We arrived in Amsterdam around 9pm. We had already booked a hotel online, so we headed straight for it.
We took a streetcar to Leidseplein Square [1] and checked in. The hotel was livable, but pretty much
sucked [2]. Unfortunately, we had already paid for a three-day stay, so we were stuck. We were feeling
hungry, so we went to walk around and find some food. We ended up at a place called Moab. This was a
chain restaurant, but we didn't know it at the time. We bought some falafels and it sufficiently quenched
our appetite. We then went walking around to find our first marijuana bar. We landed at a place called
Easy Times. After sitting down for a couple minutes, it seemed like they didn't sell any pot, but we finally
found the menu. Every selection was priced at 12 euros. The quantity of each selection varied from 0.9
grams to 2.4 grams.
We then headed out to find some bars. It was now probably about midnight. To our surprise, nothing was
open. I thought Amsterdam was going to be a 24-hour party, but it was actually quite mellow. We ended
up walking back to our hotel for an early night. We woke up the next day and got ready to head out.
Although it was promised during the online booking, there was no complimentary breakfast at the hotel.
After walking around for a while, we found a place that served steaks. It seems we've all been craving
meat. Maybe we had low iron or protein levels. After getting some food, we headed to another marijuana
bar. This place was called they Grey Area and was recommended by a friend. It was really small and it did
not serve any alcohol. Almost every inch of the inside walls were covered with stickers that made some
kind of marijuana reference. My favorite was probably a sticker with an old Los Angeles Lakers logo that
had been changed to the Los Angeles Bakers.
We then walked around Amsterdam to see what the place was like [3]. There were a bunch of canals [4, 5].
Someone read that there were more canals in Amsterdam than in Venice, Italy. There were also a ton of
bicycles. It seemed like everyone either rode a bike or used public transportation. There were very few
cars. Of any of the places I have been, Amsterdam had the closest commingling of streetcars, bicycles,
and people. The streets were very small and everyone used the same space. People would move
whenever they heard the ring of a bicycle bell or the horn of a streetcar. I saw a few of what I would call
close calls, but what the locals would call cohabitation.
We all wanted a beer and we came upon a place called 't Arendsnest [6]. This means eagle's nest in
Dutch. We had a variety of beers that ranged from 5% alcohol to 9% alcohol. This is a far cry from
American beer that hovers around 3%. We tried all sorts of beer and I wish I could remember all their
names. The beers come in smaller glasses. I think they were around 1/3 or 1/5 liter. This allowed us to
sample more beer. Supposedly, the beer is sold in smaller glasses to allow you to finish the beer before it
gets warm. Also, it is served with a thick head to keep the flavor in.
Later that night, we walked around some more. Rey and I got some slices of pizza, Victor got some
Chinese food, and I don't think Gardo ate. We ended up at a bar called Club 42. We came across it
because we heard the Rolling Stones playing on the juke box. Gardo and Victor were craving some good
music, so we headed in. The bartender was a really nice guy and talked to us the whole night [7]. The
jukebox was free and no one was putting in songs, so Gardo and Vic filled it up with all of their selections.
We stayed until they closed at 1am.
We then walked around the red light district. This was such an odd sight. Girls stand behind glass doors
offering themselves to you. Guys are walking around everywhere making their selections. One guy was
talking to one of the girls through the cracked open door. He asked her where she was from. She replied,
“From hell”. After walking around for a while, we headed home.
The next day, we were set on renting some bikes. The city is set up for a lot of bikes, so it seemed like it
would be easy to navigate through the city. First, we found some Chinese food. We took it to go because
it was priced cheaper that way. We sat by a canal and scarfed it down. With full stomachs, we walked to
rent some bikes. It was about 5pm and we rented them for 24 hours. Before we started to have too much
fun, we set out to book a new hotel. We had decided to stay a fourth night.
Earlier, we had found a hotel on the internet called City Hotel. We eventually found it, booked it, and then
headed off to a marijuana bar. This place was called Rokerij IV. Marijuana bars in Amsterdam are called
coffee shops. Places that sell coffee are called coffee houses. We were about to walk in one coffee shop
when a girl said there was a better coffee shop down the street. Victor asked if they had better coffee. She
said yes and said the place is “right there, right…there.” Gardo made fun of how stoned she was.
The next order of business was to ride around Amsterdam and hopefully ride a bit outside the city [8]. We
rode and rode and rode. One of the best places we rode through was a park called Het Concertgebouw
[9]. The paths were huge. The park was well used with bicyclists, walkers, runners, and rollerbladers. We
kept riding farther outside the city until we eventually stopped at a small park near the corner of
Leijenberghln and Nijenrodewag. It seemed like we were really far away, but with all of our zig-zagging it
wasn't that far outside the city.
It was about 7:30pm, so we started to head home. We ate some food and took showers. Gardo decided to
stay in and Victor, Rey, and I went out to drink. We took our bikes and rode around until we found a bar
called the Orient. This was one of the only bars that stayed open passed 1am. We drank a lot of beer. The
place was small and filled with people. We then rode our bikes home. By this time, the streets were pretty
much empty. There had been a slight rain earlier, so the streets were shiny. The air was cool and the city
was silent. It was an awesome bike ride. It felt so good. Zipping on and off the streets, in control. I could
have ridden forever.
The next day, we checked out of our first hotel and rode over to our new hotel. The room wasn't ready yet,
so we left our backpacks and went to get some food. We found a Spanish place that served omelets. It
was a good hearty breakfast. We all wanted to do different stuff, so we split up and decided to meet back
at the bike shop when the bikes were due at 5pm. Rey and I went to do some gift shopping [10]. It was a
successful trip for me. We then found another marijuana bar. It was getting close to 5pm, so we headed
back. We were all on time. Victor came back with a guitar which provided some musical entertainment the
rest of the trip. That night was about the same as the night before except that Gardo was with us and we
didn't have the bikes. We went to the Orient being that it stayed open late.
The next morning, we checked out of the hotel, got some breakfast at an English place, and headed for the
train station. Our next stop was Brussels, Belgium [11, 12]. We got there around 3pm. As soon as we got
off the train, I had this very comfortable feeling. It was almost like a feeling of coming home, a place of
familiarity. We had been told that Brussels was not worth going to, but I was happy we came.
We set out to find our hotel: Hotel Brussels, of course. We heard of this place in the Brussels train station.
It was priced at half of what we found online. It turned out to be a decent place. We got two double rooms
across the hall from each other. We unloaded our backpacks and headed out for some food. We wanted
some steaks again and came across a restaurant called Halloween. It was a themed restaurant decorated
with all things scary. It was a bit surreal. Although themed restaurants are a bit cheesy, this place did a
good job of finding old, gothic, evil looking items to decorate the place. The food was ok.
Brussels was very quiet, but there were a couple of alleyways that were lined with restaurants [13]. These
alleyways were packed with people. After a lot of searching, we finally found a bar with some young
people. Most places we saw were a bit stuffy and charged a cover. This place was really cool. We sat at a
booth and plowed through a bunch of beers. The crowd seemed cool. I enjoyed it. We then called it a
night and headed home.
The next morning, Gardo, Vic, and I got up early for the complimentary breakfast. After eating, we went
straight back to bed and slept until about 2pm. At breakfast, we decided we should stay a second day in
Brussels and booked our rooms for another night. We headed out, got some food, and went to use the
internet and make some phone calls. Victor wandered off somewhere and Rey, Gardo, and I got some
beers at a liquor store. We sat out by the fountain outside our hotel drinking [14]. Later, we found Victor
drinking in the hotel [15].
Victor had heard of a party at an old train station [16]. This turned out to be an awesome event. At one
point, Victor walked across the street to a construction site and climbed a rig. He must have been about
200 feet in the air [17, 18]. We saw two bands, Mexican wrestling, and a cool crowd of people [19, 20].
During the Mexican wrestling, one person in the audience tried to climb into the ring. Although the
wrestling was fake, the punch delivered from the wrestler to the guy trying to climb up was real. It made
the crowd cheer. I drank extremely heavily that night. I reached that point where I made a quick and
sudden decision that my night was over and walked back to the hotel by myself. Gardo was not far behind
me, but Victor and Rey stayed out until 7am. They went to some outdoor party that they heard about. The
next morning as we checked out of the hotel, the lady at the front desk gave Victor and Rey a hard time for
coming home so late. She said to enjoy Paris although we will be asleep the whole time. This made us all
laugh. We had a good night.
