Back from the Dam and the blues are hitting hard so hopefully this report will mentally take me back as I type
Pre Trip
In the 7 days before leaving there were mixed emotions for the wife and I… Our 22 month old daughter had a raging temperature of 39.2c (102.5f) and a terrible cough. Could not stop thinking about whether we were going to catch it and if we felt ok or not. Major paranoia of getting poorly! Spoiler alert… We were ok
and the little one recovered before we went, thank goodness.And on the other side of my paranoia was elation… I had a doctors appointment with a Medical Cannabis Clinic and the doctor prescribed me
10g of Black Triangle, 10g of Dela Haze, 10g of Kush Cookies and a Pineapple Express 800mg THC vape!! Surreal experience for an Englishman. 30g a month, every month. Liberating!! (If any UK folk want to get in touch, PM me, I’ll be happy to share my experience.)Day 1
- IMG_0295.jpeg (39.46 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
KLM Flight delayed by 20 minutes from Birmingham Airport, little frustrating but it could be way worse. Board plane and pilot tells us he’ll make up for the delay in the air. 40 minutes later and we’re descending into Schipol. Now the dreaded post Brexit passport control. All I’ll say on Brexit is Viva La Europe. In the All Other Passports queue we get through and with our passports stamped it’s on to the train station to make our way to Centraal.
This trip we were organised and had downloaded the NS app and had our E-Tickets at the ready. No waiting at the ticket booth. Down the escalator and there’s a Sprinter train sat at the platform. Amsterdam Lelylaan annd Amsterdam Sloterdijk come and go. Centraal is next and we’re buzzing! Smelt the first bit of weed walking through Centraal Station and that really made me realise we are back! My favourite city!
Prix D’Ami is the first stop of the day.
- IMG_0296.jpeg (117.8 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
- IMG_0302.jpeg (193.18 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
Dreambro’s Purple Sour Dreams €15/g. Lovely sour smell, reminded me of an ECSD but not full on like the Evergrey smell from Grey Area (circa 2012-2015) but nice enough to give me a bit of nostalgia. Smell transferred to taste nicely but it did burn with a dark ash.
Prix D’Ami is rammed. Queuing on the stairs whilst the staff radio through to other staff manning the rooms to see if there’s space. We get a space to sit and smoke. Waiter comes to take our order. One fresh orange juice and a blue Fernandez (grape). Waiter has no idea what a blue Fernandez is, I show him a picture on google and he goes oh that’s very Dutch. We don’t stock those, did we used to? We say yeah and it’s a shame they’re no longer on the menu. The waiter looks at a man sat opposite us who’s wearing a Stone Island jumper and jacket in deep conversation with someone and says you could ask him why they’re not on the menu anymore, that’s Prix D’Ami’s owner. We never did ask him but we did observe him lol. He was smoking one of those new style joints, and according to the doob tube it had 2g of Mango Haze and 0.5g of Rosin. With a glass roach/filter/tip.
He was constantly asking the staff to tell people to put their tobacco away and remove discarded cigarette filters from ashtrays. Very glad I’m a pure smoker as I could've had a telling off from the owner haha! His companion asked him something and all I understood was Coffeeshops and roken (smoking). If only I understood Dutch.
Smoked our joint and thanked the owner for letting us share his table. He said no problem, we all have to share sometimes! Seems like a nice man.
Left Prix D’Ami to go drop our bags off at the hotel. City View Hotel just off of Haarlemmerstraat. Winner here as not only can we drop our bags off but we can check in too! 3rd floor up those traditional Dutch stairs. Room isn’t the biggest but it’s got an en suite and satellite tv. BBC1, BBC2 & Comedy Central. That’ll do for some stoned bedtime watching.
Back out onto the Haarlemmerstraat and notice Coffeeshop Amsterdam still has a Dampkring sign above its door. Has it always been here since the change of name? Can't ever remember noticing it before.
- IMG_0308.jpeg (160.69 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
Walking towards Cookies (Greenhouse Lounge), the wife notices a nice bakery called Bake My Day with pistachio croissants in the window. She fancies one so in we go.
- IMG_0297.jpeg (137.39 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
After munching we make our way into Cookies and straight to the bud counter. Budtender says we have to try the Gelato as it's really nice and shows us, it smelt lovely. 1g of that at €13. Nice price. We sat down and skinned up, just as I sparked up, KC & The Sunshine Band - Baby Give It Up started playing on the speakers. I think everyone in the Coffeeshop was bobbing their heads along. Peach ice tea, spliff and a head bob. Love it.
- IMG_0298.jpeg (223.75 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
After Cookies, we decide to check out Coffeeshop 137, a first for the both of us but unfortunately it's packed out. We take a little walk, snapping a couple photo's as we go.
- IMG_0311.jpeg (282.03 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
- IMG_0310.jpeg (348.84 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
We walk aimlessly and end up at Dam Square and see a couple Rik Shaw bikes, we look at each other, we both know where we're going. Club Media! Our favourite Coffeeshop in De Pijp. We ask to go to Club Media but he doesn't know where that is, he asks his mate on the other Rik Shaw but he doesn't know either. I just say Katsu and he instantly knows where I'm talking about now, happy days.
Rik Shaw pulls up outside Burger Bar and we disembark. Turn the corner and pass through the Albert Cuyp Markt, we will walk through the market after a joint and drink in Media as I would like to purchase a new wallet. Walking down the road to Media a group of 6 people enter before us. Dread runs through me as I hate travelling down to De Pijp to not get a seat in a Coffeeshop. As we walk past the window, dread leaves me as there is only a table for 2 available. The group get served a few pre rolls and are denied entry to smoke as there is no room for them.
I scan the menu, and see a classic! Champagne Haze! Love this smoke, wasn’t on the menu on my last trip but it’s normally a constant resident of the Club Media menu. Not as good as I remember it but still very nice. Takes me back to when Utopia (RIP) used to have it on their menu all the time. We grab Champagne Haze €13.50/g and Peanut Butter €10.95/g and get buzzed into the Coffeeshop.
Couple of cold chocomels and a joint of Champagne Haze and all is well with the world. Look at my phone for the time and see it’s 4:30, I say to the wife we better leave and get to the market as they’ll more than likely be packing away soon.
We hit the Markt and I see a stall selling wallets and purses and the like. We approach, man behind the stall tells us these wallets are real buffalo leather inside and out. One of them had a nice running stitch that I liked the look of. Turn to the wife for her opinion and she bursts out laughing, uncontrollable giggles have taken over her, as I stand confused looking at her I realise we need to get out of here before this man takes offence. As we get away from the stall and her giggles calm down, I ask what was that all about. She replies when the man said buffalo leather and she saw the stitching her mind instantly went to cowboys and John Wayne lol. Champagne Haze definitely did the trick for the wife haha
Walking through the market I saw Greg Monsieur and remembered that Smokeybee21 recommended it. I ordered the Hamster which is ham and plenty of cheese. Very nice toastie. Thanks for the recommendation Smokeybee21!
The heavens then opened up on us. Pissing down with rain we decide to leave the market and De Pijp and take the walk back up to the centrum. Wish I knew how to work out the metro but hey ho maybe next trip or maybe day 3 (more on that later lol). We turn left out of Albert Cuypstraat onto Van Woustraat and up onto Frederiksplein to finally walk up Utrechtsestraat. We get to Rembrandtplein and walk past Coffeeshop Smokey. There’s an ice skating rink pretty much opposite Smokey with families having great fun.
I realise we are by Easy Times 2 so ask the wife if she’d like a hot chocolate and joint to get out of the rain. We walk past and it looks rammed. It looked that busy there was no point even going in. We carry on walking when disaster strikes as instead of turning right onto Koningsplein we turn left and onto Leidsestraat and eventually to the Leidseplein and when I notice The Bulldog Palace I say “WHAT THE FUCK, NO NO NO NO, I CAN’T BELIEVE IT, HOW THE FUCK HAVE WE MANAGED THAT” now remember it is pissing with rain and we are drenched. The wife is blaming me because I wanted a detour to Easy Times 2. We should’ve just kept going she says lol.
Luckily and I mean very very luckily there’s a Rik Shaw parked up and I run to it. He says €25 to Haarlemmerstraat, I know I’m being ripped off but I can’t be bothered to barter and just accept it. Finally back to the hotel. Out of our sopping wet clothes, the wife takes a nap and I stand under a hot shower for 40 minutes.
Feeling refreshed we head back out. The wife fancies Wok to Walk so we head to the branch on Kolksteeg.
- IMG_0312.jpeg (173.35 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
Standing outside Wok to Walk I can’t help but think of Coffeeshop Ben that used to be next door. It’s been closed over 10 years now. Wasn’t a great Coffeeshop to be honest but will always stick in my mind.
- IMG_0293.jpeg (199.3 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
Wok to Walks ate, we head to the Wonder Bar to blaze some of our stash. We notice people in the window seat are putting on coats so we wait and when free we climb in. Drinks are expensive in here, they must make an absolute fortune. €5 for a can of coke, €5 for a glass of chocomel that you watch the bloke pour out of a €3 carton hahaha. With smoker friendly bars being hard to come by these days, Wonder Lounge, Wonder Bar and Lost in Amsterdam were always rammed.
- IMG_0313.jpeg (271.59 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
Hopefully the Mayor/City Council won’t end up attacking the smoker friendly bars on the Nieuwendijk like they have on Warmeosstraat. The Coffeeshops that were here are already long gone, the likes of Hollywood, The Freeworld, Blues Brothers, La Canna and probably a few more. So fingers crossed the smoke friendly bars on Nieuwendijk stay exactly as they are. We sat and watched highlights of Atalanta vs Inter Milan.
In tv watching mode I suggest we head to Prix D’Ami to see if we can catch a film in the cinema room.
- IMG_0306.jpeg (169.78 KiB) Viewed 1690 times
No room, yet again. Oh well, we go down to the bud counter on the way out and I see Chocolatina on the menu. I remember watching a Hazeface YouTube video where he samples Chocolatina. Smells real nice. Grab a gram of that at €12.50/g and head out.
Coffeeshop Bagheera is next on the list as I was after some Gummy Bears and was also was hoping to sit out on their terrace. The terrace was closed, and so was Basjoe’s terrace. Look at the menu, no Gummy Bears. Ask to look at the Zheetos, smelt nice so we went for it. €12 per gram. Sat right at the back of the Coffeeshop. Nice quiet chilled Coffeeshop is Bagheera.
Leave Bagheera and head towards Chipsy King off Dam Square. Kebab and chips with garlic mayo please mate. That hit the spot nicely. Walking back towards the hotel, we think about seeing if there’s space in 137 as it’s only a few minutes walk past the hotel. We get there and there is room. Happy days!
Coffeeshop 137
Thanks to Ghost’s live report I really wanted to come here. Checked over the menu and went for the Kosher Kush which was €16/g. Real nice smoke, heavy hitter indeed. Funky payment system here, notes and coins go into machines on the front of the counter. Got a seat at the back on the high stools next to a slightly open window. Cold draught coming through the window was very pleasant. The Coffeeshop is on a nice busy-ish corner. Great for people watching. A lot of dog walkers which I found strange at like 11:30pm on a Friday night.
They had signs on the wall and windows that said New Opening Hours 9:00am - 00:55am.
Blazed from the Kosher we walk back to the hotel and crash as we’re up early tomorrow to go to Haarlem.
Day two coming soon.
For a person that was chopping at the bit to get to Amsterdam, you & the wifey sure made the most of it while in town. 
Looking forward to day 2.
and you liked it, it is a cool little shop, I like the window seat at the front of the shop 
...sounds like u an the missus had a top time. Coffeeshop 137 is proper chilled out at the bk wher u were sat mad with all them wizard trees boxes all around
