Last time I was there was in May of 04, now i look forward to another trip. May was cold, i expect September to be no better. But i don't care too much about the weather. i do want to be able to ride a bike though. alot. last year my kids unofficial godfather (unofficial becuase he doesn't believe in God and my wife says thats a prerequisite so whadya gonna do?) went with us so we had a babysitter and we could take nighttime bikerides. i was reading somewhere an article where the writer describes the joy of bike riding and it makes me remember that rubbing noise the tires (tyres - NEM) make with the light thingy attached (voop, voop, voop) riding at night, so quiet. amsterdam is so quiet at night, outside the centrum, i love it. i love hearing church bells in the morning and at night. reminds me of oma. you can always find out what time it is in holland by checking the church steeples. i know i am in holland when i am one the train as it comes out of that dark tunnel at schiphol and i sit on the top floor of the train and its so green, and so much water, and the fuckin graffiti everywhere, the same guys name over and over and over again, and off in the distance between clumps of trees you see church steeples. and windmills of course. i am in a subway for an hour to go to work - one hour underground each way - i am jealous of you who view cows everyday or take those skinny ass trams everywhere with the smelly people and the no AC. and within a week i will be there. to eat krokets and drop and that hema worst, and vla, and stroop waffels and krokets and zuur bommen. and i am gonna go to the maarkts, and to the hedge maze in the amstel park and the long slide. and some other stuff too but i am getting tired. i see you soon Amsterdam Er staat een huis aan de gracht in oud Amsterdam Waar ik als jochie van acht bij grootmoeder kwam Nu zit een vreemde meneer in 't kamertje voor En ook die heerlijke zolder werd tot kantoor
How I envy you Mafuman going soon. I've done it in mid August a few years ago and the weather was fantastic then, infact overwhelmingly hot and sticky. I'm impervious to the cold but not so heat. The trouble is, for me personally, I found it too busy everywhere this time of the year with far too many crowds and a queue of tourists at most major attractions. After that I decided to go back to the winter months to visit, less busy and manic on the streets and it's more intimate and cosy finding a seat in a pub or coffeeshop also you don't have to queue for ages at the ATM machines or fall prey to higher prices and being ripped off. Once, a take-away food shop had the audacity to charge me €5 for a can of coke probably because he noticed I was speaking fluent English and therefore an easy target and just probably rounded off the cost. The same applies for a pint of beer or even how much froth they give you. LOL. Last time I was there I hired a bike but the bloody thing had no decent suspension which was a real pain after hours of cobble stones and uneven tarmac. It was embarrassing when old Dutch ladies used to whizz pass me gliding effortlessly along on their bikes leaving me in their wake especially when it came to certain humped-back bridges. The key is to build up speed before you approach them and not to drop a gear and try and traverse it slowly. Another time I was up around Leidseplein in a very busy shopping area, there was me looking all confident on my bike riding fairly fast and all of a sudden the front wheel fell into a tram line and I couldn't steer or stop forcing me to jump off, although I didn't fall over I felt such an idiot trying to rein it in. LOL Have a fantastic time Mafuman, hope everything goes well for you/family See you about.
Nice story. But is it typical Dutch to have a clock on the church steeples? Didn't even know that Some pics you talked about in your story to get in the mood: http://oasis.halfmoon.jp/extphoto/ams_main.html
I am wondering if any of you tourists go to the beach while you're in holland. Even though the weather in September is not good to lay on the beach and get a tan, I still like the beach a lot during any time of the year. Through the dunes Walking on the beach with the smell of the sea Watching fisherman And then eat some fish and patat as well
Hey Fedor, i doubt its primarily a dutch thing to have clocks on church steeples, probably like that all over europe, but here in USA the churchs usually dont have clocks on them and secondly they are dwarfed by every other building on the block. i saw fedor the fighter on tv the other day. he was fighting a chinese version of mike tyson and he hit fedor and almost dropped him. his knees buckled, his whole body bent like a shee of paper in the wind and then he ends up putting el chino in a headlock and choking him out. after the fight the ref is holding up his arm for victory and fedor is still woozy and wobbling. pretty cool. i go to scheveningen usually. and maybe go to the aquarium they have there but usually its so windy and cold... i can remember one warm summer and there was a lineof kids by the coin operated telescope thingys on the pier checking out the topless ladies on the beach. and then i remember the stories opa told about the nazis taking people behind the dunes and snuffing them during the war. i guess if you gonna execute me might as well do it on a beach. how sad for your final moments to be so violent yet in such a peaceful and tranquil place.
Yeah I know that, first time Pride was aired on FSN. Fedor - Fujita was a great match. This sunday he is facing the other guy that was on the show, Mirko Crocop(the one with that highkick) I don't like Scheveningen that much, too much touristy and crowded(and annoying Moroccans at night). I usually go to Hoek van Holland. A small pure Dutch coast town, with indeed some old German Bunkers in the dunes. Here some of my own pics: Didn't go any further inside since we didn't had a flashlight with us. Maybe it's a nice place for you to smoke. I think it's quite more adventurous than going to sea life in Scheveningen. Maybe you will get lost in there, then I'll come and save you. The only problem is that your cell probably won't work inside the bunkers. and no, that celtic cross isn't mine
hehehe i have a celtic cross hanging on my wall. got home unpacked it, found out it was a white power symbol. damnit. i just thought it looked cool. i was at an indian wedding when they came by with a cool looking chest. then i noticed it had swastikas all over it. wierd, but then it was their symbol long before that short little german got the hots for it. hoek van holland. maybe i go there. i am guessing there was a strong piss odor at the bunkers? i hope fedor beats crocop i will bring our cell phone frum usa but i don't know how its going to work. we got a special one just for our trips to holland.
If you go to Hoek van Holland don't expect too much of it. it's quite a long trip of 1,5 hours from A'dam I think, you can also pick a small(er) beach Near amsterdam According to this site they also have bunkers there: http://home.versatel.nl/atlanticwall/start.htm Two lads from a dutch tv show went to the bunkers in Hoek van Holland at night, quite a nice item: http://www.6pack.tv/Default.asp?log=241&cont=viewLog&s=wmp500 And Crocop and Fedor are both my favorite fighters in Pride, so I don't care who wins.
As far as I know the Nazi Swastika goes in a certain direction and the same religious symbol years before it goes the other way, Those bunkers fascinate me, btw. We have bunkers like that where I live that were used by the Brits. Some are really ominous looking, as big as a tennis court with a forest on top for aerial camouflage. Me and my mates, when we were young tear-aways, were on Acid and got into one that went underground through a hatch. It was freaky stepping through the darkness with only a flickering cigarette lighter to the light the way. Really scary stuff but such a laugh especially when the shadows were dancing about not helped by the visuals you get on acid. There was a TV programme on the other day following a fanatical British man in search for all the WWII bunkers in the Netherlands and the cameras followed him, brilliant stuff, imo. I hope to go to Germany one day and see all their underground ones, if they still exist. Reminds me of playing ''Medal of Honour'' on the X-Box.
What's at Castricum, sounds like an old roman town. a long time ago we went to some old fishing dorpjes that used to be on the zuide zee but now are on the lake. i wanna say hardewijk and elfspeet or elsburg or something. and a turf musuem, that was neat too. i think this time i should do more day trips (and i'm not talking about shrooms here) to the efteling, maybe madurodam. is there a legoland? i don't know if i want to see german stuff from the war. that stuff tends to put me in a bad mood. yeah, i think i'd like to see some middle ages stuff. maybe climb some church towers in small villages. i'm stayin for two weeks so i should at least get of my ass once.
man i wanted too, the fishing part is what got me, fishing an getting high mmmmmmmm, do you have any links to regulations? wanted to bring my fishing pole with me last trip but i didnt know where to fish, baits used etc.etc. ,so far the wife and i plan on being there in november,which she's not down with my fishin plans"think ive burnt her out on fishin" almost all of our trips have ended up with me fishing.... any links to rules, fees, and regulations would be helpful,
I don't know anything about Castricum. It's just an normal town near the beach I think. from their site: There is no legoland, but madurodam is some kind of legoland. Madurodam is quite small. Within 1,5 hour you've seen it all. I prefer Walibi over the Efteling because the attractions suck. The Efteling is a so called fairytale park, maybe you'll like it, I don't. Wouldn't recommend Walibi either because the rollercoasters there are still nothing compared to the US coasters. If you want to climb a church I really recommend Delft. You can go to the nieuwe kerk. This church has the royal vault where the members of the royal family rest in peace. Entrance is 2,50 and a trip to the top is included. I've done it myself, walking hundreds of small stairs to the top. After that you can drink a beer on the terraces in front of it. http://www.nieuwekerk-delft.nl/eng/ Cadcruzer, even though I like to eat fish, I've never done fishing myself so don't know nothing about it.
thank you fedor. i am only thinking of the efteling for my kid. rollercoasters are fun but they wear my ass out. i prefer water parks but i am not intersted in goingto one while in holland. hey you know where piet heyn is buried? he is my hero.
Piet Heyn is buried in the oude kerk in Delft. The oude- and nieuwe kerk are about 5 mins away from each other, and you can visit them both for only 2,50 http://www.oudekerk-delft.nl/eng/
If you think the efteling is to far away you can also consider going to Duinrell http://www.duinrell.nl/duinrell_en/index.htm
Please, not Duinrell. Dont understand what you dislike about de Efteling, but i love it. Yes its a fairytale park, so what. De Droomvlucht is about the best thing ever built, and thats from someone who's a huge fan of rollercoasters. It once got the price for most beautiful themepark in Europe, and imo it is. Walibi is good though, the rollercoasters that is, couldnt care less about Bugs Bunny (or is it now a kangaroo again?). Oh and about the beach, unless youre dying to see me work my ass off carying plates around, i wouldnt suggest Scheveningen. Its growded, messy, touristy. I always go to Meijendel, its about 5 km. to the north of Scheveningen, in a place called Wassenaar. Full of rich people, large houses, but that doesnt matter. The dunes are really pretty, so are the woods behind them, and the beach is never crowded and clean. I love the cathedral in Den Bosch, its pretty out of the way but in my opinion worth a visit.
Now THIS is a thread! Have a F'N awesome time on your upcomin' trip there mafuman! Sounds like you'll be unable to have anything otherwise by the sounds of this thread. Don't let us down on the trip reports either. Take some notes amongst the many smokeables, please. BTW, the Netherlands Coastline is TITS! Take a daytrip to Haarlem and hit Zandvoort (only 10-15min. away) and you'll not regret. A true highlight of my last trip (May '05), thanks to the kind dealer at Willie Wortels Sativa who recommended it. Myrtje; Your advice is Golden! ;-)
Hello lctricity, thanks. i will definately try to keep a trip log. i tried last year, taking notes each day becuase after five days it all becomes a blur. then hopefully i can find an interent cafe and post if anything interesting happens. like what happened yesterday... had to go to atlantic city for a bachelor party. atlantic city is a funny city becuase all the streets are in the monopoly game. anyway, this one guy couldn't spend the night with us, he had a curfew to leave at midnight. why? well apparently at the last bachelor party he went to, he was a naughty boy. his wife had forbade him from doing drugs but he did partake. and he did some other naughty things. well the wife overhears someone and finds out he did snort a little powder and confronts him:"i know what you did! i heard what you did at the party!" to which he responds: "but it was only a BLOWJOB!" hehehehe.
