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Published: October 25th 2007
Amsterdam. ahhh...Amsterdam.
If only I could remember any of it.
We have just arrived in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, after a 'lovely' night bus from Berlin and we have a few hours to kill before we can czech-in to our hotel room, so i figured it would a good opportunity to write up a little blog for Amsterdam before it becomes a hazy distant memory, which it already was even when we were still there. I wonder why?
Ever since I was a teenager hanging out in Darwin, it has been a dream of mine (and Niki's) to visit Amsterdam, to sample a piece or two of the liberal culture that has found a home in Amsterdam's many cafe's, and what a nice cosy home it is, complete with cats, hot chocolates, hookah's, ham and cheese toasties and whatever smoking paraphenalia you may happen to require. It's paradise, and they say money can't buy happiness, but for under 12 Euros (about $20) you can pick up a gram of top quality grass. Why not try the Super silver haze, the shiva, or perhaps the N.Y.C Diesel might be more your cup of tea. Whichever it is, i
can personally guarantee you'll be in smokers heaven. You may be thinking that we have inadvertantly stumbled across Leonardo's 'Beach', when i first arrived I too questioned whether i would ever want to, or be able to leave, but Amsterdam does have it's flaws.
1) It's fucking confusing man. I don't know whether it is because I was ripped, or because whoever draws up the maps of Amsterdam is, but those goddamn streets make so little sense it isn't funny. Well, if you're stoned it is a bit funny, but when it's cold and you've accidentally wondered off the map, and your compass is playing up, then it can be a bit of a drain. You see the city is designed in a semi-circle with all the streets radiating out from centraal station, so if you start heading down the wrong road, you'll steadily work your way further and further away from everything until your lost. It's not really that bad, but it took me five days to start feeling comfortable with directions here, by which time it was too late.
2) There's not much to do or see, which isn't really a problem either, seeing as when
CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!
Sion found a secret back-door into heaven, it's through the cheeseshop.you've got a pocket full of green, you don't need much else to keep you entertained. They have chess and board games in the cafes, so i guess that is satisfactory enough. Amsterdam is quite a beautiful city though, when its not raining, which it was for most of the time we were there (which was quite a dramatic change from Paris, where the weather was awesome). Listen to me, I'm turning into a right pom, complaining about the weather, bad form Sion, bad form.
3) I'm not sure if there is a three. Oh wait, yes there is...too many tourists. It can feel a bit tacky.
Apart from that it's a pretty awesome place, I couldn't live there neccessarily, but I could certainly visit on weekends, it's an easy place to chill out, and everything is catered for so you don't have to mission for whatever you crave.
We stayed in two different hostels while we were there. The Flying Pig, which Rick (our boss at the town house-he's from Darwin) recommended to us. Very hip and fun, but LOTS of people. We were in a 32-bed dorm and there were so many people that everyone
becomes sort of anonymous. Everyone seemed to keep to themselves, a bit like zombies, they were all in the same room, yet noone was talking or anything, a bit weird. The hostel itself is pretty cool though, they have heaps of room to chill and smoke, and they serve beers and junk. That's right i just remembered, beer's are really expensive in Amsterdam, so i would stick to smoking if i were you. The other hostel was Aroza, a cheapie round the corner that we had to move to after we went to try and book our bus to Berlin, only to discvoer it was booked out for three more days. We were actually quite lucky that we found anywhere, most places were full. We saw some Americans who had been walking around Amsterdam for over six hours looking for a room. It was nice enough, but quite shabby, and no hot water. They did let us bring our own boose and food into the bar and just hang out smoking. Yes, we did a lot of smoking, i know.
So yeah, thats about it, didn't do much, we tried to go to some museums, like the Van Gogh
one, but we didn't feel like coughing up the 11 Euro admission fee. Same deal with the Henieken experience. We did make it to Anne Frank's house, where her and her family went into hiding during the Nazi's persecution of the Jews, and i think she wrote some book about it, didn't she? It was crazy actually walking through the doorway hidden behind the bookcase, and walking around the secret annex.
Amsterdam scores 10/10 for price, availability and quality of pot. It was everything I dreamt and more. but it scores a bit lower on attractions and ease of use, but when your hanging out in the cafe where they filmed some of Ocean's 12 (you know the bit where Matt Damon makes a dick off himself going on about being a traveller through time and space) smoking a big fat jay, I couldn't care less. Roll on Amsterdam!
Next stop, Berlin.
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Zo
non-member comment
........
yes, yes, YES.