Stoned in Amsterdam

Silly Gary,

you should've asked first. For bin diving, and better atmosphere than the horrible Dam plaza where this picture was taken (I was 750 yards up that avenue in the Music Theater at the very mo you snapped that picture!) you should go to the Concerto store on Utrechtse St, where they also have a couple of relaxed pubs, eateries just off the beautiful canals. It's just beyond the Rembrand's Plein. After all you don't need the red light district, and all those close alleys. If you wanna get stoned in Amsterdam you can do it too in a great location.

Herman

Herm, you are of course correct. Our visage of the three days there was little more than the red light district. It was funny because no matter where we walked we always landed up at the central station.

On the second day I actually got blisters from the walking and still nothing, just the cold under belly of sleezery. Which I admit was fun for the first day but soon got tiring.

On a lighter note I did get completely caned for around 20€ for the three days which has gott to be good in anyones books.

We went on a tram, to be honest I thought they looked a bit like a bus and therefore would probably not be very much fun, but alas Sheila was insistant so tram it was. We did wait for a boat thingy but that never turned up so we gave up.

We did the Van Gogh museum which was nice (although I felt the museum was not in keeping with Van Goghs works.)

I mean no disrespct to the city itself, I appriciate we were in the seedy underbelly of what was available but I stand by my comments, this was the centre of town, and it failed in key areas for me. The food was crap (seriously I looked for around 2 hours one day to come up with something/anything other than steak and pizza.)
The soul was missing (from this section of town at least).
And the night life was nothing short of aggresive. Sheila felt inclinded to wear dour jeans and t-shirt because of the comments heard when wearing a dress. I was propositioned at every turn for illicit drugs, sometimes followed. And frankly I didn't feel comfortable with my fiance with me (although appriciate I would have been alright on my own)

All in all my first experince of Amsterdam has not been great, I felt that it lived up to exactly what I was expecting, coffee shops and sex, it provided plenty of that, but ultimatly I don't (at least hope) that this is not what maketh modern man!

I will return though better educated!

garyi - seems like you fell for the cliche amsterdam weekend. ive always had a good time - but places need to be hunted down. checkout the indonesian food next time.

As for record shopping - I did manage to find some great nu-school breaks overs there. But one thing does nag me about the record stores - even the sleeves are kept behind the counters - so you cant go for casual dig

I always end up doing the same things. Late morning go to cafe, coffee & space cake. Afternoon spent in Gollum's with a few very nice beers and a toasted cheese sarnie, then to Melkweg if anything passable is on.
Had some friends who went for a "couples" weekend, and they wern't particularly impressed, and my wife went with her mates and wasn't too impressed either. I think you have to do the thing, or its just like anywhere else.

Gary

I have two contrasting experiences of Amsterdam.

I had a week there, visiting museums, art gallerys and record shops a few years ago. The Wife was working there and I tagged along. I thought it was a great place, really chilled out and friendly. Nice hotel, good resturants and ambience. Staalplaat is one of the coolest record shops in the world. I could hardly carry all the records I bought in that week, a happy time.

A few years later, The Wife was on another job, and the clients booked her a hotel which was close to Red Light district, It was an utter dive, with no service at all, dirty, creepy blokes in the bar etc. and after seeing it she walked down reception and got in a taxi to the Hilton, and told the clients she was not prepared to stay in the dump they had booked. They caved in and paid for the better place. This coloured her view of the city.

So I guess we need to have another go to see how it is now.

DS

PS - I have half a dozen Terranova records - they're not that bad!

Dave, I will return to teranova, in the shop it sounded like really heavy electronica which I like a bit of, the reality had some annoying singing. But we will see.

I am prepared to accept that we did not get the best view of amsterdam, mabye we will try again soon.

For myself I did not feel safe with my Fiance there no doubt if I were on my own or with friends I would have relaxed more.

Gary,

you and Sheila will feel quite comfortable if you just avoid the Central Station (with all these tacky 'exotic' buskers) plus the immediate area surrounding (red light to the east and porn + blue delft to the west).

Just look at the picture you posted. You need to keep on truckin' down that avenue straight ahead. It's called the Rokin (pronounced: roakin'). You continue till you're at the Mint / Munt, with the flower market on the right hand. Forget about the flowers. You proceed east towards the Rembrandt Place, where there's a couple of large bars and night clubs. This is where the night life is, if you're interested.

In the daytime however you take a 90 degree turn right into Utrechtse Street, where they have some nice shops (shoes, records, kitchenware, wine), bars and eateries with a local feel, plus you have the beautiful canals intersecting all the time.

If you want more, you continue Southwards, past the Wetering Circle towards the district called the Pipe. It's Amsterdam's quartier latin.

Herman

Amsterdam can be cultural you know guys...

I went there in 1988 - but err, with my parents, and I was 13... We checked out a couple of museams, did the canals thing, Anne Frank's house, and as my parents are devout Catholics (shock horror shudder) we also had to go and check out that hidden church from way back when when Catholicism was banned... Guess where it was? He he he - so I got to see the red light district anyway - eyes on stalks time - I couldn't believe it...

Anyway, will be hopefully doing the tourist thing soon when one of the posse gets their passport - gimme some decent spacecakes, a couple of cheap bints and a good club and I'll be happy... Well, I don't pay for it, but if the mood took me...

I'll be seeing Anne Frank's place again too though - I didn't really take it all in at 13 - although it was still an obviously powerful experience.

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

Domf - So Amsterdam can be cultural, but you are going for spacecakes and a couple of cheap "bints", eh?!
Love it.

I guess it's our own fault

Needless to say the local population is not too delighted with the town being synonymous for Hedo-tourism - beer, dope, pppp (= puking and peeing in public places). Fortunately most of it is confined (as one can tell by te reports on this thread) to a 500 yard radius around Central Station. Beyond that the adventurers get a little fatigued, apparently. Or perhaps they turn cultural.

Herman

Domf,
if you go back to Ann Frank's house, take a look at her diary. Here's an taster:

DAY 1: Hid
DAY 2: Hid
DAY 3: Hid
DAY 4: Hid
etc

Brian OReilly

I saw the diary in '88 - but the handwriting was too far away within that perspex box for me to be able to read it...

Yeah, I did the cultural thing last time. This time I'll mix that with cheap bints, biftas and booze... No PPPP for me though - that's what those standup funny green metal urinals are for (do they still have them, Garyi??)

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

I spent a long weekend there with my better-half for my birthday this year. Before we went, a couple of girls we know who are from Amsterdam wrote us a list of cool places to visit/drink/eat/etc (sadly, no record shop recos).

We followed their advice, and it worked out great, with the exception of a 'comedy' venue called Boom Chicago. The gags were so obvious, we ended up finding humour in guessing the punchlines in advance. Truly awful, a definite must not see.