Schwa. Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Driving to Amsterdam next weekend. Arriving Friday evening and staying all day Saturday and Sunday.Any recommendations for me to check out besides the obvious pot bars would be greatly appreciated. Hostle recommendations? Museums? Old architecture ect...Holla! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister slippery Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 if shainhouse gets online from calgary, he'll help you out, he was there in march. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister slippery Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 and, from me, right next to the anne frank museum house there's a little bridge. dunno why, but the few times ive been to amsterdam cool stuff has happened to me (long lost friends found, new friends made, sky going bright red, odd stuff)go to that bridge, it seemed pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 The Vincent Van Gogh museum is an essential stop, and the Heineken factory is a blast, too: at the end of the tour (which costs some bucks), you end up in the bar, where they give you about three tickets for soft drinks or beer; if you hang out enough, though, people who don't use all three tickets will often give away their extras. I logged some Amsterdam foreign correspondence a few years agao. Aloha, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwa. Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Thanks fellas, keep it coming. On every out of Germany trip i#ve made so far i've managed to meet people and hang out with them for the stay. I imagine it won't take long to meet some North Americans and get down to no good.Hows the English there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister slippery Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 one can totally get by with english.this one did, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwa. Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak By Night Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 I've been to the places BradM mentioned, including the Heineken Brewery which was closed for renovations at the time! Argh! So I missed that. You can take a quick canal boat tour which is cheap and will show you many sites. Don't forget the Rijksmuseumhttp://www.rijksmuseum.nl/index.jspAnd, if you go to a coffee house, stay away from "La Bomba", unless you like out of body experiences that can cause you to miss your plane home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 When I was there, I visited the "red light" district, but only did it during the day, which I think was a wise move, as I wanted to see what it was (it never completely shuts down), without experiencing it full-force.You should also be prepared to get seriously lost: Amsterdam (at least the centre of it) has its streets laid out radially, like the spokes of a wheel, with canals circling the city, and with the short blocks, it's easy to walk past the point of realizing you've gone beyond where you were supposed to be or turn; but, since it's such a cool city (and has such short blocks), this isn't that big a deal.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister slippery Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 so, "la bomba" it is, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam... alas...so much to tell. The usual stuff is pretty self-explanatory. The Red Light District is small and cramped... it's worth a few hours. As are either the sex or erotic museum. The torture museum is crap too. The Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Rijksmuseum are all assesible by buying a 'Museumcardt' or something to that tune at Centraal Station. It's 17 euros and gets you in to any Holland museum for a year. Also, buy a 'Strippencadrt' which allows you get on the tram 7 times for 6.50 euros, which is cheap. Eat at 'Aroma' on the Leidsestraat at Leidseplein Square... It's fantastic. There is also a Thai place in Dam Square which was marvelous. I forget what it is called but it's right in front of Dam Castle. 'Miami Falafel' on Leidsestraat and any Moaz Veggie place are cheap and plentiful for take-out... free salad bar! Vlaase Frites are also delicious and cheap. Anywhere sells them.Go walk around the Jordaan, and for coffee shops, just Amnesia or Haremstraat I believe or The Dolphin. There are so many and you'll find your favourite. Just type 'amsterdam coffee shop index' into Google and this website will direct you.Watch your bag at Centraal Station... known for pickpocketers... Take a canal boat ride if you can afford it. it'll be upwards of 40 euros. Get out of the city centre and get lost through Westerberg or Museumplein... It's amazing....Learn a little bit of dutch. 'Asterblijft' is your welcome and 'graag' pronounced chrach is please. 'doei' is goodbye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diggzz Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 (edited) My advice is to get to Amsterdam on a Saturday evening after all gift shops/tourist places are closed with no place to stay and look for an old lady. Sounds odd huh? Me and a buddy were there at the beginning of May and after missing our initial flight to Amsterdamn from Edinburgh (little too much fun the night before) we arrived at Central Station about 7:30 with nowhere to stay (it was busy, national holiday I believe) My buddy went up to this lady to ask her for some change so we could buy a map. She asked where he was from, he said Canada, she asked where we were staying, we said nowhere, she said "come with me" 2 minutes later she sneaks us onto a bus without paying, 5 minutes later we are at her house. She has been running a hostel for 26 years and loves Canadians (there were 2 other Canadians there, 2 guys fromthe UK and 5 Mexicans). Her place was a 10min tram ride to Dam square and she charged us 15 euro a night including showers and breakfast. Karma was on our side that day. Van gogh museum was awesome, Heinkeken tour does NOT run on Monday (burned), lot's of patios and coffee shops, they're all good. Enjoy for sure, wish I was still there... Edited July 20, 2005 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwa. Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Keep it coming people, basically planning the trip picking and choosing among your suggestions and composing a very rough map (per BradM's getting lost advice) for each of the days i'm there.Diggzz, do you remember the name of the hostle with the cool old lady? Still need to find one of them to park my ass at night. OR, recommend an out of the way place to crash in my car. Its a wagon and proved quite sleepable in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deeps Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 If you like swimming in colours and feeling at peace .... fungus and the VG museum worked for me!Deeps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwa. Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Dunn and Dunn. I pencil that in with my la bomba OOB experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Barney's Breakfast on the Harrlemerstraat in the Jordaan.... go!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diggzz Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 I don't have the info on me but I can check at home tonight, it's nothing big what I described to you was basically the set-up (2 two-bed rooms, 1 room with a double, 1 room with sleeping for like 7) it seems pretty much word of mouth as the others there had similar situations with meeting the lady but she was truly one of the nicest people we met on our trip. Ursula is her name, if I can find her info I will definitely pass it along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwa. Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Excellent.Barney's. Is this actually a place to get breakfast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ge-off Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 for the best redlight experience w/o paying the euros for a handjob.. stay at the bulldog hostle... they are really friendly its a very clean place, they hold on to your passport for safe keeping.. they have a gaurd dog on site at night.. and literally you step from damstraat (the town square) and steps from the redlight district.. if you do stayt there.. go to the pastry shop around the corner, there should be a tall bald guy working.. nicest guy i met while backpacking. van gogh museum, the grey zone(phish frequented this coffee bar/smoke house), melkweg great venue to see a show.. smaller then the opera house i saw pennywise there.. from backstage.. get a tour of the canals.. but get one that allows smoking and drinking.. watch out for the PSST "cocaine,LSD, ecstacy" its not anything close to what you want.. funny short story.. when i was there.. limp bizkit was playing the heineken music fest.. i saw fred durst and the bass player buying coke from some random dealer... treu story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Gruvsten Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Hey for the Canal boat ride there has been a bit of 'hand me down' info that all my friends and I have used...go to the comedy club "Chicago Boom" in one of the pleins(someone probably knows this square) Sign up for the canal ride there - they are no charge, it's in a small boat(groups of 8 i think-not those big ass glass tourist things) and you can bring doobs and beers....the boat pilot/tour guide is usually a super kind Canadian or British person who works at the comedy club, and you just pay a donation at the end - $5/$10 whatever you feel...lasts a couple hours and is nice and laid back.And yeah barney's breakfasts are great British/NA style eggs/meat/etc and the tables are long bench style ones...forces you to make friends... everytime I was there I met interesting folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Gruvsten Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 oh yeah and watch out for the pre-rolled doobies...half tobacco! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 oh yeah and watch out for the pre-rolled doobies...half tobacco!It depends. One coffee shop I went to (Rookies) sold pre-rolled ones, and you could choose between pure weed, or 2/3 weed and 1/3 tobacco (the pure ones were more expensive, of course). If you're not sure (of the presence of tobacco, or the strength of the weed), ask; if they give you the run-around, find a better shop.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ge-off Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 oh yeah and watch out for the pre-rolled doobies...half tobacco!agreed.. the one and only time i turned green form smoking was of a pre-rolled with tobacco.. they roll them in the morning or day before and its stale.. you can find them without tobacco.. which i highly recommend.. and the kinds of pot you can buy is insane.. white widowwhite rhinobubble gumak-47silver haze (fucking insane)and if your travelling.. buy some space cakes for your journeys.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Something tells me Shane's Strippencadrt didn't just get him on the tram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Gruvsten Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Holy fack I just remembered something - I was there for the Tall Ships Festival in 2000, it's every 5 years....so get back there at the mid/end of August and all the tall ships sail into the Het Ij behind Central Station and anchor there for a weekend...fuggin amazing!! Some of the huge Slavic ships are crazy...you can wander around the harbour and there are Heinekin watering stations set up every 100ft...There will be night/day concerts, gay pride parades, tons of parties everywhere....plus if yer wandering around the Red Light district at night there are tons of packs of different sailors in uniform walking around...it's fuggin surreal...takes it back in time to a 'good times' port city for a bit...not alot online but here's the official link:http://www.sail.nl/english/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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