Thanks gang... We arrived safe and sound albeit a little bit later than expected around 9:45 once we got off the plane.
Amazing to finally see some snow on the ground! It's not supposed to last so I'm trying to visually suck it all in and snap pics of the floating chunks of ice littering the canal.
For those who read my last travelogue, you might remember how sick my wife was upon arrival. Well, looks like we got ourselves a repeat performance... The medication she takes has a mighty toll on the overnight flights and she spent the entire post landing in the airplane toilet! I manage to drag her off the plane but she's hitting every ladies room along the way
We call our greeter to let her know that we're here and start looking for our free taxi to the room (courtesy of Loving Amsterdam apartments). Yeah
easier said than done since no meeting location was ever picked! A couple of calls to our greeter and with the assistance of a friendly cab driver and within a half hour or so my wife stumbles into him on one of her many runs
to the porcelain god and we're whisked away to a waiting Mercedes mini
van to take us to our apartment.
Ok, I've been a WEE bit cynical lately about the new road the Dutch have been on and when I spotted our driver a rather prim and proper looking
Dutch gentleman I thought jeez, am I gonna get some Wilders fan who's
gonna give me shit? Well, it couldn't have been further from the truth!
Our ride to the apartment was, shall I say, delightful? He showed us the old Ajax stadium and we talked about broodjes, cafe loetje and US and Dutch similarities. I even got his blessing of "I like you"! Of course my
wife was various shades of green and not enjoying the ride nearly as much as me as she pleaded with her swollen eyed "get me to the apartment before I DIE!
. Surprisingly the topic of conversation quickly changes to the govts desire to require membership in coffeshops. "It's a bad idea" our driver blurts out, "It's working so well, why change it back?" and the discussion begins on how great the coffeshops set up is! "it should be sold in supermarkets" he exclaimed... I love this guy! We tip him well and book a return to the airport for next Sunday.
Our greeter arrives minutes later and we're brought upstairs to our new abode... Stunning! Three huge windows overlook a two canal intersection with basjoes virtually in sight! She's super nice and shows me all the apartment workings and politely ignores my vomiting wife closed in the bathroom! DVD player with a bunch of cool disks including halloween and, get this, a stereo with stocked Floyd, Zeppelin and Stones bootleg discs! My LORD!
The wife hits the couch and I head for the streets... It's stone time! I pass by a closed basjoe and keep walking towards Nieuwmarkt. Stop numero uno: Hill St Blues on the Market!
Busier than I expect, I wait a couple of minutes in line and am warmly greeted by a young British chick who agrees with my first pick:
Himalaya Gold at 2.1 grams for 20 euro
They had single grams for eleven but it looked too good for only the one! Light brown all over like a Maroc without the crust. It is sooooooo soft and squishy but not cakey and a little bit goes a long way. I grab a cappuccino and take a seat in the back unfortunately getting used to flying solo on my first morning in the dam. The hasj? Killer! Stoney, creepy, it left me rather baked and dizzy off a small spliff. It tastes great, almost like a very high quality Lebanese but with a quality black hasj stone and burns magnificently!
I head back to check on my poor woman in the apartment and she takes small tokes off a freshly rolled spliff sighing her first positive moan of the
day and settles back on the couch for a snooze!
It's 2pm now and I'm finishing the spliff while my wife sleeps off the flight and meds. More t o come... Lots more!
-HD
Looking forward to reading all about it HasjDreamer! Have great trip and safe journey!
