It's REAL nice to move from "travel plans before" to "travelogues (after or during)"! Now we're really HERE!
Update for Lubricant, Fauntleroy and CodeJD:
Since it's currently raining and already 1:23pm and we're taking off for the concert 'round 6-6:30pm, why don't we shoot for a meet up tomorrow? We're on Brouwersgracht around the corner from Haarlemstraat shops and just a block down from our new favorite shop "137"! Doors, Siberie...both nice and close. Our only plans are a scooter excursion out to the REAL Anne Frank house (where she lived, not hid out), about a 20 minute ride from the center (an hour knowing my navigational skills on the scooter!!).
Alright, on with the show!
SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009:
We depart Logan airport in Boston - the weather is nice and despite the change in gate and long lines to get a ticket the flight is uneventful and our last seats on the plane provided us privacy (except the que to the toilet at times), quick toilet access and nobody behind us. Besides, I had our loaded iPod (50gb of tunes at the ready) and dozed virtually the whole flight.
SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2009:
We arrive early due to tail winds and it's sunny and chilly (being 8am and all) and we head out to catch our train. The first thing we do notice is there are waaay more Americans than we expected. Granted, many are in casual business attire but quite a few have that stoner vibe to them and we're all heading for our first smoke.
The train is literately waiting for us to climb aboard and we're in the City centre by 8:30am, a good hour before our greeter will meet us at the apartment. We track down our place first - a piece of cake since we've studied Google Maps street view until our eye's bled - and, since there's no greeter in site we head for the nearest coffeeshop (well, what's a boy to do??) and so the games begin...
BARNEY'S, HAARLEMSTRAAT
We stop in and the long-haired pony tailed bloke and brunette chick are in no mood for conversation. That's ok, my practiced "dunk yu well" (sorry for butchering the spelling!) at least elicits me a smile and appropriate response of (I'm hoping) the Dutch equivalent of "you're welcome". Of course, it could have been Dutch for "go fuck yourself" and I would have just smiled and placed my order anyway!!:D
We order our first batch - the mighty "KING HASSAN" at the even mightier price of 18e/g. Of course, at home I would have emptied out my bank account to purchase such hasj at such a price but since we are NOT at home but TRUELY AT home we must view the hasj with a selective eye. The results do not dissapoint - wonderful texture, dark brown shell with a creamy interior. The taste was real good (not great) but pure and the high chilled us out for our meet and greet with the greeter we were going to meet.
While toking, we noticed the blonde chick at the other side of Barney's looked familiar - she was on our plane! Sitting with a guy we didn't recognize, I approached and asked if they were from Boston. The guy said "no" and she sheepishly said "I flew in with you guys"...it looked like she was a bit embarrassed, almost like she was caught where whe wasn't supposed to be! I just said something like "we ALL head here first, don't we?" and walked off.
Finishing our spliff and cafe, we wonder to our apartment and wait a few minutes for our greeter. What was to come blew us away...
BUT, MORE ON THAT LATER!
Thanks for the read, LUBE, FAUNTLEROY, CODE JD - see you tommorrow??
