Just back from Amsterdam

[Giventofry]

Hi All,

 

Just back from a birthday trip to Amsterdam and I thought I'd share my thoughts.

 

From arrival at airport onward, man it was busy,  everywhere,  queuing for most things, check in, security and in lounges.

Got onto flight just about intime!!

Allow 3 plus hours for airport!

 

Easy short flight as many of you know!

Super super busy in Schiphol!

 

Eventually got my case and off to get ovchipcart, big mistake!, 3 day Amsterdam travel pass is much better value. But we live and learn.

Quick bus trip to hotel to drop bags and then.....

Leidesplein!!

One of my favourite places!

Quick wonder round the square then in to business.

Coffeeshop Get Down, just past Burger King off Leidesplein. 

Large selection "new" strains and a few classics, some nice hashes too

Always like this place, and the bud tender took a lot of pride describing his wares.

I went for 2g white window to get me started. 

Whoever said the weed in Dam was crap has obviously never been.

Half way through the first j I just felt that white window feeling. Nice.

Had another j to be sure.

Wondered round and came across,

Superskunk Coffeeshop,

Again,  very knowledgeable keen bud tender so after quite a long chat, 5g of Jack herrer and I'm pretty sure it was 5g for price of 4.

Yeah,  the window and jack working nicely so I went back to check into hotel, shower and change.

Back to Leidesplein, (bus stop)

Got food after trapesing round for ages, as you do!

 

Went past ...

The Rookies,

Probably my favourite coffeeshop, I just hadnt remembered how near to Leidesplein it was!!

Extensive selection cali, old school and hash. 

I asked about the Ice-o-lator hash.

20e a gram but it's my birthday weekend so why not.

10 mins later my brain is possibly the most high I've ever been.

Its the sort of smoke you have as a last one of the evening AFTER finding hotel. So I tootled on back to hotel.

I spent a few very excellent evenings in Rookies!!

 

I found in The Hague and Arnhem the weed and coffee are very cheap compared to Amsterdam but hardly any coffeeshops allow smoking with tobacco.  

Creamers,

more like a USA dispensary. 

Very wide selection of everything.

Dizzy Duck,

Again, dispensary style with very large selection, quite cheap prices.

 

Coffeeshop upstairs, Arnhem.

Coffee 1.5e!! Amsterdam 3-5e!!

Very nice bud tender giving me tourist advice!! Had a coffee and bought a gram just not to look rude. 5-9e a gram!!! Very cheap and very nice hash. 

No smoking of tobacco strictly enforced!

 

Coffeeshop Speak Easy. Arnhem

Wow, smoking permitted!!

Again, very cheap compared to the Dam.

Good selection of weed, hash etc.

Good music, Steve Ray Vaughn and I heard ub40 and the band that did ghost town.

Ironic as I'm a brummie/black country lad.

 

Down by John Frost Bridge is a good place to sit, watch the sunset with a takeaway coffee and smoke some joints. 

Foodhallen , 3 mins walk so I ate there.

Very nice. 

 

The rest of week/weekend , my daughter visited too.

So... just some highlights....

 

Ropescotti, 

Cali weed, just to see what to fuss is about.

Now I understand. 

Gorilla glue hash!

I saw this and had to have a bit.

1 j tore my head off , lovely.

 

Kadinsky coffeeshop, up by station. 

Some proper old school weeds here, so got 1g jack herrer.

Very very nice weed.

Nice coffee and the lady working there was up for a chat about their weed and stuff.

I really like how the bud tenders are into their products.

 

Pink Floyd cover band, ace!!

Albert Cuup market, Cool!!

( quick stop Katsu coffeeshop as they do vegan hash cake, and a large selection of hash, while the little one(17and a half!) went to some vintage clothes shops.

Canal trip, great,

Trapse round shops, quite nice to be honest!

Stumbled across...

Coffeeshop 137,

So popped in for a coffee and a j, quite a cheap menu so I got a gram off nice hash. Moroccan and very squidgy!! Nice.

 

Next day, 

Abraxas, on side street coming down from Central Station

Popped in quick while daughter went into some shops.

Nice wide menu of products, nice coffee!

Glad I went in as every time I went past it was heaving!!

One of the first coffeeshops I ever went to so I have to go in!!

 

More tourist stuff,

Lost in Amsterdam,

i liked this place as i had alot off weed.

You can smoke your own here and have a drink. They do not sell weed etc.

Comfy seating.

Just accros, West,  from station.

Near where Pink Floyd used to be if youre old.

 

Late dinner then back to hotel, a couple of the ropescotti outside the hotel and I'm pretty fucked!!

 

Next day, new to me...

Stratt museum of graffiti and street art, NDSM area, North Amsterdam.

Wow, this place is bloody amazing.

Street art from over the world on a massive scale. Nice cafe/restaurant. 

Free ferry from centraal Station. 

We spent most the day mooching round the ndsm area, very nice, despite the weather. 

Back to Leidesplein,  had a j  just sat on a bench watching world go by.

Dinner takes a while to find so it's late after pudding so we go back to hotel midnight.  I have a quick one outside hotel with a few other fellow tokers!!

 

So that's the highlights!

We did all the usual Dam stuff,  eat stoofwaffels, eat nice fries with too much mayo, got lost etc.

But generally, 

Nice people,

Nice weed and hash,

Get a Amsterdam travel pass,

Don't buy too much weed, ahem!

Wrap up warm, wear boots/waterproof.

 

Can't wait to go again!!

January, possibly 

October,  almost definitely. 

 

Dankevelt Amsterdam!

Bedankt voor je gastvrijheid!!

 

Fry

 

 

[Exhale]

8 hours ago, Giventofry said:

I heard ub40 and the band that did ghost town.

Ironic as I'm a brummie/black country lad.

 

The Specials, ar kid, from Coventry.

 

Get pissed off I do when I hear people say "Oh I LOVE Madness" when you hear it

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip

[MidgeSmith]

13 hours ago, Giventofry said:

Hi All,

 

Just back from a birthday trip to Amsterdam and I thought I'd share my thoughts.

 

From arrival at airport onward, man it was busy,  everywhere,  queuing for most things, check in, security and in lounges.

Got onto flight just about intime!!

Allow 3 plus hours for airport!

 

Easy short flight as many of you know!

Super super busy in Schiphol!

 

Eventually got my case and off to get ovchipcart, big mistake!, 3 day Amsterdam travel pass is much better value. But we live and learn.

Quick bus trip to hotel to drop bags and then.....

Leidesplein!!

One of my favourite places!

Quick wonder round the square then in to business.

Coffeeshop Get Down, just past Burger King off Leidesplein. 

Large selection "new" strains and a few classics, some nice hashes too

Always like this place, and the bud tender took a lot of pride describing his wares.

I went for 2g white window to get me started. 

Whoever said the weed in Dam was crap has obviously never been.

Half way through the first j I just felt that white window feeling. Nice.

Had another j to be sure.

Wondered round and came across,

Superskunk Coffeeshop,

Again,  very knowledgeable keen bud tender so after quite a long chat, 5g of Jack herrer and I'm pretty sure it was 5g for price of 4.

Yeah,  the window and jack working nicely so I went back to check into hotel, shower and change.

Back to Leidesplein, (bus stop)

Got food after trapesing round for ages, as you do!

 

Went past ...

The Rookies,

Probably my favourite coffeeshop, I just hadnt remembered how near to Leidesplein it was!!

Extensive selection cali, old school and hash. 

I asked about the Ice-o-lator hash.

20e a gram but it's my birthday weekend so why not.

10 mins later my brain is possibly the most high I've ever been.

Its the sort of smoke you have as a last one of the evening AFTER finding hotel. So I tootled on back to hotel.

I spent a few very excellent evenings in Rookies!!

 

I found in The Hague and Arnhem the weed and coffee are very cheap compared to Amsterdam but hardly any coffeeshops allow smoking with tobacco.  

Creamers,

more like a USA dispensary. 

Very wide selection of everything.

Dizzy Duck,

Again, dispensary style with very large selection, quite cheap prices.

 

Coffeeshop upstairs, Arnhem.

Coffee 1.5e!! Amsterdam 3-5e!!

Very nice bud tender giving me tourist advice!! Had a coffee and bought a gram just not to look rude. 5-9e a gram!!! Very cheap and very nice hash. 

No smoking of tobacco strictly enforced!

 

Coffeeshop Speak Easy. Arnhem

Wow, smoking permitted!!

Again, very cheap compared to the Dam.

Good selection of weed, hash etc.

Good music, Steve Ray Vaughn and I heard ub40 and the band that did ghost town.

Ironic as I'm a brummie/black country lad.

 

Down by John Frost Bridge is a good place to sit, watch the sunset with a takeaway coffee and smoke some joints. 

Foodhallen , 3 mins walk so I ate there.

Very nice. 

 

The rest of week/weekend , my daughter visited too.

So... just some highlights....

 

Ropescotti, 

Cali weed, just to see what to fuss is about.

Now I understand. 

Gorilla glue hash!

I saw this and had to have a bit.

1 j tore my head off , lovely.

 

Kadinsky coffeeshop, up by station. 

Some proper old school weeds here, so got 1g jack herrer.

Very very nice weed.

Nice coffee and the lady working there was up for a chat about their weed and stuff.

I really like how the bud tenders are into their products.

 

Pink Floyd cover band, ace!!

Albert Cuup market, Cool!!

( quick stop Katsu coffeeshop as they do vegan hash cake, and a large selection of hash, while the little one(17and a half!) went to some vintage clothes shops.

Canal trip, great,

Trapse round shops, quite nice to be honest!

Stumbled across...

Coffeeshop 137,

So popped in for a coffee and a j, quite a cheap menu so I got a gram off nice hash. Moroccan and very squidgy!! Nice.

 

Next day, 

Abraxas, on side street coming down from Central Station

Popped in quick while daughter went into some shops.

Nice wide menu of products, nice coffee!

Glad I went in as every time I went past it was heaving!!

One of the first coffeeshops I ever went to so I have to go in!!

 

More tourist stuff,

Lost in Amsterdam,

i liked this place as i had alot off weed.

You can smoke your own here and have a drink. They do not sell weed etc.

Comfy seating.

Just accros, West,  from station.

Near where Pink Floyd used to be if youre old.

 

Late dinner then back to hotel, a couple of the ropescotti outside the hotel and I'm pretty fucked!!

 

Next day, new to me...

Stratt museum of graffiti and street art, NDSM area, North Amsterdam.

Wow, this place is bloody amazing.

Street art from over the world on a massive scale. Nice cafe/restaurant. 

Free ferry from centraal Station. 

We spent most the day mooching round the ndsm area, very nice, despite the weather. 

Back to Leidesplein,  had a j  just sat on a bench watching world go by.

Dinner takes a while to find so it's late after pudding so we go back to hotel midnight.  I have a quick one outside hotel with a few other fellow tokers!!

 

So that's the highlights!

We did all the usual Dam stuff,  eat stoofwaffels, eat nice fries with too much mayo, got lost etc.

But generally, 

Nice people,

Nice weed and hash,

Get a Amsterdam travel pass,

Don't buy too much weed, ahem!

Wrap up warm, wear boots/waterproof.

 

Can't wait to go again!!

January, possibly 

October,  almost definitely. 

 

Dankevelt Amsterdam!

Bedankt voor je gastvrijheid!!

 

Fry

 

 

Good account and nice to hear, share Pink Floyd has gone.  The first time we went to Amsterdam, 1989 I think, we stayed in a room that looked down on the front of the Pink Floyd.  It actually was my first exposure after Dark Side and got me into Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii which was showing upstairs there was we smoked.  From there, the whole back catalogue.

I miss Leidesplein, I really like it.  I guess one of my first experiences in Amsterdam was at Bulldog - which yeah, I know it has a bad rep - but it was a great place to crash and drink at the same time as smoking which is what we were used to.

I'd love to go back one day.  It brought back fond memories reading your adventures so cheers!

 

Midge

 

[Giventofry]

10 hours ago, Exhale said:

 

The Specials, ar kid, from Coventry.

 

Get pissed off I do when I hear people say "Oh I LOVE Madness" when you hear it

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip

 

As I've lived round here all my life, I hang my head in shame  that I couldn't remember,

The Specials.

 

 

[Giventofry]

5 hours ago, MidgeSmith said:

Good account and nice to hear, share Pink Floyd has gone.  The first time we went to Amsterdam, 1989 I think, we stayed in a room that looked down on the front of the Pink Floyd.  It actually was my first exposure after Dark Side and got me into Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii which was showing upstairs there was we smoked.  From there, the whole back catalogue.

I miss Leidesplein, I really like it.  I guess one of my first experiences in Amsterdam was at Bulldog - which yeah, I know it has a bad rep - but it was a great place to crash and drink at the same time as smoking which is what we were used to.

I'd love to go back one day.  It brought back fond memories reading your adventures so cheers!

 

Midge

 

@MidgeSmith

If you can, go!

The money I saved growing paid for my trip.

I went on my own for 4 days for my 50th, it was awesome. 

Came back with some money too so not as expensive as I thought!

Sunday to Thursday you used to get pretty cheap deals flight and hotel. 

[Exhale]

@Giventofry it's alright buddy we all get old

 

 

[Giventofry]

Just now, Exhale said:

@Giventofry it's alright buddy we all get old

 

 

Very apt.

I'm 50 now.

Fuuck.

[Exhale]

I've got 2 years on you and I'm a spring chicken (with a metal knee)

[MidgeSmith]

10 minutes ago, Exhale said:

I've got 2 years on you and I'm a spring chicken (with a metal knee)

What sort of music does your other knee like?

[Michael Luchóg]

You meet some interesting folks in Amsterdam, and it's got something for everyone I suppose. I was mostly disappointed with weed in Amsterdam and glad to have learned the right shops to go to for a good deal, or bulk deal in other cities. I remember when they had more variety with foreign hash, and some probably impossible to procure nowadays. 

You could get into trouble so easily, get trapped in the wrong basement premises doing something you shouldn't or sit at a train platform only to find a sniffer dog licking you and some officious f*$%ers surround you, take your details and process you. People can be very cold and angry in Amsterdam, tired of tourists asking for directions perhaps. 

[Exhale]

@MidgeSmith sweet chin

[MidgeSmith]

[Exhale]

Just now, Michael Luchóg said:

People can be very cold and angry in Amsterdam, tired of tourists asking for directions perhaps. 

 

No just the fucking ignorant inwards lot like little englanders I'm afraid.

 

I have met many a dutchman who have been more than happy to learn some of my dialect to polish their own skills while teaching me theirs without setting you up..

 

 

[Michael Luchóg]

@Exhale ; I've also passed a bit of time correcting and being corrected. I know the Den Haag accent, and the toff-ish ones. It's not as warm a city as Maastricht or Zwollen. Generally speaking, I found people to have less time for other folks. We've both lived there. You'll find a hell of a lot of shifty characters in Amsterdam. That's not implying Dutchmen are shifty. People often warmed to me after they assumed I'm British and I told them I wasn't, the tune changed! 

[Exhale]

I'm not too bad with the accents it's remembering the words where I get stuck at times, being Welsh of origin I spoke two languages from a young age and the rest I've picked up as I've worked, I think in labour it's easier to change perceptions and win folk over putting some hard graft in and then the culture opens up to you and when you become part of it you learn more.

 

When I worked near St. Petersburg not long after the dissolution they were a lot more welcoming than central/eastern europeans.

 

Some peoples actions along with the media have made it not so safe as people would assume when travelling to a foreign country, do your best to learn a few basic phrases and be humble - there are some who are quick to ire from the most innocent of interactions with minimal disrespect intended though I agree.