It's Amsterdam.

Hi Guys,

Recently 2 close friends decided to ask me if i wanted to go to Amsterdam for 3 days. Which was done 4 days before they intended to fly out.

This was an offer i couldn't refuse because the total cost of the flights and accommodation was next to nothing and i've been 3 times before i enjoyed it each time. so we booked a 4 bed room on the outskirts of Amsterdam, by outskirts we mean roughly 5-7 miles from the city center.

Transport

So we started off our journey upon landing taking some photos at the Amsterdam sign next to schiphol airport.

After messing about for 30 minutes outside the airport we catch a taxi to the hotel. which cost about 30 euro total, whilst this was quite costing it worked out the be about 10 euro each which wasn't that bad considering it got us where we needed to be quickly without effort.

we proceeded to buy tram tickets when we got back to the hotel as it required a lengthy travel to go anywhere but overall wasn't to much of a pain due to the tram services being so frequent and only costing €12.50 for 48 hours. which worked out to end on the day we needed to leave anyway.

so upon leaving the hotel to seek green, food and the sights of amsterdam we caught one of the trams.. to which i'm not sure how most of the older generation are able to cope on these things. on the last tram back from the square on the first day the tram went pretty fast round corners and send one guy almost smashing through the window.

There's more bikes than you could ever imagine. and you have a much greater chance to be hit by a bike than a car in Amsterdam. theirs little to show a variation between whats a cycle path and a pedestrian path. some seem to stop at red lights others seem to just carry on through them.

Head Shops and Coffee Shops

After departing the tram the first head shop we reached was the Original Dampkring where i purchased a gram of Lemon Banger and a gram of A5/White. this came to just over 30€ which in my opinion is quite expensive. a load of shops asked our entire group for ID upon or before entering. which was quite flattering as i'm turning 28 in 10 days. similar prices followed at other headshops. where the most expensive gram i bought was for "pink" kush costing €18 a gram.

The Coffeeshops were a great and pleasant experience besides from the constant hounding for you to buy more drinks or food. wonder bar one was a personal favourite. we met a syrian guy sat down in the window at the front of the venue. who kept saying its amsterdaaamm. he asked us if we have ever seen anyone from syria before. we replied with no. and he continued to tell us about how syrians stayed loyal to their home country and generally don't leave. even in the hard times they have faced. and that its only been in the past 1-3 years that people have been leaving the country.

Café Hill Street Blues was another cafe/coffeeshop i loved. the entire place is covered in stickers and graffiti and generally looks like an album cover. they also played a lot of decent liquid drum and bass which was enjoyed as a refreshing change from the house music played in most of the other coffee shops.

wonder bar two was a bit weird. but this was probably because we decided to take 15 grams of the highest strength mushroom each about an hour prior. we bought these from an old guy in a smart shop. we told him we are used to taking trips so asked him to recommend which ones to take.

Things got very weird after that, lights kept changing colours. objects would change size. and generally couldnt focus on a specific task without it becoming a skitz mission to accomplish. rolling a joint became a task that took all of your concentration to pull off. and doing this in amsterdam city centre was a pretty weird, funny and messed up situation.

At the very beginning of the trip walking through the streets of amsterdam centre my mates needed to go to the loo in mcdonalds i decide to wait outside and take in the gravity of the situation we have got ourselves in taking in the multicoloured buildings and brickwork on the paths that seemed to move like waves.

my mate jay walks out first with a weird expression on his face. he tells me that on his way out he takes a trip whilst tripping down the stairs. after telling me this being completely off my box on high strength truffles i immediately burst out with uncontrollable laughter.

navigating back whilst we sat there in the coffee shop seemed like an impossible task. and it was surprising we made it back at all considering the amount of hazards are in the centre when you are absolutely off your box. such as trams, cars and bikes.

The Sights

Overall the country has loads of nice views. the parks are beautiful and the canals looks magical at night. along with some great graffiti artwork.

photos never really do it justice. included a few of the best ones below

Overall its an experience anyone can enjoy. i've only mentioned a few of the things we got up to. the place has some interesting museums. the sex museum being quite a laugh. and loads of art galleries.