icourtland!

well in general we are having a really great time here. who knew that Amsterdam would be such a great playground? the city is just small enough that we have walked almost everywhere (and boy are my feets complaining a bit about that!) and have not taken a tram or car anywhere so far this entire trip. we even ended up walking to the hotel at arrival from Central Station – that was not fun.

the streets are pretty much ALL brick/cobblestone, so walking with a roller-bag is a task that leaves a lot to be desired. thumpa-thumpa-thumpa all the way. and of course not knowing the city, we got lost. we got here, but oh my what a walk.

we have visited a few pubs, had some good and some “meh” meals, mostly quite good though. and beer – we likes the beer. breakfast as we know it is a wash. i might have to go for a breakfast out as soon as we get home.

this place is pretty amazing though. as i said, we have been walking everywhere. places that look pretty far on the map seem to be right around the corner, or at the least a lot closer that we expect them to be at times. it does mean some pretty tired feet and sore legs at the end of the day, but it is so worth it.

the one low point for me was Monday night.

just a door or so down from the hotel (almost next door actually) is a cool little “green coffeshop” called Cafe Amnesia. well we debated and thought about it and just decided that “why the hell not” and went. actually our first shot for the night was to a well-known leather bar, but the deserted street and the unknown quantity behind a closed door made us a little apprehensive, so coffeshop it was. i should mention that i was the hold-up in going since typically i have had a little trouble with the green in the past, but we were here, it was close and i figured things would be fine. i was wrong.

first off – the place was way cool, great decor and quite comfortable. as you walk inn there is a menu on the counter turned upside down. i guess they want people to actually come in and ask or be sure that this is what they are looking for – whatEver. so many choices! we opted for a pre-rolled since the extra bother of renting/buying/borrowing a pipe was difficult to figure out. not too expensive – i think 4 Euros or something per pre-roll. and funny – buy 5 get 1 free!

so we order that, and then some hot tea with mint (which was way good by the way) and sat a table in the middle of the room. after sitting and getting comfortable and watching folk a bit to make sure that we were not missing and etiquette rules, one must be proper in these things, and then lit up.

the pre-roll was tobacco laden, so cool and easy to smoke. we got about half through and i decided that i needed to slow down and take a break as i lost feeling in my feet. the numb tingly feeling slowly crept up my legs and i started to get quite dizzy. M was telling me to just sit back, relax and enjoy it. well at this point i pretty much felt like i was about to projectile vomit across the room so laying back to relax was really not my goal. the mint tea was helping, but when my vision went all grey and fuzzy, my heart started racing and i was pretty sure that i was not going to be walk very soon, we headed out. i felt like i was in that “had far far too much to drink – room is spinning and you need to throw-up as soon as possible” feeling for the next several hours.

i felt like we were quite rude since we just up and walked out – i am pretty sure we even left the unsmoked half behind, which must have been odd.

next day after a hot hot shower i was doing a lot better, but the night was not very good to me. head running at a million miles an hour and the nausea was basically preventing any kind of sleep for most of the night. after the main effect wore off i did manage some sleep – until after 10am actually!

but at least we know for sure now – the green hates me…