Day 1: Arrival

2006 was a busy year, I had my final set of licensure exams, this trip to plan for and my wedding!  The original plan for this trip was to see the World Cup in Germany.  I signed up for the ticket lottery and to play it safe, I booked all the lodging in the cities hosting games I had signed up for.

Sadly, I won none of the lottery, but I still intended to enjoy as much of Germany as  I could.  Of course, no trip to Europe would be complete without a proper start in Amsterdam.  My best friend and I flew out of Denver, and after a long day of flying arrived without any hassle.  

It was June and surprisingly cold.  I was not excited about that, but never mind.  Top priority is to have a smoke.  I should note that most of this trip was planned using Rick Steves’ guide books, and therefore some of our coffeeshop visits were based upon recommendations from those books.  

We headed westward towards Haarlemmerstraat passing Picasso, Barney’s, Popeye’s and Pink Floyd.  I confess that I had this prejudice agains coffeeshops with names of bands, famous characters, etc.  I mention this because in hindsight we should’ve stopped at Pink Floyds.  Noting that most of these shops were pretty full, we opted for a more mellow ambience and took a left, doubled back along the beautiful Brouwersgracht and headed for Siberie.  

Siberie felt very comfortable after a long day of flying and as a bonus, their coffees come in full size mugs.   

I should pause here and mention my smoking habits at this time.  I was probably smoking about a bowl of grass twice a week typically at this point.  My goal was not necessarily to have a big Amsterdam smokeout, but to burn a few joints a day, get a good buzz and explore.  Now, I smoke quite a bit more weed and any future trip WOULD be a smokeout.  

With as little as I was smoking at this time, I purchased one of Siberie’s cheaper weeds, Red Bud at 4€ a gram.  We smoked a joint of this and…nothing.  I don’t even remember a taste.  

My friend went back to the bud counter and purchased 1 gram of Outdoor Purple Skunk for 4.5€ and a gram of Super Pollen for 6.5€.  He proceeded to roll up a j of this combo and now we were getting to where we wanted to be.  It was an excellent tasting joint and after finishing it, we were ready to make our way south to the Vondel Park area to check into our hotel.  

Day 1 cont… I noticed this shop on this trip and thought the name was pretty silly. In 2008, my wife and I stopped in here for some late night munchies. The place is way over priced, but they have a better selection of fresh fruit than our local...
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Day 1 cont…

I noticed this shop on this trip and thought the name was pretty silly.  In 2008, my wife and I stopped in here for some late night munchies.  The place is way over priced, but they have a better selection of fresh fruit than our local grocer and have some excellent organic munchies.    

After finding ourselves at Rembrandtplein, we realized we had been following the direction signs for automobiles, which was NOT the best way to Vondelpark.  We had to pull out the trusty compass and now heading in the right direction.  WE stayed at the Stayok Hostel in a 4 or 6 bunk room, I can’t remember.  On our previous trip, we had our own room with bathroom ensuite and it was cheaper and cleaner than the hotels we had stayed at during that trip.  Now with the Euro, things were a bit pricier.  Anymore, I don’t think I can stay in a multi bunk room.  Mostly because I love staying out late drinking bier and smoking grass and sharing a room is not conducive to getting enough rest.   We survived though.

I believe we had dinner at a sandwich shop this night, but I don’t know what we had for lunch.  Maybe we had a sandwich lunch and then picked up some snacks later in the evening.  Pizza?  Either way we made our way to a familiar coffeeshop, Rokerij.  I think we burned some of our leftover weed and had a bier.  We then decided to go explore the RLD.  I was thinking we could see the Buddhist Temple there, but we got no further than the Greenhouse Centrum.  This was the first shop we ever visited and I still liked the vibe, good tunes, cool lighting and Witbier!  My friend picked up a gram of Hash Meets Haze for 10€.  This bud was my favorite, a nice hashy, skunky smell.  I liked the effect too, sort of chatty with a little bit of heavy body.  Perfect for hanging out and enjoying a bier.  We did end up going to Dampkring at one point, but I remember being annoyed at the televisions playing reruns of Ocean’s 12 constantly.  We just had a bier and maybe smoked a joint of some previously purchased bud and left for another visit to the Rokerij where we purchased some Sweet Haze.  I don’t recall it being that great of weed.  I also noted in my diary that the bier was expensive at Rokerij.  I have since visited this coffeeshop and found it to be very crowded, chances are I’ll skip it, especially since coffeeshops can’t serve bier anymore.  

Day 2: Haarlem & Anne Frank House

We awake and grab the hostel breakfast, which I’m sure was hardboiled eggs, yoghurt, toast and juice, then step out into the park and enjoy a wake and bake.  We are off and heading towards Centraal Station to catch a train to Haarlem.  I’m not sure why, but we head northeasterly and end up on Sint Antoniesbreestraat.  Passing the Bluebird Coffeeshop, a favorite of a prior trip, we pop into the toy shop Knuffels and I pick up a souvenir for my stepson.  

Day 2 cont… We arrived pretty quickly in Haarlem, about 15 minutes I’d guess. A much smaller town than Amsterdam, it still has some of the cool and quirky architecture, canals and coffeeshops, just in a handy and more compact layout. We passed this...
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Day 2 cont…

We arrived pretty quickly in Haarlem, about 15 minutes I’d guess.  A much smaller town than Amsterdam, it still has some of the cool and quirky architecture, canals and coffeeshops, just in a handy and more compact layout.  

 We passed this building on our way towards the center of Haarlem.  Inscribed on the face is “volherden will'ick” and it has a plaque with a horse pulling some sort of cargo with a ship in the background.  I’m sure it’s referencing the trading business of one of the Nederland’s shipping empires.  

I don’t quite remember what the order of sightseeing was, but I recall chilling in a cafe on the Grote Markt with a coffee and a toasted sandwich under the shadow of the Grote Kerk.  

Day 2 cont… After a little walk around town, we look for a coffeeshop. We end up at Willie Wortel’s Indica, situated across a canal from a windmill. The coffeeshop was bright and the budtender was friendly and seemed willing to show us anything. I...
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Day 2 cont…

After a little walk around town, we look for a coffeeshop.  We end up at Willie Wortel’s Indica, situated across a canal from a windmill.  The coffeeshop was bright and the budtender was friendly and seemed willing to show us anything.  I asked what his favorite was and we purchased that.  1 gram of Shiva for 7€, a tasty smoke, but not quite as strong as we were looking for.  We sat in a booth in the corner on what appeared to be an old train seat.  The one thing I didn’t like about the shop was the corny hip hop playing over the sound system. 

We set out to visit the windmill across the canal.

Looking towards Willie Wortel’s after a nice visit with some Shiva, Haarlem