It's not supposed to hurt - Part 2: King's Day and the day after in Amsterdam

Allrighty. So, if you've read Part 1 of this post already, then you've just accompanied me on my tour on King's Night, the pre-party to the greatest national holiday for the Dutch--King's Day. But I perceived comparingly little of this pre-event since the most interesting venues were sold out. I could have visited a few more coffeeshops, but when I left the Green House shop I came to ponder about the girl I had just met. First, cuz I am always getting suspicious when an attractive lady shows interest in me; I am simply not that much of a fuckable-looking contemporary these days. (In fact, I usually give them the creeps).  And second, cuz I couldn't get her out of my head for a while... too inspiring and too nice for a girl of her fashion. So maybe sleep would help me order some thoughts. I left for the hostel...😴

Next morning I woke up at about 10 or something--too late for breakfast in the hostel where I stood. So I went out on the streets rather early and got myself an English breakfast in the city. It was about eleven o'clock. The later it became the more people dressed in orange would appear on the streets. Lots of people already opened their private sales stalls or less where they would sell stuff. Most of the time they sold refreshments and fast food. The ubiquity of spots where you could buy beer and hot dogs, in fact, made it easy for me to organize lunch. On my way from the city center to Vondel (the shop I recommended in Part 1) through Vondelpark, I had a hotdog each estimated 500 meters, I guess. I visited several bars and had my long-anticipated edible in a coffeeshop called The Rookies. It was an orange space cake with half a gram of weed in it. Tasted good but didn't have much effect on me. I needed something stronger and therefore had another primavera in mind.

So I headed for the next coffeeshop that smiled at me: Terps Army. I recognized the logo of the shop from a fairly successful cannabis social club in Barcelona, went in hoping to get the best there. The shop itself was rather small, but an entire seating area was empty, so I gave it a try: Although they had mostly indica and hash I ordered one of the two sativa strains they offered that day. I think it was ordinary Amnesia weed; served the purpose. Later I rolled a joint with tobacco and the darkest hash they sold. After sucking that shit in I remained high as a kite for hours. I slowly walked through the city, passed a few canals, didn't count the hotdogs I swallowed during that time.

Later in the evening when I came to senses again, I was eager to know if it would work out with that girl from the night before. So I texted her and asked her out for nine o'clock. She postponed to ten then stopped responding. Something went awry with our WhatsApp connection and I expected to never see or hear her again; unlucky. But since a holiday romance wasn't part of my Amsterdam plans anyway, her ghosting me wouldn't ruin my night. However, quite early I felt tired from walking through the city. I called it a day rather early in the evening and went to my hostel dorm where I would fall asleep with ease.

Next morning I woke up at about 9:30 or something--just in time to grab a few slices of toast, ham and tomatoes plus some orange juice from the breakfast bar in the hostel. I checked out at ten and headed for a coffeeshop I avoided to visit just until then. It was an eyesore of interior design that I didn't want to condone and it's called The Dolphins. The hash I eventually got there was light-brown and had a nice kneadable texture. I stood for one joint in the bar, not cuz I started to get used to the environment but cuz the shop was the only place so far where they would play Metal music. When I heard them playing "Two Minutes to Midnight" of Iron Maiden I knew I would have to stay at least for a cup of coffee. The coffee was great and the women behind the bar looked awesome in their white blouses. To summarize, a lovely place, not only for the blind ones.

Speaking of women, that girl from King's Night texted me in the morning. We chatted a bit and she invited me for a cup of coffee and a stroll through the streets. We finally met at two--and my flight was at eight. So there was still plenty of time left to get to know that hot stranger.

But before that, I would go to the STRAAT museum. A free ferry brought me from the station to the area where STRAAT is located. I walked a bit further to check out the only coffeeshop around. It was called the Funny People coffeeshop and it was just a take-away-counter 😟. The selection was very basic; insufficient information about the strains. I bought two pre-rolled joints, 5 bugs each; one with hash, the other one with a sativa mix; both had too much tobacco in it and scarcely gave a high. Taste was...yeah...like tobacco pretty much.

Speaking of tobacco, they say there are certain coffeeshops where they'd not allow tobacco smoke. That appears to be a myth. I am one of these people who roll their joints with tobacco and everywhere where I'd ask for the "tobacco zone", they'd say "It's not okay to smoke cigarettes, but it's okay if you roll your joint with tobacco in here". Even in shops that had boards on the table saying "NO USE OF TOBACCO IN ANY WAY" they'd allow me to roll and smoke my joint with tobacco. To conclude, don't feel urged to change your smoking habits; it's not necessary 😁.

It was necessary, though, to meet that cute girl. We texted about four hours just to find a spot where we could meet and at two I found the bar where she had two pieces of cake while waiting for me; I picked her up there. I should have waited until two thirty, cuz every further slice of cake would have done her well; she was just skin and bone, I figured. Anyway, we canceled our stroll due to rainy weather and had our coffee in a coffeeshop named GOA. They served Lavazza in paper cups; didn't have oat milk, so I drank mine black with sugar. She paid and even wanted to invite me for the hash we'd have there, but we picked differently, so I wanted to pay for myself. The selection was quite pricey, but the quality was convincing as well. Here is where I'd find my favorite hash variant; it was a White Choco Bloc: Dark brown, lovely kneadable texture, slightly creamy, tasted more like classical Marrocan hash. In a nutshell, I had a hot cup of coffee, the most formidable hash that I sucked in in ages, a starting conversation with a lovely lady, and about two hours left to.... I don't know...

...What were my intentions with her? Making out like two sixteen-year-olds at promnight in a sausage-party-like environment like GOA, as a souvenir or something...? Having a deep conversation about the meaning of life then falling in love with each other and cancelling the flight due to a spontaneous mission of love? Making an appointment for ayuverdic massage or private yoga classes with her the next time I visit Amsterdam? Those were all good ideas that I didn't have in that moment. Instead, I fucked up so bad; I don't know if I can put it in words...

...read me in Part 3

Kulla 👹