ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

After (or during) your trip, post your report here.
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Lemming
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by Lemming »

Friday 19th April 2024 - The Stud

Our day starts at Coffee & Bites again. After breakfast we step out into an intense rain shower. Even the short walk to the tram stop gets us soaked. At least there's a shelter to wait for the tram.

We're going to Kadinsky 2, chosen as a place to assemble everyone because it's close to the tram to The Stud. It's on an alleyway between Damrak and Nieuwendijk.

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There's Kadinsky Café, Kadinsky 2 and the smartshop Alien Visitors here on Zoutsteeg.

This Kadinsky was once known as Front Page and still trades as that. It's a tiny little place. I get some weed and a cup of coffee. The budtender points out that we could get coffee at the café over the road and consume the weed there if we wished. I decide to stay here for now to ensure people can find us, so we sit by the window.

First to arrive is Talkrum, in his cool ACD hoodie. We have a short chat and then he shoots off to get something. Then more people turn up and we move over to the bar where there's more room.

Ghost has joined us with his cool customised ACD tshirt.
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Beers start flowing and there's a nice little party developing. Then a bombshell - the bar lady says we can't smoke or vape in here. WTF?!! There are kingsize rolling paper dispensers on the tables! This is bizarre.

No point in arguing so we drink up and herd everyone around to the tram stop. A number 14 soon turns up and we all stumble off onto Insulindeweg. Crossing the road, I notice that the bus at the stop here is a number 40. Looking around me, I see ACDers scattered around the road junction and quickly dismiss any thought of rounding them up and explaining that this bus could drop us right outside Stud.

The bus drives off and we follow it on foot around the corner and along Molukkenstraat to The Stud. We're still a few minutes early, having deserted Kadinsky Café, but our host Mjhowy soon appears and ushers us through to the back room.

The gang of us that came on the tram are joined by a couple more until the group in the house consists of AzLaker, Bedge, Docgonzo42, Gapie, Ghost, Igraine, Lemming, Mjhowy, Occasional Bowl, Professoref, Sammysarahh, Talkrum and Trad. Professoref is another new name to add to my list of veterans.

Various samples are distributed for us to try, including some Apples and Bananas that's not on the menu yet.

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Amongst others, we also try Flamingo and Texas Shorline.

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There's some hash going around too. Not only that, Mjhowy hands out goodie bags to everyone with t-shirts and lots of other Stud branded stuff. Then a nice lady appears with a plateful of lovely edibles. They're really tasty.

Ghost has brought along this brilliant ACD mascot to tour around with us. At the moment he's sat by a Volcano that's warming up ready for a session.

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That's it. I'm settled in. Filling the Volcano with various strains and passing them around the room. Surely the perfect way to spend an afternoon. There are still edibles left so I munch another of those too. This could get very messy!

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[Mjhowy tells us later that we killed the aircon!]

Things get very hazy as we leave The Stud and get even more so as the killer chocolates kick in.

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Sammysarahh and Igraine meet outside Stud Store

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Mjhowy tries to organise a group photo

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Finally gets most of the cats herded

Thanks MJ and everyone at The Stud for a great afternoon.

There's a bus stop here but none of us can be bothered to work out when the next 65 to Javaplein will be so we set off on foot to the Rum Barrel, a Caribbean place recommended by Ghost.

Drinks and tapas are consumed. I'm floating above the place somewhere so it's all passing by in a dream.

Next up is supposed to be Best Friends, just around the corner. Professoref says it's buy and fly there but we go there anyway. She's right, of course, and nobody wants anything off the menu so we leave again and catch a tram into the centre.

Getting off at Dam, we make our way over to Warmoesstraat and into The Tribe. It's quite busy so we climb the stairs and take over the upper level.

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ACD Frog at The Tribe

There's a weird light show going on in here. A glass wall lights up from time to time and then goes dark again. I think maybe it's stairwell to apartments above in which the light turns off automatically after a few minutes.

At least we can smoke and drink in here so we have a nice session going on.

After a couple of hours we fancy a change of scenery so we move to Bar 55. Most of the crew go straight in but AzLaker, Sammysarahh and me turn around and stride back along Warmoesstraat and onto Nes. Here we take a quick look at what used to be Nes Café, now Bar Jones. A quick peer through the door for nostalgia and then we rejoin the rest in 55.

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Bar 55

That brings another wonderful day to an end. 420 Day tomorrow.
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HitTheNorth
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by HitTheNorth »

Great read, as always, Lemming. Loving the photos too.

I need to expand my selection of smoker friendly bars, especially since the demuse of Suzies smoking room, so may check out Tribe and 55 on my upcoming.

That Kadinsky thing sounds odd though
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by Ghost »

Excellent @Lemming fantastic read :D what a day that was treated like royalty again by the people at the Stud a fabulous day, Thanks @Stud and @Mjhowy for a great afternoons session and the gifts, loved the tiny edibles they were :mrgreen: and the quality smoke that we were all lucky to sample :D :thumbup:
Chase the Green to live the Dream :mrgreen: 8) :D
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by talkrum »

Fabulous reporting as usual. More please.
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by Trad »

Well done Lemming, another great report.
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by AzLaker »

Thanks again Lemming for a great read. Good times again this year. :mrgreen: Well maybe a little too much rain. :shock: :lol:

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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by jollylittlehun »

Great read Lemming. Excited to read 420 day and hopefully see some pics. I've got none from my trip.
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by gapie »

:mrgreen: good 👍 :mrgreen:
GetHigh,DoStuff&Dont give a FUCK!
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Lemming
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by Lemming »

Saturday 20th April 2024 - 420 Day!

We wake up to the sound of hail battering the skylight above our hotel bed. Another nice day then :roll: It's stopped by the time we head out to the tram stop.

Today we're breakfasting at my favourite café, Puccini, just across the bridge from the Waterlooplein market. From there we head across town, first through the books corridor where we spot this:

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When we reach Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal we hop on a tram for a short ride. Then we walk the last bit to Siberie where we catch up with the rest of the crew.

Siberie is a very cool coffeeshop with a regularly updated art gallery on the walls. We buy some Permanent Marker and check out the shows. There's an art show, a fashion show and a chess show.

Art Show

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Fashion Show

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Chess Show

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The chess players may not be ACDers but they're very happy to be photographed. Maybe they're hoping to see the pictures on Instagram or somesuch.

After about an hour we leave Siberie and head for Oudebrugsteeg, home of 420 Café. Rather than stopping at the bar next door, we pile straight into a very crowded 420 Café. 420 Day falls on a Saturday this year so there are a lot of people in town. It's still a couple of hours before 4.20 but capturing the traditional big table at the back already looks unlikely. In fact, finding space anywhere is tricky. We finish up squeezed into the gap between the bar and the front window.

More ACDers join our little huddle until this year's 420 party consists of AzLaker, Bedge, Docgonzo42, Ghost, Igraine, Jollylittlehun, Lemming, Occasional Bowl, Sammysarahh, Stevesec, Talkrum and Trad.

A benefit of being at this end of the bar is that we can see the clock.

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420 café @ 4.20pm


I've taken loads of photos of this clock over the years. Finally got one at the right time.

The traditional giant joints emerge from behind the bar on schedule and one makes its way down to our end of the room.

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Having celebrated 4.20 in traditional style, we decide to move next door for a beer and more everything. What used to be Nightbar The Bottle is now called De Kroon Bar, after the coffeeshop opposite.

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De Kroon Bar


Next stop, according to the schedule, is supposed to be back to Siberie but, after a while in the bar, we make our way directly to Resin, the designated assembly point for our boat trip.

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Resin


The boat is due to depart at 8pm, which is in about 20 minutes, so we stumble out of Resin and towards the jetty in front of Centraal Station. It's a very short walk.

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We're booked on the Buddha Boat. There are lots of boat tours based along here nowadays, including many small operators. It's nice to see that the corporate mega boats no longer seem to have a monopoly.

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Our boat is queuing up waiting for a space alongside the jetty.

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By 8 o'clock the boat has docked and we're all boarded. Once aboard, drinks menus are distributed before we set off.

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There are two of these shisha pipes standing proudly between us.

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We'd hoped to use the boat hookah to fill the space with weed smoke but these pipes are for flavoured tobacco. That means we now need an alternative method of creating a smoke box. We ask the crew to close the windows and start work. Frantic vaping is not very effective so some manic joint rolling is required.

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Herbie is aboard. Did he get a special frog ticket?

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It's getting dark but we pass the 7 bridges before all the lights are on. Soon some bridges are lit up though.

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And the red lights are on as we pass the Old Church.

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Off the boat and back outside Centraal Station we start losing people very quickly. Next on the agenda is supposed to be Kashmir Lounge, as proposed by Jollylittlehun, but he's disappeared. Now a hunting party of carnivores head off towards the Leidseplein with talk of rustling a cow and eating its arse off. The remaining few of us wait for a few minutes to see if JLH returns. When he doesn't, we follow Gapie to Batavia.

In time, the rest of the gang join us.

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After attempting to sticker the window, Gapie engages in a bit of frog abuse.

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Our once-innocent frog is now corrupted and is next spotted having a cheeky vape and a pint while the humans are distracted.

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Gapie continues the fashion show from earlier with his Ballonnetje hoodie.

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We spend the rest of the evening in Batavia.

A very successful 420 Day, I think. We got most of the people assembled and made it to most of the places we said we would. We even had a successful boat trip! Remarkable togetherness by our usual shambolic standards.

My favourite coffeeshop tomorrow ...
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jollylittlehun
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by jollylittlehun »

Great read @Lemming. And some nice pictures.

I really needed a piss after the boat and went on a mission to find a toilet at the Flying Dutchman, had a quick drink then ended up at Prix d'ami for a smoke and finally got some chips before catching the metro down to the hotel. Was a very long day :shock:
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by Smokeybee21 »

Great write up and pictures as always Lemming!

After chatting to a few members on here, it's looking like the Buddha Boat might be a possibility for my upcoming trip, looks fantastic here.
Next trip: October/November 2024.
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by Ghost »

Quality write up there @Lemming some excellent pictures as well :thumbup: 8) Got a couple of good ones of me there :thumbup: I must now get on with day 3 of my own report

Siberia's art work is all ways so good and normally different every time I visit and such a cool shop and vibe especially 1st thing in the morning 8) :D one of my favs :D nice fashion show going on also :lol:

I will use a few of the pics on the Instagram page over the next few days :?: :thumbup:
Chase the Green to live the Dream :mrgreen: 8) :D
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by AzLaker »

Fantastic write up @Lemming on our 4/20/2024 festivities. As always, some great pictures of the day's events also. :mrgreen:

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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by talkrum »

What a great 420 - glad I was there!
Thanks Lem. More please.
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HitTheNorth
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2024

Post by HitTheNorth »

Brilliant. That kept me entertained on the flight home
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