Back to Amsterdam

So I decided to head back to Amsterdam. It was an easy decision to make – I love that city. I had been there once before and enjoyed my experience quite a bit. Of course winter isn’t very far away, so I decided to get while the getting was good. I’m also heading back in about one month, but this posting is about the second trip I took…

The adventure started off a bit shaky as I actually got on the wrong tram at the Rathaus stop. It was strange though as the usual trams heading down to the Hauptbahnof (main train station) were mysteriously absent from the displayed tram schedule. I then misread the board and decided to take the #2 tram as I thought it was going to the Hauptbahnof (or at least very near it). Turns out that where this #2 tram was actually headed was to the Hauptfriedhof – which apparently means “main cemetery”. I guess I need to be a bit more careful when reading the line destinations on the tram timetables… I got on the #2 tram…

There was a lady that boarded this tram a few stops later with a couple of kids. She made the mistake of asking me (in German, of course) if this tram was going to the Hauptbahnof and I said, “Ja” since I actually did think it was. A couple stops later she asked this older lady that was sitting in our car something and then got off at the next stop with her kids. This is when I started wondering if the tram was going to the Hauptbahnof or not and decided to get off at the next stop. It was a good decision as I later found out that the Hauptbahnof wasn’t even on the tram’s route (explained above…). So I basically walked the rest of the way to the train station. It was a good thing that I gave myself plenty of time to get there… So for all you people out there that keep teasing me about arriving to places early – this is why I do it; you never know what to expect (especially when you’re trying to survive in a foreign country...).

I actually arrived at the station at about 9:30am. My train was scheduled to be departing at 9:51. I used this little extra time to pick up a new month pass for the Braunschweig trams and busses. They ain’t cheap at €47.50 but it’s much easier than having to pay €1.90 each time you hop on a bus. I like convenience and I was now set for public transportation for the next month … all was cool…

The IC 2132 train from Braunschweig to Hannover was right on schedule this time. I was happy about this as I really didn’t want to miss my connection in Hannover as I had the last time I made this trip. I hopped on board, found my seat and took the quick little 45 minute ride to Hannover. I was a bit hungry on the train (I hadn’t eaten yet...) but decided to wait for the IC 144 leaving Hannover before I would try to get something to eat. That’s the great thing about the IC trains – they all have a Bistro car where (if you’re lucky enough to get a seat) you can purchase yourself some food. I figured I’d wait for the next train since the one I was on was a short trip – the trip from Hannover to Amsterdam was scheduled to be something like 5 hours – there’ll be plenty of time to eat…

So I make my connection in Hannover and decide to just grab a seat in the Bistro car. There were a couple other people in the car, but nobody was eating anything. It wasn’t until a bit later that I decided I should just walk up to the counter and see if I could get some food. There is usually a wait staff (well, at least one person) that would serve you but nobody appeared to be doing this on this trip. I come to find out that, due to “technical difficulties”, the kitchen wasn’t working. I was able to get a croissant, a bag of “Nic Nacs – The Double Crunch Peanuts” and a beer. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait to eat a real meal in Amsterdam (which I actually didn’t do until very early the next morning … I had things to do…).

The train ride seemed to be going along without any troubles and it was a bit later that I decided it was time to start “getting ready” for Amsterdam. I once again headed up to the counter and ordered another beer and a couple Jägermeißters. I was actually allowed to buy only one Jägermeißter (for reasons that I am still unsure of … guess they don’t want the train packed with a bunch of drunk people) so I ended up getting a beer and a (just one) Jägermeißter. I drank my drinks and continued the train ride.

When we stopped in Bad Bentheim, we got delayed for 45 minutes – apparently they needed to do some sort of maintenance work on the train. (I’m starting to get the impression that these trains are rather well known for their “technical difficulties”.) It was here that Sylvia (the Bistro maid) shut down the Bistro counter and went on one of her mandatory breaks. This was cool since Sylvia actually spoke English and she came over and sat at the table across from mine. At least I had somebody to talk to for the wait and Sylvia seemed like a nice enough person. I found out that it was actually her 28th birthday. This doesn’t really relate to the story at all, but it was her 28th birthday… As I was sitting there chatting with Sylvia, this other guy pretty much invited himself in to our conversation. It was some dude from Australia (spoke English pretty well) and he apparently really thought that we needed to hear his life story. That’s cool and all, but it kinda broke the flow of the conversation I was having with Sylvia. It didn’t matter much though as Sylvia needed to re-open the Bistro counter anyway…

This older couple (looked to be in their early 60’s or so) walked up to the counter and I heard the lady attempting to order something in English. They then got their drinks and sat at the table next to mine. I asked them where they were from (I think I might have surprised them a bit by speaking English to them) and they said America. Upon further probing I discovered that they were actually from Kentucky and were on their way to Amsterdam to catch a flight home. We chatted for a bit about experiences that we had been through while over in Europe and they decided to head back to their seats shortly after the train began moving again. I didn’t get their names, but I did take a snapshot. Nice enough couple…

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. Sylvia needed to get off at the next stop since the unscheduled delay would force her to miss her return trip (working trip, of course) from Amsterdam. I guess there was some way for her to possibly catch the train at some other stop. I really don’t know, but she knew what she was doing and I decided that the details of her plan weren’t really important for me to know. I wished her a good rest of the work day and told her that I’d probably see her again next month. I doubt she’ll remember me, but one never really knows now, does one?

So we finally arrived at Centraal Station, Amsterdam! Sweet… I figured it would be best if I first went and checked into my hotel, so I headed down to the Sofitel Hotel. It was a rather short walk from Centraal Station and was very easy to find. (That was cool because I was pretty sure that I might be having some difficulties a bit later in trying to find places…) On the way down to the hotel, I noticed this shop across the street that just said, “Art and Smart Shop.” (Okay, I may have mentioned this before, but for any newcomers to this blog – a “smart shop” is a shop that sells various forms of drug paraphernalia and other interesting items – shrooms, cacti, peyote, sexual stimulants … you know, stuff like that.) I made a mental note of this (I was planning on stopping by a bit later) and continued walking to my hotel.

The hotel was actually very nice – a hell of a lot nicer than I needed. But that’s just the way it is with Amsterdam - if you don’t book your hotel something crazy like 4 months or more in advance you are most likely only going to be able to find hotels with vacancies that are the more expensive places. I booked this hotel a month earlier and this was the cheapest I could find for the one night I was planning on being there. Last time I was in Amsterdam I was able to find a room for €75 – this time I was paying €180. Oh well, I didn’t care … it’s not about the hotel in Amsterdam…

So I check in, drop some crap off in my room and head out on the town. The only real plan I had was to definitely make a stop in the red light district later; other than that, I was just playing it by ear. I decide to kick things off by checking out the “Art and Smart Shop” that I passed on the way down here; so I head on up the street to the shop.

It was a rather quaint little shop that was selling many kinds of pipes and bongs and various herbs and “magic” potions and the like - however I didn’t see any shrooms for sale right away. It wasn’t until the extremely friendly girl that was working there came over to see if she could help me that I was made aware of the shrooms. They had a wide variety for sale and I purchased 20g of the Hawaiian shrooms along with this interesting pipe that had a ceramic face of a mushroom all wigged out on it. (And yes, I did say 20g, as in grams… I thought this was rather strange as I distinctly remember being told over at Conscious Dreams the last time that I was here that their shrooms were sold in quantities varying from something like 0.8g to 1.3g. Anyway, it’s not important, but I was wondering a bit…) I left the shop and headed over to this coffee shop that I was at last time – the Stone’s Cafe. It was a bit crowded in there so I walked up the street a ways and entered the Coffee Shop 36 and got myself some weed. I decided to stay there and eat the shrooms and smoke some dope. So I headed down to the “chill” area and grabbed a seat on the couch.

This rather cute girl came and sat near me for a bit – which was cool… She wasn’t much of a talker, but we were able to talk a bit. Of course her boyfriend came shortly after and sat next to her. That’s cool … maybe that explains her quietness a bit? I didn’t care either way I then started to fire up a conversation with him as well. This actually brings up an interesting observation that I’ve made over the years. Why is it that when couples are traveling together they seem to be apt to close themselves off from the rest of the world in a way…? I mean yeah, they’re perhaps enjoying each other so much that the rest of the world doesn’t matter; but that’s not the impression that I usually get. More often than not it appears to me that being in this duo role with their lover (I can only assume) has actually sucked some life out of them. I mean, it’s kinda like for some of these people it’s pretty much “game over”. I guess they might be too afraid to do something that would upset their significant other but come on man, live a little! I mean there have been countless times where I’ve run into these zombie couples. Is that what we (as humans) are supposed to be looking for? I seriously think not… But I digress – back to the story…

So as I was sitting there and trying to have a conversation, I ate the shrooms that I bought and smoked a little weed. I was feeling pretty good… When the seats at the window overlooking the ferry docks became available I moved over and took a seat. I’m not sure how long I was just sitting there watching the ferry boats arriving and departing (these boat drivers are good – it was almost like watching an extremely well choreographed dance number) when the thought occurred to me that it might be best if I were to head back to the hotel and get a few hours of sleep. I didn’t get much sleep the night before and I was actually feeling very tired. If I was going to do what I pretty much came here to do, I needed to get some sleep. I then decided to head back to the hotel and left the little coffee shop.

Now I knew the way back to the hotel, so I wasn’t worried about getting lost or anything. The funny thing is, after I was walking for a bit, I kinda forgot where I was trying to get to. So I came to a stop and attempted to pull myself together a bit. Okay, so I had been sitting at this coffee shop for a while watching ferry boats. Where was I going now??? Oh yeah, back to the hotel! I look up again and there, about 50 feet in front of me is my hotel entrance. Sweet! I head on in, go up to my room, take out my contacts and try to catch a few winks…

Okay, so if anybody read the previous blog post before this one, you should already be aware that this was where that story actually starts from. If you haven’t read it yet, now would be a good time. I’m going to now pick up the story from where that last one ended…

So I finally got some food to eat at the “wok and walk” joint and then just headed back to the hotel and went to bed. I would mention the time here, but I really don’t remember. All I can say is that it was late (or extremely early, to be more precise…).

The next morning I got up and checked out of the hotel. I don’t remember what time it was but am thinking that it must have been somewhere around 9:00am. It was the same situation as the last time I was in Amsterdam in that I had a train to catch at a bit past 3:00pm. Bottom line was that I had some time to kill.

I decided to make my way over toward Conscious Dreams and maybe pick up some more shrooms however, when I got there, I discovered that they hadn’t opened yet. The sign said that they opened at 10:00 and it was still something like 15 to 10 at the time. I figured I would head back down to the Stone’s Cafe and get myself a Coke and a brownie. I was also able to get a shot of the dude that works there – cool guy … very friendly and seems to be a happy person. While I was sitting there eating my brownie and drinking my Coke I noticed a bit of commotion outside. There was this dude sitting on this bench that was just completely stoned or baked or something … he was just sitting there motionless while his buddy was trying anything to get the guy coherent once again. I mean he was yelling at him, shaking him, slapping him … all to no avail. A shop owner behind the guy came out and poured water over his head and this had little effect. In time, however, the guy did come to. It was just a rather interesting show to see…

Shortly after this I headed back up the street to Conscious Dreams and bought myself a box each of the tree variety of shrooms that they were selling dried. (Apparently dried shrooms are superior to fresh shrooms. Why, exactly this is I do not know … but I’m most definitely not a fan of eating fresh mushrooms so I make sure to get the dried shrooms…) I bought a box each of the Golden Teacher, the Hawaiian and the azurescens shrooms and headed back down to Coffee Shop 36 to sit and watch the ferry boats for a while…

Okay, so the one thing that I was most definitely not doing this time was missing my train back. It was scheduled to leave slightly after 3:00pm so I left Coffee Shop 36 at a little before 1:00 thinking that I would be able to get something to eat and then head over to Centraal Station. I never stopped to get anything to eat though and just decided to head to the train station. Once there I discovered that my train was leaving from 11a (again … not 11b) and found a place to sit. I decided to eat the Golden Teacher shrooms and wait for the train.

The “traveling through Europe while sitting still” experience returned again; however it wasn’t quite as noticeable this time as I was actually sitting outside of the main station structure. There were far less people that actually decided to walk out here. But it was cool … I was able to get some shots of the various trains seen there and just kinda chill out and wait for my train. Strangely enough I was able to get over my uncontrollable giggling whenever I heard the female PA announcements … and they were even repeating them in English this time.

My train arrived when scheduled and I was able to get on and claim a seat in the Bistro car. It was here that I continued to take notes. I only jotted down about one page of notes on the trip up. I wrote seven more pages on the trip back.

What that means, of course, is that I’m going to have to finish this story at a later time. It’s already far longer than I was expecting and I have barely used any of my notes yet. I took a lot of notes… I shall leave you now and bid you adieu. I’m thinking that my next posting might be interesting…

bis spatter,

Coriolis