After the big meets of the past few days, we're now moving into a different phase of The Gathering. For me this means being joined by my partner, J. She's not arriving until this evening though, so I still have a day for manic coffeeshop photographing.
Last night OHMF and me discussed meeting at Ibiza for an exploration of the area south of the Oosterpark. This morning I read on the live thread that the rest of the crew are staying in the centre but I still fancy the Ooster-mission so I decide to go solo.
I head south across Rembrandtplein, past Hunter's Rembrandtsquare and Boerejongens Centre. (Snap snap snap). Through a corner of the Pijp where I pass Yo-Yo.
I guess we can't begrudge the kids their playground but I miss when you could sit outside Yo-Yo and smoke a joint on this sunny corner.
Crossing the River Amstel at Nieuwe Amstelbrug brings me to the Weesperzijde and the new location of Speakeasy on First Oosterparkstraat.
SpeakeasyHeading further east I cross the main road into Oosterparkbuurt proper and then a couple of streets south onto Third Oosterparkstraat. Here I find The Point.
The PointThen, just a little further along Third Oosterparkstraat, Los Angeles.
Los AngelesNext it's a little further south, under the railway bridge and into Transvaalbuurt. On Pretoriusstraat I tick off Crash Light.
Crash LightTurning back, I cross Krugerplein and manage to walk straight past Nachtegaal. Realising I've gone too far, I double back and get my pic of the last shop in this area.
Nachtegaal
Mission accomplished! What next? Over to the Pijp I think.
I make my way back to the river and walk up the east bank towards the bridge. As I pass the rowing club I spot this guy repairing a jetty and being assisted by some ducks.
Now back over the river in the Pijp, I stop for a quick refreshment at a bar on the corner of Sarphatipark.
I've brought my Nexus 7 tablet out for a walk with me today. I'm finding my way around using my Google Map of Open Amsterdam Coffeeshops. Although I can make areas of Google Maps available offline, I can't seem to do the same with my shop markers. This means that if I pan the map it is liable to lose all of the markers. Having wi-fi in this café enables me to reload.
A grand tour of the Pijp taking in most of the coffeeshops enables me to get fresh photos. Nice Place, Papillon and then Pacific.
Looping back, I take a look at the new Stones next to the mini red light district here.
Stones
Continuing on, I take in Katsu.
KatsuFollowed by Media and Superskunk.
At Superskunk, as I take a picture of the licence sticker someone inside looks up. I point at the sticker in case he thinks I'm trying to photograph the people inside. He nods and appears to understand. Moments later, as I'm taking a picture from across the road, I see him trying to remove the sticker as if he thought I was complaining about it.
After grabbing some passing pictures of Roxy, I feel it's time for a break.
RoxySo far I've been rushing around spotting coffeeshops without actually going into any of them. Now I decide it's time for a joint stop and settle on Yo-Yo as the place to do it.
Walking in that direction I pass Carmona so the camera is in action again. As I'm snapping away a guy emerges and asks why I don't go inside. Unable to think of a good reason not to, I follow him in.
Inside I find that it's changed a lot since I was last here. It used to be quite exotic. Now it's very modern with blue lighting.
Carmona has wi-fi so I'm able to reload my map again and make a brief post on the forum.
Sitting in this empty coffeeshop with my tablet and a joint I contemplate what to do next. The joint stop at Yo-Yo no longer seems necessary so I consider a route via Ballonnetje. In the end I settle on heading back to the apartment.
Now in the apartment with a cup of tea and a joint, I log into the forum. A new post says that there will be a meet at Coffeeshop 137 at 5:30. Looking at the time I realise that I could get there by then and still be back at Centraal Station in time to meet J. A chance to catch up with some of the gang and compare notes on our day's activities sounds good so I get my shit together and set off to join them.
A gentle stroll out west brings me to 137 around the designated meeting time but there's no sign of Macky, Danny, Drugsbunny or Matty. I hang around for a short while but nobody turns up so I move on.
Earlier I had suggested I might pop into Batavia before meeting J at the station so I head there. Inside I find Choppermike so I stop for a chat before making my way to the station.
J and I have a nice Thai near the apartment and then go back to Batavia for the traditional nightcap.
With most of the hardcore, such as the Danes and OHMF, no longer in town, the scene in Batavia is quite strange. There's no table full of ACDers with piles of bags and dabbing rigs. Instead we meet a German guy who's come by car from Hamburg. He's leaving tomorrow so, at the end of the evening, he gives me all of his little bags of grass to add to my, already large, collection.
