Amsterdam pt. 2
- Tara Larkai
- Apr 19, 2015
- 5 min read
The view from our hotel room in the morning was absolutely beautiful. We were on the 12th floor I believe and had a view of the canal and the city.
The plan for the day was to do some sightseeing and stuff our faces. Everyone knows that Amsterdam is the city of bikes. Over 60% of trips are made by bikes instead of cars and you can find a bike rental shop at almost every corner. Our hotel had a rental shop in the parking garage so we headed there to attempt to join in on the fun of cycling in this wonderful city. Now I haven't ridden a bike since I was 7 years and was nervous that I wouldn't remember but Chloe and Jackson kept reminding me of the saying "You never forget how to ride a bike". I took their word for it and went down to the shop with them but I quickly realized that either that saying is a lie or I am the only exception because I could not ride the bike after several tries. How embarrassing? I was very irritated and the pressure from Chloe and Jackson to learn within 5 minutes definitely did not help. We decided to Uber it to the city center instead.
That early in the morning, we did not expect to see so many people out. Of course the first thing we smelled was cannabis. Then while walking in search of breakfast, we kept seeing prostitutes in glass doors. We were soo confused because we did not think the red light district would be popping this early in the morning. We saw more and more women in the glass doors with barely anything on as we walked the streets. So we asked around and we were told that we not in the "real" red light district. If we are seeing this in the fake district then we could only imagine what the real red light district would look like. After a very delicious breakfast, we had plans to either go to Anne Frank house or Van Gogh but both plans were a flop. The line to the Anne Frank house was longer than the line at the palace of Versailles and van Gogh just seemed out of the way.
After exploring the city all day, we ended up at Babas coffee shop. And when I say coffee shop, I mean cannabis smoking shop. This was our first attempt at "getting high" in Amsterdam. Baba is one of the best coffee shops in the city, we know because we read reviews. lol If you ever end up here, make sure you have your ID or they will not let you in. Apparently, a new law was passed in the new year that required them to enforce these rules. Several coffee shops were shut down because they failed to abide by the laws.
The atmosphere in Babas is very relaxed and crowded especially during certain times. It almost feels like entering a nightclub when you first enter due to the limited seating and people crowded around bar and "office: smoking and engaging in small talk. There is seating in a small lounge area but it is extremely difficult to get a seat there but luckily enough people left as soon as we arrived so we quickly took over their seats. All drinks(non-alcoholic) and space cakes must be purchased at the bar area then brought to your seating area. There are workers there but they do not wait on you, it is kind of a free style type of thing.
We purchased a space cake, muffin and brownie. They were delicious! Chloe wanted to feel the effect right away even know I explained to her that it could take up to 45 minutes before she could feel the effect. She then suggested we should try a bong because she so desperately wanted to know what it felt like to be high. Jackson and myself were down for it. Afterall, we were in Amsterdam and wanted to get the complete experience of Holland. So we went to the "office" to purchase some cannabis. The office is a separate area from the bar and only deals and sells cannabis. The menu is quite extensive. We asked for the mild kind which if you ask us, was very potent.They are sold by the gram and given in a little ziplock bag. We asked one of the workers to help us out with the bong.
Kids don't try this at home! LOL The bong was so strong that our lungs couldn't even handle it but we tried anyway and took several puffs. Chloe still did not feel the effect right away and wanted to add more weed but the worker advised us to stop since it was our first time or else we would end up sick. Sure enough the first person to get sick was Jackson. After we left Babas, we went to a bar to get some alcohol but Jackson was not feeling it at all as she threw up all over the place, lucky enough she had a plastic bag that she could use. She couldn't even walk to the bathroom. Like how could you get this sick from smoking? I guess anything is possible. After throwing up, she fell asleep at the bar. How embarrassing!! After this very shameful experience, we were able to help her out. On our way to get a Uber back to the hotel, guess who gets sick? Chloe! WTF! What were these people smoking? We had to stop at a restaurant for her to go and vomit. I was still fine and not feeling the effect of anything. I was more irritated that these girls were vomiting every moment they got. lol We finally made it back to the hotel after such a painful end of our adventure. We officially ended our night with our favorite guy, Renus! We ordered some room service and even asked for some freebies which he happily brought without issue. He even knew our favorite snacks after just a night at the hotel and added those to the order free of charge. Renus is an old Dutch man, probably in his 40s hip as ever and very intelligent. He told us many tales about Amsterdam and the hotels in the area. He spent about 30 minutes in our room chatting with us and gossiping about the other guests. He even shared with us ways in which we could grow our own cannabis, smoke it and bake with it. It was like science class with all his meticulous ways. Before I went to bed, I began to feel light headed and thats when I knew the weed was working. I was not about to throw up like the other ladies so I took my butt to bed and slept it off. lol Stay tuned for our last night in Amsterdam.
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