he only had Hawaiian snow and we had to go into Centrum to get the cream cheese. He didn't have any of the exodus cheese (bud that the hash is made from I assume) either. We got a gram of Hawaiian snow (E13.50) and a couple of cokes and took a seat in the comfy C-shaped couches. The decor in this greenhouse is very different from the Harlemmerstraat one (only other one I've been in, centrum one has always been packed), but still very nice, lots of interesting things to look at.



The hawaiian snow was a decent smoke, but not anything spectacular. Guess it's true what they say about it being a popularity contest. The bud we got was a big long spindly hairy fucker, but not dense little buds or anything on it. I prefer a fat dense bud I have to wrestle with the grinder with.


We left Greenhouse and took a walk through De Pijp towards Saraphatipark, planning to explore the Albert Cuyp market since it had closed by the time we started our wandering the day before. We came across Papillon, decided to check it out but as we went inside we realised the place was packed, not even one free seat. I took a look at the menu and we chose a gram of Butterfly (E10), and walked straight back out again. We hoped the business of the place reflected the quality of the weed!


We walked up into the start of the Albert Cuyp market and marvelled at the selection on offer.





We shared a little plate of poffertjes from a vendor, with chocolate sauce and cream. Love these little pancakes, they are little bites of heaven This whet our appetites for pancakes and we spotted a pretty little pancake shop behind the stalls. It was all red and white, checks and flowers, very kitsch. I was expecting a lot from these pancakes, and she took ages to make them. Unfortunately when we got them home to our apartment around the corner they were a lot thicker than we thought they'd be. We were hoping for thin crepe-like pancakes but these were really heavy and doughy. We ate about half and then we were stuffed Let our stomachs settle with a couple of joints of the butterfly and hawaiian snow and then got ready to go into centrum to visit the other greenhouse to try and pick up the 2 strains we were looking for earlier, amongst other places. We also wanted to get some truffles, the smart shops I was looking out for around leidseplein I couldn't find the night before, but I knew where several were located in the RLD.

After a bit of arsing around running around the corner and across the road trying to figure out which tram came first, we caught one into Dam square.


It was just beginning to get dark so the lights were catching your eye and giving the place a really festive feel.


Christmas tree in Dam square.

We headed east out of Dam square towards the RLD and greenhouse.


As expected for a Saturday night, the place was packed, inside and out. We headed to the bud counter at the back and asked for 1g of exodus cream cheese and 2g of exodus cheese. The BT bagged up the weed and then disappeared, returning with a free ghs grinder and a packet of skins. Nice!

Greenhouse Exodus Cheese


Exodus Cream Cheese


We went back out into the cold, which was refreshing after the warmth inside packed Greenhouse. Our next stop was Green place, so we took a leisurely stroll through the RLD, it was prime time for the red light windows, and it was obvious the top girls were out. The market at Niewmarkt was just about to close up, but some of the stalls were still open, one of which was a fresh orange juice stall. We stopped and got 2 big bottles for about 3 euros each, they were fresh squeezed and would be delightful later.




Put them in my backpack and headed over to green place.



Again busy, we went over to the counter and asked for a gram of Budda Tahoe. By the time we paid, the table behind us was free, so I sat down while J ordered us a couple of drinks and I began to skin up. I made a joint of the budda tahoe and J made one with the exodus cheese and cream cheese crumbled on top. I remember the buddah tahoe being pretty decent, but when J passed me his, the cream cheese had a lovely distinct taste on top, and afterwards feeling really baked. Green place had a nice atmosphere, even though it was busy, sitting next to the door that kept swinging open was nice for the breeze. A few people sat down next to us to skin up and left when they were done, but it was all smiles and nice people enjoying their weed. We don't get a lot of good hash in the UK, so I'm never sure what to buy when I come to Ams, although the few I have tried have generally been good, (Have since found a great thread about Amsterdam hash and have a list of things to try this time around - thanks ACD!) I always plan to buy some then get distracted by the bud!

Buddah Tahoe


After a smoke in Green place, our next stop was Warmoesstraat and Conscious dreams for some truffles. We cut across the canals and past the church into Warmoesstraat.




Concious Dreams is a brilliant little smart shop, all light and open with interesting products and books on the walls and shelves. At the back is a seating area along with a window onto the canal where you can sit and trip. We bought two boxes of Dragon's Dynamite. I think they were about E16-18 each.


We walked back down Warmoesstraat but everywhere was heaving, so we decided to cut across to 420 for a smoke, hoping it would be a bit quieter. We were right and it was, so we grabbed a couple of drinks and made a joint each at one of the tables across from the bar. We were eyeing up the cakes in the croissanterie across the road as we came in, and discussed the prospect of brownies in our lives in the near future.


We also realised that we should really put the truffles in the fridge for tomorrow, so when we finished our joints we went across the road, got two chocolate brownies and waited for a tram back to De Pijp.



We picked up some fast food from a local shop and pigged out in our apartment for the rest of the evening