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It's been a while since the last episode but I found this partially complete account of Saturday so I just finished it off and here it is.

Day 6 - Saturday 22nd April 2017

With J (my partner) in tow, things have slowed down a lot now.

There's absolutely nothing on the official schedule today so I tell J that I'm at her disposal if there's anything touristy she'd like to do. It turns out that there isn't and that she's quite happy to try to catch up with the ACD crew if anyone's still about. That being the case, I post on the forum that we'll get to Utopia at 3pm.

With that, we saunter out for a late breakfast at our favourite café.


Puccini

It's on a sunny corner opposite Waterlooplein market and is very small. The kitchen is a cramped corner of the room where prepared salads magically emerge from stainless steel drawers. Focaccia with roast courgette, aubergine, pepper, sundried tomatoes, avocado and pesto goes down very well with me.

Our relaxed pace means it's soon time to head over to Utopia.


Amsterdam is looking pretty in the spring sunshine today

At Utopia we find Smirks, Papi, Gapie and Mr & Mrs Macky. Just the kind of crew you need for a good session.



After a couple of hours of serious sessioning, J drags me off for some shopping on Nieuwendijk and Kalverstraat. Well, I say shopping. What seems like many hours of walking in and out of shops doesn't seem to result in any purchases. Still, maybe that's a good thing.

In Utopia we had arranged to meet at 420 Café (de Kuil) for the evening. So, the slow-paced vibe of the day continues through dinner and then we head down to Oudebrugsteeg.

It's a busy Saturday night in Amsterdam and, when we get to 420 café, we find Matty, Macky, wife and brother in law, Omnibuz and Danny waiting outside. They tell us that it's full inside so we all wander around to Hill Street Blues.

HSB is also full. This really is a busy Saturday night!

We cross the road and go into Bones and Co. At least there's room in here.

I used to frequent this place when it was the Greenhouse Effect Hotel bar back in the nineties and naughties. Back then it had the Greenhouse Effect coffeeshop next door and DJs playing in the bar on a Saturday night. At the rear was a comfy seating area where we spent many late evenings after the coffeeshops had closed.

[Incidentally, I think I read a post recently suggesting that Greenhouse Effect is part of the Arjan's Greenhouse chain. As far as I know, that's not the case.]

The rear section is now a partitioned-off smoking room. Very different to how it used to be but still cool in its own way.


Bones and Co smoking room

The eight of us settle into the tobacco-free bar area at the front with our beers and joints. A nice little social ensues.

After a good session there we move on to Lost in Amsterdam.
J likes this place and it's on the way home for some of our party. A last drink and spliff and then we call it a night.

Thnx Lems, a great little write up from a chillaxed day. Sounds like you had fun with the remainder of the gang and got some couples time in also, very efficient on a relaxed day…

Also read (and if the “smart”phone didn’t mess with me, post a reply to) the post suggesting that there was a connection between GHE and Arjan’s biz, never been the case to our knowledge.

GHE was a nice place back in the day when we first started coming to the city, but once we got fond of places like Basjoe’s, Katsu and so on we spent too little time there before it was gone. Nes was always number one to us though.

Yeah, it’s that old tune again...

Anyways, great pics as per ush Lemming, keep ‘em coming!

CC

great report…like it was just yesterday

Good stuff dude, always loads of pics and recommendations for eateries. I shall have to check that cafe out.

Day 7 - Sunday 23rd April 2017 - Art

Today really is going to be a J-Day. That is, I'm putting the missus in charge.

Her thing is art. Generally splodgy modern art.

Today, however, she's found an exhibition that features two of my favourite artists: Banksy and Salvador Dali. Excellent!

Surprisingly, there are no restrictions on taking photos in the gallery.

Art

If you look carefully you might see that this is a picture stuck on a real window.











I usually find being dragged around art galleries a bit of an ordeal but that was really cool. Nevertheless, I'm now ready for a joint and a beer. We head towards the Leidseplein.

As we cross the hecticness of Stadhouderskade, we bump into Papi. This man has a talent for popping up randomly when you least expect him. After a brief conversation, he vanishes back into the crowd, pimpernel-style. We're left standing there saying "did that just happen?"

Once the bewilderment clears, we get back to our mission. Strangely, that takes us to Bulldog Palace. I haven't been in this place for decades but it does the job as a place to roll a joint and drink a beer. We find a comfy seat and are given free cheese and nuts.

Suitably refreshed, J decides that we should take a stroll through Vondel Park next.


Vondel Park

We walk the length of the park and take some side trips to photograph coffeeshops. Then it's back into town via more coffeeshop photo opportunities.

Come the evening it's down to Batavia again. It's our last night in town and first-timer LLMreb is supposed to be arriving.


Batavia

At the bar, a guy approaches me and says something like "Are you er, um, I mean ..."

"I'm Lemming, hi", I interrupt. This is LLMreb, complete with family.

Downstairs we find Papi, Nugs and Nathan420. Another good session is soon in progress. The day fades out in hazy style again. Good stuff!

Just one part-day to go. I'll include the traditional cast list and some conclusions when I post that last instalment.

Excellent read once again Lemming ! Great pictures too mate. I really enjoy your photos ! Thank you for writing it up

Great write up as always Lemming. Looking forward to the final part.

My wife's growing a beard waiting for you to continue.

https://www.triviaplaying.com/406-canna ... trivia.htm

When an unequal number of surprise gifts must be distributed while in a state of stonedness

really enjoyed this, pics are great

Day 8 - Monday 24th April 2017 - Departure

We have a few hours before our flight so we start with breakfast back at Puccini (see Saturday above).

From there we head off towards Utopia for a final session. Along the way we cross Dam square where we see this:


Packing up

This funfair in Dam square has been a regular occurrence in recent years. I always assumed that it was ready for Queen's/King's Day but, as we're leaving, it's also being dismantled. I guess it's just set up for us then, to give us something colourful to look at when we pass the Dam at night.

In Utopia we find Danny211204, Gapie, Matty223 and Omnibuzz in the house so I'm soon getting very chilled for the flight home. Thanks guys

So that's it. Over for another year. Thanks to everyone who joined us and made it such fun.

Cast of ACD forum members:

Choppermike
Cisco
CopenhagenCouple
Danny211204
DeLekkersteNUGS16
Drugsbunny
Elasticband
Gapie
HullDJ + wife
Ingi Blingi
KeyMonCha
Lafe
Lemming + J
Macky + wife + wife's brother
Madmaxxx
Matty223
Miss Muffett
Mowie
Nathan420stoner
Omnibuzz
Papi
Pierre von Mondragon
OneHighMofo
Rickydude
Smirks
Spidergawd
Tuttiflutes

Conclusions

It was another brilliant Gathering. There were more people than last year and the usual nice combination of veterans and first-timers.

One small complaint from me is that there were insufficient Volcanoes. Smoking too many joints left me feeling mildly unhealthy for much of the time. Fortunately I've now got a portable vape so I'll take that along next time.

Gapie mentioned a couple of other complaints to me. He said we spent too much time in bars rather than coffeeshops and that he missed the 'Old Gang'.

It's true that we did finish most evenings in Batavia but we were coffeeshopping all day. Batavia does have its issues, it can get very smoky and short of oxygen, but it fills the role that the Nes performed for our first nine gatherings.

As for the 'Old Gang', I'm not sure which particular combination that might have been. Every year we have a mix of veterans and first timers and every year is different. Nobody has been to every one, not even Gapie or me. I missed 2010, the volcano year, and Gapie only joined us from 2009 onwards. Many people have been to several Gatherings over the years and Lafe, who was with us this year, was also at our very first along with AzLaker, BluMing, Bluelaru, Blueberry, DC, Old Hippie Dave, Zunkii, J and me.

While I'm name dropping, I should also mention Trad, Hestia, ftCarer and the late Cattales1960, who contributed considerably to some of our biggest 4/20s.

Anyway, I thought this year's gang were well up to standard.

On a different subject, at the planning stage I did have a slight concern about celebrating 4:20 on a boat because that meant people having to pay to join us, which seemed to go against the spirit of the Gathering. On the day, though, that didn't seem to matter and everyone was happy. We also had our biggest boat trip ever, so many thanks to Macky for making that happen.

Another thing that worries me a little is that, if we should be lucky enough to make a habit of getting the VIP treatment in coffeeshops, we might get people joining us for the wrong reasons. Hopefully I'm wrong about that too.

I kind of like the loose and slightly shambolic nature of our 4/20 Gatherings and the openness of the 'everyone welcome' principle. As with the Forum generally, I'm always keen to avoid it becoming a closed clique because, if previous groups had achieved that objective, we wouldn't still be here.

Sometimes I feel like Puff the Magic Dragon , always here as people come to play for a few years and then move on.

New items on my packing list for next year:

Portable vape - I've now got one of these so I'll take it along next time.
A marker pen - so I can write on the bags and remember what turned me into a zombie for a week.

See you in April.

Sat in Greece at the moment having a little break which has given me some time to read through some of the bits I've missed over the last year on the forum and finally manage to get through Lemmings fantastic trip report.

The pics, posts and memories are what life is all about.

Massive thanks to all making memories here with their trip reports.

Earlier today reminiscing about Cats 420 banner where some nearly got hit by the tram.

Good times with some members sadly no longer with us but their memories live on from the stories they told here.

Let's wait and see how Brexit will affect our future 420 parties.

Keep having a fun time stoner friends from around the world. X

P.s. EPIC trip report Lemming..

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