Amster-DAYMN!
Trip Start
Jun 13, 2006
1
3
5
Trip End
Jun 23, 2006
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Saturday, June 17, 2006
"Imagine smoking weed in the streets, without cops harassing"
Day 3 Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands
Just so everyone knows, because I remember being quiet confused about this: Amsterdam is the country, Holland is the region - equivalent to our state/province - and the Netherlands is the country. Although a lot of the time, colloquially, Holland is used to refer to the country. I am reminded of a childhood friend I had called Ridhima, who was from Holland. Anyways, The Netherlands - more specifically - Holland, love Canadians because in the war - WWII - it was the Canadians who came to free them from the Nazi Regime, in addition, Canada took the royal family into refuge and made a hospital room official Netherlands soil for the birth of the Crown Princess. This is also the reason why they send loads of tulip bulbs - which usually are known to represent the Netherlands - every year to the Canadian Parliament.
Arrival in Amsterdam was well, of a slight disappointment. I guess my mind had been polluted with the thought that Amsterdam was wild and crazy and completely outta control! But nope, it was like any other European city; a canal system, a central train station, an airport and a lively downtown district, nothing unusual. However, after navigating through the streets to our hostel, - The Flying Pig - which is renowned as one of the top 10 Europe hostels - I started to like Amsterdam a lot...and yes, it is in fact unique. The sidewalks were large and pedestrian friendly. The shops were small and customer friendly. The cementing of my liking of Amsterdam came when we entered our hostel. There up on a little stage like a balcony were a bunch of people just lounging in a sea of pillows smoking away...need I say what they were smoking?
We then met up with Alvin's friends; an Amsterdam native and a fellow Canadian - Richmond Hiller. Gilles had to go a job interview, and Tess stuck around to do the touristy thing. She's Filipina and a linguist - Spanish, French and German, hence she's working in Germany. We hit it off immediately and it was only the beginning, we will soon find out we have much more in common.
Anyways, in search of a "Coffee Shop" we went. We found a nice one with a giant screen to watch the football game on. On the streets we could see the craziness building up as the Holland vs. Cote D'Ivoire game was on that night. The sea of people was getting increasingly orange as the game neared (Orange is the Netherlands football team colour). We smoked a joint, ate a space cake....and headed off to the game with a major case of munchies. And what a bad place to have the munchies...Kebabs - Belgium fries - waffles - ohhh......man...
We hit up Rembrant Square (plein/plaz, I don't know my Dutch and German isn't exactly) and it was packed solid with people trying to catch a corner of the many screens showing the game. We luckily got a good standing view - and there was enjoyment of the free pints being given out as the Netherlands scored their first and second goal.
During the second half, JP and Kyle who were still dupped from the joint took a nap as I enjoyed the game - my appetite for football is growing more and more. It was back to hostel time. Alvin met up with yet another friend, Adam, who is also a fellow MAC-er, currently working in a town outside Amsterdam. We headed back to our rooms to get ready for the club.
10:00 pm, all dressed up we make our way back to Rembrant Square to hit up, Kroone. It was an impressive posh club, the kind with expensive furniture and lights that make everything glow - and really expensive drinks - and playing only trance and house music. We enjoyed and danced nonetheless to the repetitive beats and got really excited when a song with words came on. I got pretty damn drunk and we smoked a bit in the club - I don't think it was allowed but...well. It was a nice walk home as I was high as a kite and trying to get in to bed without disturbing the 10 other people in my room while drunk, high and in the dark...well, it wasn't easy. But sleep was and mmm...it felt good.
