Amsterdam is off to a good start and I haven’t even indulged in a coffee shop or grabbed truffles yet. Beautiful city with a bunch of canals. Surprisingly, as complicated as it looks at first, I think I can navigate pretty well around here. We had a good dinner and there are so many places that look amazing it’s hard to choose where to eat. We went to several bars, one was the Watering Hole and there was a band playing. The played mostly reggae-ish music and were pretty good. We then went to a place called The Cave that was real small but they played metal in there and good rock as well. Still suffering from this cold or whatever it is but other than my ear still being plugged, I’m doing alright. We also went into a place where they were playing jazz. It’s not my favorite genre but it was nice. Tomorrow I plan to purchase some truffles and perhaps hit a coffee shop to smoke some herb. I don’t know why we haven’t tried to come here sooner. It truly thus far rivals Ireland. I should get some rest, good night.
Just to clarify, in Amsterdam a coffee shop is mostly known as a marijuana store. So if you ever visit Amsterdam keep in mind that a Cafe is where you will want to go in search for coffee not the coffee shop in case the smell didn’t already give it away before you walked into one. You’ve probably heard the tales of magic mushrooms in Amsterdam. Over the last few years they have actually changed the laws a little. Mushrooms are actually illegal now in Amsterdam, however truffles are not. Truffles are the same as mushrooms but they are legal through an absolutely ridiculous loophole. Mushrooms grow above ground so that makes them illegal but truffles are beneath the ground so they are legal. It makes no sense to me but either way that’s politics in a nutshell it seems. I also want to touch base on my lack of detail on the music of The Cave and the jazz bar we went to. At The Cave it was just music that was playing through their system not a live band. Another note, is for some reason the bartender reminded me of the UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal because he looked like him a little to me. The jazz bar had an actual jazz band playing. The reason jazz isn’t one of my favorite genres is because of how whacky it can get sometimes. It almost sounds like everyone is playing their own song so it’s very confusing for me to listen to. This band didn’t play that way thankfully so I was able to enjoy it. Oh, also the Watering Hole and The Cave were bars that were suggested by the hotel receptionist who checked us in and also circled them on a map of the city so we could find them. The hotel we stayed at was the Ambassade Hotel and it was great. Hospitality was great, the location was great, and it was a great place to stay for the next 3 nights. Another thing, I though interesting was a small quote I read in the magazine in our room. It was basically a magazine about the hotel really but the hotel was unique in the sense that there was thousands of books in their library all sealed in a plastic case because they were all signed copies of the authors that had written them. Back to the quote that stuck in my head that I read, it stated “You haven’t made it as a writer, until you’ve stayed at the Ambassade”. I guess that means I’ve made it as a writer….
Basket of Thoughts 