LLMReb's March Travelogue

[LLMReb]

I returned from AMS on March 31st. I know a few of you have PM'd me about my trip, so I hope you enjoy this read. I really love AMS more than any other European city, so if you have not been in a long while or if you are simply pining to visit, perhaps this read will either encourage you to go or help you bide your time until you can make it.

Arrival - March 25

To start, we had no issues at all with security. I was a bit concerned with the Brussels' bombing, but security was helpful and well organized. No issues or delays.

Centraal Station - rain, rain, rain. My wife has always wanted to go to Omelegg in the RLD, so we went by. Note to fellow travelers, ideally you can drop your luggage before you go to Omelegg! That place does not have much room at all. Still, we managed with our luggage.

I popped over to Voyagers for Chocolope and Silver Bubble. If you are interested in my reviews of the various strains, I wrote another entry on the strain review section. I did notice an Irish Pub around the corner from Voyagers. I've never been there, and made a mental note to visit on a future trip. In mid-March someone started an interested thread on Irish Pubs in AMS, and the particular pub I walked by from Omelegg to Voyagers was not mentioned.

The rain stopped by now, and we had a long walk to the apartment. Our apartment was right next to Electric Ladyland and 2 blocks from Paradox, so if you know the layout of AMS, we had a nice little stretch of the legs to go from Omelegg to Tweede Leliedwarsstraat. But I didn't mind. Walking through AMS is a special experience in and of itself.

After dropping luggage, we really couldn't get settled in until 3. At the time, it was only 11! Time to go walk around. First stop - Paradox for Moby Dick, Ace, and a slice of their pound cake.

Walked over to Waterlooplein and bought a pipe. The weather felt colder than we expected, so one person in my group also purchased a toboggan. Man, it was so cold on that Friday! Bundle up and smoke more, I say!

Uber from Paradox to the Van Gogh. 12 Euros in E class Mercedes if anyone is interested. Bargain for 4 people! We really like to time our trip to AMS with the end of month night viewing of the Van Gogh museum! That museum is a top 5 world wide museum for me. A few comments on the Van Gogh . . .

1. First, the bad. I liked the old entrance 100x better. They have moved that entrance 3 times in 5 years. The old entrance along the street was MUCH better. This entrance is terribly organized. You wait in a long line, then must cross a walking street of pedestrians. The poor Van Gogh attendants are continually monitoring that walk space because every other person is trying to cut the line. It's a fiasco. They need an Industrial Engineer to help them solve that problem. It is highly inefficient.

2. The good - the museum is beautiful at night. They dim the lights a bit and have live musicians play. It is not terribly crowded with tour groups. You can hang out in the lobby and have drinks. All in all a great experience that is one of my highest recommendations for anyone visiting!

After Van Gogh, we ate at Sama Sebo for Ristaffel. Sama Sebo is very good Indonesian food . . . but, it is a far, far cry to Sumatra in Leiden. Nevertheless, that night I was not in Leiden, so Sama Sebo is the best Indonesian I've had in AMS. Check out Sumatra in Leiden, though!

March 26

The sun is out! Hallelujah! We scheduled a great bike ride with We Bike AMS. Great tour of the fringes of AMS. If you have biked all over the central part of the city, this bike ride was great. Very small group of friendly people. The tour guide owned the company. It was 27.50 Euros for 3 hours.

It was so sunny that after the bike tour, we stopped at Café van Zuylen on . . . someone help me out . . . Singel? Hell, off of the top of my head I'm not 100% certain. Here you go:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ ... vince.html

Great outdoor area that I always seem to find myself walking by at some point or another on our trip. To boot, it is next to one of my wife's favorite places that we call Abandoned Art. This place is actually very great. The lady that runs the store has been there for a while. She actually remembered us from our Sept. visit. This art store gathers art from art galleries that are closing and from small town museums that are closing. Then they sell it for very reasonable prices. She will tell you the artist, where it was shown, the age, etc. Great location and great store! I highly recommend.

Next stop, a leisurely stroll through the Jordaan to Noordermarket. I really enjoy that market on Sat. morning. I like to write, so I usually load up on journals from that guy who sells them there. I also like the food vendors. We will purchase cheese, vegetables, fruit, bread, and I will buy a crepe from that little booth that has seats where you can watch them cook. My wife always looks for an old picture frame in an Art Nouveau style, and sometimes we find one and sometimes we don't.

The great thing about the Noordermarket is that you are next to Winkel! On a beautiful day like Saturday, we were able to sit outside and share some Apple Pie!

With our hands full from purchases at Noordermarket and our bellies full from apple pie, we stopped by the apartment to unload our purchases, then over to La Tertulia. See my review on La Tertulia for an update there. I had about 1.5g of weed at this point, so I didn't purchase anything. Instead we sipped on juices. They make really good juices there.

The remainder of the day consisted of meandering around the Nine Streets area where my wife bought a few things at random stores.

Whew! The above summarizes the first 2 days. Days 3 through 6 to come.

[Black-King]

Good job it was a nice read, looking forward to the rest!

[LLMReb]

Day 3 - My 40th Birthday!!

Started out the day with a great smoke of the remaining Moby Dick.

Then, being Easter Sunday, we walked over to the English Church at the Begijnhoff. It was a great service (in English). If you have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. The service starts at 10:30. The choir obviously worked very hard and at the end when they sang Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. Excellent way to start the day.

Walked over to P Akkerman on the Grimburgwal near Café 'T Gasthuys. Agh - P Akkerman was closed. I figured as much, but it was worth trying. Great pen store, by the way. It is challenging to get Pelikan pens in the US (at least where you can hold it and test it before you purchase), and I needed some refills on the rollerball. Well, the walk over wasn't a waste in the least because I like the toasties and a beer at Café 'T Gasthuys. I like that little street, too. The pastry shop at the beginning of that street is a #1 shop! If you smoke enough, La Margarita on that street is a great restaurant, too! The key with La Margarita is to get a seat overlooking the canal!

Walked around a bit and somehow ended up at Abraxas for the last of the Moby Dick. I didn't purchase anything here because their menu did not look all that appealing compared to what I was carrying. I do like the upstairs at Abraxas.

Wound down by doing a bit of shopping in the Nine Streets area. My wife loves Café Wheels on Wolvenstraat. We seem to always go by there on our visits. In the summer months if you can sit outside, it is a good people watching locale.

Walked around the RLD. On Easter Sunday, evidently even the hookers slow down. Of all the kamers, only saw 1 girl working. She should have stayed at home. I guess a market exists for the overweight women, but I don't understand how.

Ended up at afternoon tea (wife's call) at 1* Michelin restaurant in the Sofitel. Good set up and relaxing while it poured down rain.

I don't know how in the hell we ended up back at Winkel, but we ended up there at the end of the day. Instead of birthday cake, I had apple pie with cream. You just cannot beat the apple pie there!

By the time we arrived at the apartment, I felt like reloading on my stash, so we walked over to 1er Hulp. Purchased some G13-Haze, which was incredibly good. Also purchased White Widow for nostalgia purposes. Hung out and wrote a few postcards and called it a day.

One of the better birthdays I've experienced. For starters, it was Easter Sunday, so for the remainder of my life it will be easy to recall my 40th as a major holiday. And to add to the day, I was walking around and enjoying AMS. What a great city! AMS on my birthday was a wonderful experience!

[twinkles]

"Ended up at afternoon tea (wife's call) at 1* Michelin restaurant in the Sofitel. Good set up and relaxing while it poured down rain."

I assume you noted that it was the "wife's call" because you didn't think that it was very manly. But I guess I have a feminine side, because it sounds like an excellent idea to me. I am putting this down next to the beer bars as something to do on my next trip.

[mowie]

nice report, thank you!

[Willjay]

Thanks for sharing I do enjoy reading about the city's museums, shops, churches, restaurants, and apple pie

[macky]

Nice report...I spent my 50th on Easter Sunday there few years back. Went seen the opera The passion all buzzed out very

[LLMReb]

Not at all, twinkles. My wife, being 6 months pregnant, wanted to do something where she could sit and enjoy herself. I added that remark to share with others that 1) wife tagged along, which is standard for us; and 2) there are lots of other things to do in AMS than smoke. If anyone has any questions about the afternoon tea, I'm happy to share them. It was a great experience and 30 E per person. 5 different tea servings was a bit much, so we switched the last serving to coffee.

I'm fairly new to the board, so I am still getting a feel for what people enjoy reading. I don't see a lot of comments about spouses or stuff like tea, so I thought I'd incorporate some of those points into my travelogue for others to read.

[twinkles]

Before I retired, all of our travel was done as a couple. But now my wife gets to choose what we do with all of her vacation time, but she gives me a "hall pass" for my own solo trips, since I have unlimited time. And most of my trips to Amsterdam are solo. I do do fancy dinners solo (been to Vermeer for a 7 course tasting menu solo), but I am curious whether you could speculate on whether this tea service could be done comfortably solo. Also, what was the attire? Would I need a coat? I assume that a tie isn't necessary.

[OneHighMofo]

It sounds like you all had a wonderful trip - thanks for the travelogue - an enjoyable read.

[LLMReb]

Due to a few questions about the tea:

The way they presented the tea, you could definitely go as a single or multiple. The restaurant had several seats that would accommodate 1 or 2 persons up to 6. They bring the servings out on a platter. The egg dish to start was AMAZING!!! It is a slightly boiled egg with all sorts of stuff inside. They cut off the very top and you eat with a little spoon. Oh, man, I could have eaten a few more of them. For my wife, since she was pregnant, the chef came out and let us know that they cooked hers a bit more so she could enjoy it.

The attire is very casual. I had on a coat and sweater, but two of my companions wore rain jackets. Others in the room wore anything from sweater only to coat/tie. Someone that others said was a celebrity had one of those god awful velour jump suits and earphones the entire time. The waiter did not make a fuss over attire and encouraged us to lounge as long as we liked.

I wrote them to arrange it, and the maitre'd or whomever responded was very nice and helpful. The email was H2783-FB6@sofitel.com, Oudezijds Voorburgwal 197. Three options, which are:

1. Grand Afternoon Tea at 30 E per person
2. Champagne Afternoon Tea at 41 E per person
3. Grand Champagne Afternoon Tea at 52 E per person, which includes champagne and, "Michelin star amuses" whatever that means.

With pregnant wife, we opted for the Grand Afternoon Tea.

Oh, it is between 1500 and 1700 hours, and you select the time. Enjoy.

[Trashcanman]

Thanks LLMReb,
Love reading the travelogues but yours is really informative regarding other activities.
Outstanding job Dude