Trip 4 - 21 Strains, Bloated Depravity & The Last Time?

[Babbalonian]

For my 4th trip to Amsterdam I decided to stay in an apartment. Mon 22nd-Fri 26th June.

I thought I'd do the strain reviews & flower pictures first, then the travelogue. All in one thread... Tally ho!!


Day 1

Out of Centraal Station via Schiphol.


Voyagers.

Sour Diesel: Smoked well and provided a nice fuzzy feeling without the high I'd had from the strain previously... 6.5




Casey Jones: Looked and tasted average to me. Quite a nice heavy stone though... 6.5




Fromage Bleu: Smelt nice. An earthy, strong dankness. Heavy thick looking smoke clouds. Good value (10e). Fell asleep watching Ocean's 12. Best smoke of Day One... 7.5





Het Gelderse.

Never knew this place existed before stepping in here on the way to checkin at the apartment!

Blue Dream: Quite a harsh smoke I thought. Not much of a taste to distinguish it. Was quite munted ambling to De Dampkring on it! 6





De Dampkring.

Ghost OG: Again, quite a harsh smoke after what I was used to back home. You have to flush, dry & cure properly boys & girls! Felt quite nice once it had kicked in though... 7




Chemdog: Decent throaty stone. Average... 6





Utopia.

Girl Scout Cookies: Lovely and frosty with some purple colouring. Tasted very smooth. Well worth a smoke even though I was reeling a bit by 1am when I had it... 7.5



More Cookies




Citral: Smells AMAZING! Sweet and citrus. Yum! Nice high... 7



More Citral





Cafe 420.

NY Diesel: Nice floaty tasty high. Didn't last long though or seem very potent... 6.5





1eHulp.

Strawberry Sour Diesel: Nice look. Nice high. Nice smoke. Nice taste... 7



More S.S.D




S OG Kush: Nice head stone. Nothing special though. Looked better than it felt/tasted.. 6



More S OG Kush




6 shops on Day 1. Not too shabby! Much more to come...

[guarianthe]

Looking forward too the rest of this. Always enjoy reading your trip reports.

[Babbalonian]

Looking forward too the rest of this. Always enjoy reading your trip reports.

Thank you Sir!! I enjoy the whole process, apart from coming home

[Babbalonian]

Day 2

Silly me only went in 1 shop on the Tuesday as I thought I had bought enough herb (with some 2g buys) on Monday to last till Thursday. No chance!!



Grey Area.


Thin Mint (GSC): Smelt and looked outstanding. It had an 'After Eight' chocolate aroma that turned slightly earthy when broken up. The budtender said it was new in that day. Strong smoke. A heavy, stoned head high that I guess due to being a hybrid I was able to walk around town (kind of!) after having 2 joints pretty quickly... 8.5



More Minty goodness




Hopefully I should be able to upload the last weed pics Tuesday evening...

[Willjay]

Thanks, I am one of those people who goes into a "purple haze" when in Amsterdam and can't keep the different strains apart

[bundy1983]

Great report so far man. Looking forward to the rest. Some menu pics would also be nice.

[Babbalonian]

Day 3

Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice...

As my apartment was in the Nieuwmarkt I thought I'd check out the local coffeeshops. Greenhouse Efect had possibly the most uninspiring menu ever! Just sayin'. Anyway....


Green Place.

Gin & Juice (Shoreline x Khufu): Felt a good buzz walking around. Again, warm n tingly feelings but not as nice as the Shoreline in March which is a shame as the buds looked lovely... 6.5



More Gin & Juice




Purple Kush: Now you're talking my kinda jive!! Smells fruity. Dank. Lovely stone. I felt glorious during and after smoking this. Would rebuy for sure. Made me wish my ex was around for a bit of anal. Too much info there perhaps?! 8.5



More Purple Kush





Betty Too.

Killing Fields: Looks gorgeous!! Beautiful purps. Heard a lot about this strain from the US. Great alert head high. Best sativa of the trip and it made me love my vanilla with fruit shake in Amnesia more than puppy dogs crossed with cut grass... 8.5



More lush K.F





Bulldog Palace.

Enemy Of The State: One of my favourite strains last trip (from Dampkring that time).Smells nice. Almost like sage & onion stuffing to me. Herby. Nice long stone. Feels gooood... 8



More E.O.T.S





Amnesia.

Cookies Kush: Smells of Sugar Puffs!! Dank & crystally. Superb body & head high. One can see how this strain won a Cannabis Cup as I loved everything about it. Was the only strain I made sure to rebuy this trip.. 9



More Cookie Monster goodness




Day 4/5 weed pics coming next...

[Babbalonian]

Day 4

I was definitely feeling the pace by now. Still, chin up. Keep smoking girls and boys!


Katsu.

Mango Haze: Of course I got 2g of this! The strain wowed me back in March and it was on point again this trip although maybe I'd smoked myself to the point of being too munted to fully appreciate it.

Anyway... How can anyone not love to inhale the aroma of this bud?! Smells stunning. Sherbert sweets. Sherbert Dip Dabs? A really nice high again. Would recommend this as a day-time smoke to anyone... 8



More Mango





Sour OG Kush: Heavy hitter!! Loved it. Beat the Mango for effect (although I am an Indica guy at heart). Looks dank but had a mild aroma. Not to worry though as I felt this strain in the forehead straight away. Lovely stone with a perfect relaxed feeling. Great weed... 9



More Sour OG




The only menu I managed to get. Utopia's didn't quite come out right.




Het Gelderse.

OG Kush: Great looking and much smoother smoke than their Blue Dream in my opinion. Nice example of this strain... 7



OG





Rock-It.

Never been in here before. It was getting late but I must give a special mention to the budtender for whom it seemed almost too much effort to grunt/show me the buds/take my money. Which is all good but as I was the only guy inside the shop it did make me feel like screaming at him, "This is a stick up! Drop your trousers and empty the till!"

Blueberry Kush: Sweet smelling aroma contrasting a nice dank looking bud. Was actually a nice smoke. Slept like a baby (eventually) that night... 7



More Blueberry Kush






Day 5

Felt ruined in the best way possible by the last day and barely made the check out time.


Amnesia.

Returned for some last day rebuy & one of their top shakes.

Cookies Kush: Same as the earlier review pretty much. Lovely smoke again... 8.5 (as a guess as I was probably too trashed to properly assess by that point)

Vanilla Kush: Nice joint outside Centraal Station. Stoned... 7



And that's all folks for the weed pics etc. I should have the travelogue & Top 3 strains etc posted by the weekend

[RvanSteensel]

Buttsecks....niceeee ;d

[ftcarer]

Nice pics & updates

I've had very good cheese from Het Gelderse

[Babbalonian]

Sorry for the late uploading of the travelogue boys and girls. Life took over and my Dad is making me move out so house hunting has been the priority. Divorced parents are the worst!! Anyway...................


Travelogue

Day 1

Luxury travel this trip! A taxi from my front door to Gatwick North. Much easier than the normal train journey. There was the usual delays for the Easyjet flight to Amsterdam (10:40AM) but I guess the pilot took the 'fast lane' after take off as we were at Schiphol in less than 2 episodes of Archer!

Straight on the train to Centraal and I was in Voyagers with all my bags in hand for 1:30. A quick cone of Casey Jones and moi was stoned before check-in! Strolled down Geldersekade and passed Het Gelderse on the way to the Nieuwmarkt. Never seen or heard of this coffeeshop before. Nice OG Kush as well.




The apartment was nice and snug as advertised. Exactly what I was looking for in size and style and the landlord/greeter Perri was a nice guy as well. Had a couple of stoned, funny chats with him about healthy living on weed!





After some basic shopping in Albert Heijn (Chocomel, chicken, razors) it was time for a first ever summer, sunny stroll around town - its either rained or been winter on previous trips. Gorgeous place when the sun shines. Reminds me a little of Prague.

First coffeeshop of the day after check-in is De Dampkring. Gutted to find Enemy Of The State off menu this time but consoled myself with a shake and later Vlaams Frites which were terribly average even after locating their well disguised vinegar bottle.

Next stop was Utopia. A real shot of excitement as Ingi greeted me & said, "the Girl Scout Cookies on the menu is the REAL thing." A very nice smoke but not as good as the Thin Mint Cookies I had from Grey Area. Maybe the hype around GSC isn't justified or I just need an ounce to pass a proper judgement!

Back to the apartment and the movie Search Party was a good giggle before/during/after dinner. By this point I'd already bought 8 strains of weed but that clearly wouldn't suffice so I was out and walking to 1eHulp by 10pm! Such a nice feeling to wander the streets at your own leisure with cones all rolled up and nowhere to be be. The memo I text myself after leaving Cafe 420 said 'Enough weed to last till Thu now!' Yeah, right!!

One thing I noted - and staying on the Nieumarkt probably contributed - was how grim the RLD has become. Just a few alleys and a couple of canal side streets with depressed looking girls. Still, after a cold Amstel (I think it was) in Cafe De Zon and a nightcap of Fromage Bleu I passed out watching Ocean's Twelve.

[gapie]

nice socks lol

[Babbalonian]

Day 2

Up at 9:30. Not feeling too groggy all things considered seeing as I'd partaken of 7 strains on the first day.

Morning routine: Stretch, litre of water, shower, shave, a few tunes and out the door for about 11:30

A couple of cones of Strawberry Sour Diesel prepared me for my first steak in 5 years!!!! I used to eat 3 or 4 fillets a week back when I used to lift seriously but have kept to chicken for meat in the last few years. Now it was time to embrace my inner caveman!!


La Pampa




Ho Chi Minh

Lovely fillet steak in La Pampa...... But..... 9 euros for a vodka tonic! WTF!!!! People complain (rightly so) about the price of weed (especially in the more commercial coffeeshops) but 9 euros for that???? I felt like I'd been held up by Robin Hood!


Last trip I missed the art museum I wanted to check out (it doesn't open Sun/Mon). Electric Ladyland. 'The first museum of fluorescent art' says the website. Such a cool place and a much better experience than the site might suggest.
Nick who owns the museum/creates alll the art/gives the tour etc is a fantastic guy to meet. A New Yorker who has been in Dam since '78 and told me he first smoked weed when he was 14 in '69! I asked him about the psychedelic influences of some of the pieces on display and he said "Brother, everything I made here was whilst tripping on acid!" Love this guy!

To explain: Basically you go in the museum/display area (upstairs) and you have to change into provided slippers and go down to the basement where most of the art and rocks are on display. When there's enough people down there he locks the museum. The lights go off & then he explains everything about the art and you get to see everything under the blue lights. Some of the designs on a passpart will blow your mind if you've already had a couple of cones that day!!

As an add note........... The basement ceiling is LOW! If you're 6'3 like me and stoned, remember to duck!! The bumps on my head made me 6'4 for the rest of the trip!

http://electric-lady-land.com/


Jimi




The Grotto!




On the way back 'home' I grabbed a couple of bottles of red (who doesn't like a glass of Pinot?) and stopped in Grey Area for the first time. Had a chat with a local about our favourite strains (of course there was a queue! Not too long though - 3 peeps). Lots of nice looking buds in here. Would definitely come back.

Cooked a Mexican Chicken to go with the Pinot. Then it was time to go to the movies! Entourage - loved the show (first 5 seasons anyway) and hoped the movie would be damn good fun. Only showing at approx 9:30 was the Pathe in Leidseplein. Never actually wandered to that part of town before. Google Maps on my phone got me there in about 15 mins!


Graffiti on the way to the cinema



Bust of the author Multatuli - Leidseplein

Why have I never been to this area before? Lovely. Such a buzz of activity around. Anyway, into the cinema and I wasn't expecting quite so many people at the showing. Roughly 100 on a Tuesday night. Bought 2 bottles of grolsch and being English it felt weird and good taking alcohol into a movie.

What to do with the 10 minutes whilst they're cleaning??? Is that a stairwell or fire exit I see? Why the hell not I thought so making sure no-one saw me I popped down the stairs to the landing and had half a joint of Citral! Floating now! Back into Screen 2 for the trailers... perfect.

Until... During the trailer to Terminator 26 the projector just dies! Exactly like the viewing of Aquaman they had at the start of Season 3 in the show. A Dutch chappie comes in to say we're moving screens! Awesome, as this lets me pop back to the stairwell (where it still reeked of my weed) to finish the joint!

Happy to report that the film is excellent (assuming you can suspend reality for 100 mins). Vince & Turtle were blazing up within 5 minutes of the movie starting . If you like or liked the show: GO SEE THE MOVIE!


Pathe - Leidseplein - Great fucking night!!

Had a glorous late night wander back across town with a couple of cones for company... Was beautiful just to stand and soak it all in.

[Babbalonian]

Day 3

Slept late! Late to bed, late to rise... Still, a quick Thin Mint Cookies cone & I was out the door and starving for 1pm.

After yesterday I fancied a wander back to Leidseplein. Amsterdam's Covent Garden compared to the Damrak's Saturday night in Southampton vibe.

On the way I passed this shop where I bought my new vape.




Cafe De Klos doesn't open till 4! Gutted, so a detour for a first visit to the Bulldog Palace. Burger and chips (average, what I was expecting), heineken & a mojito!
Picked up some Enemy Of The State (loved it from Dampkring last visit & it was good again from this shop) and a Cookies stash jar for a friend back home from the downstairs coffeeshop.
The Palace reminds me of a 'nice' Wetherspoon's with the added bonus of weed smoking! After checking out the street artists I got 4 lads from Birmingham properly wasted in Betty Too. My tolerance must be high becasue I didn't find the G.S.C particularly strong but 3 of the chaps were drooling and almost horizontal on the sofas before I left! You got to spread the love around!

Where did the day go???? 5pm and headed back through the city high as feck with the sun shining and enjoying the freedom.



Some wierd looking barges


Properly trashed by now so I found a nice spot by the canal tour steps near Centraal to chill enough to read Kings Of Cool but instead just dreamily had another cone & chilled... Holiday mode


Centraal


Quick Moroccan Chicken stir fry back at the apartment and off to Amnesia. Lush chocolate shake and 2g of Cookies Kush. Top top smoke. Very relaxing and the aroma of Sugar Puffs was excellent. No idea which brown bar I ended up in later but about 1:30am I was sat outside 'home' by the Oostertoegang (great name) smoking with the landlord & talking bullshit... See below:

- You never hear the 5%ers (Nation Of Islam) waxing lyrical in hip hop anymore. Where for art thou Wu Tang?
- What do we want from legalization? Free to grow? Free to sell? Free to consume? The dispensary model in the US or the coffeeshop version in Dam?
- We all just want to blaze, when we want, without anyone bothering us assuming no-one else is being harmed. That's the manifesto!

[Babbalonian]

Day 4

A day pass on the tram today as popping down to the De Pijp area and the Albert Cuyp Market...

Ambled through the RLD on the way to Centraal and had to take a pic of the Oude Kerk - Bronze Breast




Obviously after my last trip here I had to have another bash on the Mango Haze from Katsu! Lovely taste and smoke again. Special shout out to the Sour OG Kush. One of the only smokes this trip I felt straight away - even on day 4.


LOVE Katsu's garden!!



Katsu's wall


Weather was soooo good I didn't bother with the tram back (everywhere is pretty much within walking distance assuming you don't have the fitness of a 20st taxi driver). One foot in front of the other and soon enough another steak was being munched in La Pampa.

Was very strange just having a Ben & Jerry's shake in Hunter's without being able to buy weed. Such a strange situation with the Dutch laws. As if coffeeshops are a worse influence on kids than hookers, alcohol, cigarettes & junk food. I don't see anyone shutting down KFC because its 250 metres from a school!

Last night in the Dam so I popped to a couple of local brown bars to chill and savour the atmosphere. Cafe t'Loosje in the Nieuwmarkt and over to Van Beeren by the 420 Cafe. Sat outside watching the world go by with a cold beer and a cone.
There's worse ways to spend time especially in summer. Later, outside Rock-It coffeeshop chatting to 4 American girls one of them cheekily said with a shy grin, "I've never kissed an Englishman."

Amsterdam ------ Can't beat it!