Apart from hookers and weed does anyone know what kind of fun stuff there is to do there? Will be visiting Museums and stuff.
Actually now that I think of it, are any of you spags from Amsterdam and want to meet up?
I'm guessing Trip. Aren't all Dutch people from Amsterdam? :lulz:
I mean, what the hell is in Maastricht? Seriously, what's in Maastricht?
Quote from: Faust on August 16, 2010, 01:09:21 AM
Apart from hookers and weed does anyone know what kind of fun stuff there is to do there? Will be visiting Museums and stuff.
Actually now that I think of it, are any of you spags from Amsterdam and want to meet up?
RAW recommended a visit to the Van Gogh museum after hitting the 'coffee shops':
http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp
There is an Awesome medieval torture museum, the smallest church in the world (it's in the red light district) I forgot the name, there are tons and tons of out door flea markets, again names elude me, we were judges in Cannabis Cup, hence... Also the Heiniken tour is awesome... more to come wife is rdy for lights outs... Oh, and Barney's breakfast but that also falls into the weed territory so...
When meeting up with StMae there last year, Regret took us to some cool distilled liquor tasting shop which had like hundreds of different types of flavours of liquor one could try, they were good.
Also, I'm in the North of NL, Maastricht is in the south and Amsterdam is somewhat in the middle. But if you tell me which week it's going to be, I might be able to stop by. After all, you never come to the DoD in Edinburgh, and we have to meet somehow :-P Also, next weekend I have to be in that general area anyway due to a Bachelor's party on Saturday.
Apikoros, outdoor fleamarkets are probably only on special days (maybe you were there with Queen's Day?).
I just checked the van Gogh museum site for you, entrance fee is 14 euros, no discount for students :( OTOH van Gogh is pretty awesome.
I'm not really well-qualified to tell you what cool stuff there is to do in Amsterdam, cause it's kind of big, touristy and expensive IMO and there are nicer places in NL to visit :-P
HOWEVER I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING!!
... some guys in Berlin told me about this awesome thing called the "City Spy Guide" which has a big map of all the crazy weird cool little-known stuff you'd ordinarily never find on your own, for various large cities in Europe:
http://www.thespymap.com/
you can download the maps (two sided, one side map, other side descriptions) as PDF for free. Even though the website looks like it was made in 1995 (not bad, just frames and big buttons :)), according to the dates, the PDF maps should be current to 2010.
I would advice everybody who is planning on visiting Europe to check and download these maps.
As an example, we went on an "alternative pub crawl" in Berlin (which was hella fun), the first bar we visited was a "ping pong bar", no idea what that meant, but it was exactly what it said on the label, big pingpong table in the middle of the bar, get a ping pong bat for 5 euro deposit and start playing round-the-table. Anyway, after we left I was talking to these two other Dutch guys that were also in the group, saying I'd have never found this place on my own, because from the outside on the street, it was just a random metal door with some graffiti on it, no indication whatsoever there was a nice bar behind it. "Well actually, WE would have found it ...", one of the guys said, as he showed me the Berlin City Spy Guide. The next day I googled it and what do you know, all the PDF maps are available for free. YAY AWESOME.
When are you going? Turns out I have a free week from September 1st-6th and I can only go to Turin and Milan so many times in that period before it gets boring.
Going from Wednesday to Wednesday starting this week, Back a few days before September, so I'll miss yourself Cain, but I intend to go travelling again a lot over the next year if I'm not in college so I'm sure I'll get to see some faces around and about.
Trip if you're about just give me a shout, I should have internet in the hotel for the week so I'll still be contactable.
Also that guide looks like exactly what I wanted, cheers.
No worries. I should, in theory, save some money anyway, so the less travel and the more moping around on the mountain I do, the better.
There is a museum of cats. so I hear...
Quote from: Faust on August 16, 2010, 10:42:36 AM
Going from Wednesday to Wednesday starting this week, Back a few days before September, so I'll miss yourself Cain, but I intend to go travelling again a lot over the next year if I'm not in college so I'm sure I'll get to see some faces around and about.
Trip if you're about just give me a shout, I should have internet in the hotel for the week so I'll still be contactable.
I haven't exactly solidified the travelling plans for that Bachelors party on Saturday, it's somewhere in the vicinity of Utrecht, from where it is a rather shorter trip to Amsterdam than from where I live. Since most of the people setting up the party are from that area, it's probably a good plan anyhow to go there a day earlier and sleep over at one of my friends places (probably Utrecht, but the trains are pretty good between there and A'dam).
I'll talk it over with them, and let you know.
QuoteAlso that guide looks like exactly what I wanted, cheers.
Yeah :) So let's go and find a couple of those places, then :) I wonder what's there to find, myself. BTW there's a bunch of places in Amsterdam (and the other cities) where you can pick up printed versions of those maps, just in case:
http://www.cityspy.info/index-things/add-your-place-on-spy.htm
And maybe Regret wants to come too, he lives closer to Amsterdam than me.
And Cain, if you change your mind on going to visit NL, I'll try and see what I can do to come hang out with you as well, naturally.
Sounds like a plan, im free pretty much 24/7 (unless i find a job in the mean time) so tell me to be somewhere and i'll be there.
There is actually a lot of things to see in Amsterdam what don't include drugs or protitutes, not that those aren't worthwhile reasons to visit I am sure. First off, don't plan on driving a lot. Most people walk or bike the city. Parking is very limited so unless you are leaving the city, I would leave your car at the hotel.
A lot depends on if you want to be guided by someone or just do the wander here and there approach. We were there in the mid nineties. Did a week there and had an amazing time. A couple of things I enjoyed the most was the bike tour of the city and the redlight walking tour. Both were relatively inexpensive and we had a lot of fun.
Are you going "with" someone? Because the candlelight canal ride is really nice, but a lot of romantic too sooo....
Brussels is a day trip away. There are the tulip fields, Antwerp, they do windmill tours. And in addition to that there is some of the most amazing and well preserved architecture in Europe in Amserdam. You can rent waterbikes, that's a lot of fun. You almost have to go to the Anne Frank house, I mean damn. There are probably 50 or more museums. Free concerts.
You'll be there during the big Grachten festival so that will be a lot of fun for you. You can find smaller ones in and around the city as well. They do a lot of outdoor things in the city.
The potential to have a wonderful time is there. Enjoy it!!! :mrgreen:
I think Faust should import a hill, to bamboozle, confound and drive the natives insane.
Quote from: Regret on August 16, 2010, 04:23:14 PM
Sounds like a plan, im free pretty much 24/7 (unless i find a job in the mean time) so tell me to be somewhere and i'll be there.
Cool! I can do Friday, talked it over with my friend, I'll take the train to Utrecht in the evening and can sleep at his place.
It kinda depends on Faust's plans, it takes me 2.5h to get there, so not before 11.30/12 would be most comfortable :)
The museum of wax figures is pretty unsatisfying and don't get fooled by anyone who says that they look like real people - they don't. So that's one place I regret going to. But somewhere around the flower market in the centre of the city there is a really nice music store. More like a music bookstore actually, so I'd recommend going there if you're into that kind of stuff. On the central plaza I saw some amazing street artist, totally worth checking if he performs every day. That's about all I know, since my stay in Amsterdam was pretty short.
Also Brussels is really close to Amsterdam and if you apreciate chocolate you totally should go there. I mean - BEST FRIGGIN CHOCOLATE EVER!
Quote from: Khara on August 16, 2010, 04:56:41 PM
There is actually a lot of things to see in Amsterdam what don't include drugs or protitutes, not that those aren't worthwhile reasons to visit I am sure. First off, don't plan on driving a lot. Most people walk or bike the city. Parking is very limited so unless you are leaving the city, I would leave your car at the hotel.
A lot depends on if you want to be guided by someone or just do the wander here and there approach. We were there in the mid nineties. Did a week there and had an amazing time. A couple of things I enjoyed the most was the bike tour of the city and the redlight walking tour. Both were relatively inexpensive and we had a lot of fun.
Are you going "with" someone? Because the candlelight canal ride is really nice, but a lot of romantic too sooo....
Brussels is a day trip away. There are the tulip fields, Antwerp, they do windmill tours. And in addition to that there is some of the most amazing and well preserved architecture in Europe in Amserdam. You can rent waterbikes, that's a lot of fun. You almost have to go to the Anne Frank house, I mean damn. There are probably 50 or more museums. Free concerts.
You'll be there during the big Grachten festival so that will be a lot of fun for you. You can find smaller ones in and around the city as well. They do a lot of outdoor things in the city.
The potential to have a wonderful time is there. Enjoy it!!! :mrgreen:
The candlelight ride sounds really nice, it is with the girlfriend I'm going with, And between the chocolates and the tulip fields we'll probably have to spend a day in Brussels. It should be a blast.
Quote from: Regret on August 16, 2010, 04:23:14 PM
Sounds like a plan, im free pretty much 24/7 (unless i find a job in the mean time) so tell me to be somewhere and i'll be there.
Cool, So I might see yourself and Trip over the weekend? I'll have internet access again on wed/thurs so I'll check back in with you then.
Weekend it is :D
Ehh, weekend? If you count Friday as the weekend, then yes. That's the only day I can make it though, cause Saturday I'm doing the bachelor party the whole day (starts off at 13h when we throw the bride-to-come from an airplane, skydiving), and Sunday I probably want to sleep out a bit and could be very hungover (there will also be a cocktail workshop), although I'll still be in Utrecht that day.
cool, Friday it is.
Quote from: Faust on August 17, 2010, 11:56:34 PM
cool, Friday it is.
okay, time?
btw maybe I missed it, but are you there on holiday or business? Given that your gf is there I assume holiday :)
Ay a Holiday, not sure what time yet but I'll know later.
I just got good news for me but bad news for you.
I am going to work this weekend at the lowlands festival.
I really need the money so...
i work from friday morning till monday evening so the weekend is lost :(
oh well, at least i get actual income this month.
What makes it doubleplus cool is that i really wanted to go to lowlands but didnt have a ticket or money.
so now i can see at least some of the festival. while being paid. for doing really simple and light work.
sorry i can't come, the liquor tasting store is under the krasnapolsky hotel in amsterdam.
here (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=&daddr=Dam+9,+1012+JS+Amsterdam,+Nederland+(NH+Grand+Hotel+Krasnapolsky)&hl=en&geocode=Ce7r_USS52LDFfYkHwMd8a1KACHv91GSueOsNg&mra=mift&sll=52.373018,4.894259&sspn=0.010637,0.033023&ie=UTF8&ll=52.372246,4.902391&spn=0.021275,0.066047&z=15)
when you are facing the front entrance of the hotel take a right turn, walk 10-20 steps, turn left and keep walking even when you come to the sliding doors, go through the sliding doors and out the other side and the store/cafe is on your left.
cool thanks for the info :)
have a good time at Lowlands, then! My brother did that job a few years ago (part of his tasks was selling burgers, iirc) he said it was easy work indeed, plus he got to be backstage (although what's the use of seeing and/or bothering the artists when they're not performing is a mystery to me, and to him as well, he told me "I think I saw Aphex Twin walking there, but ... yeah. Well I think I saw him. Could've been a random roadie, though").
AND FAUST REPLY YOUR PM
(or if someone has his mobile phone # for me? cause without a time and a place there's not much use in going to Amsterdam and hoping to bump into Faust by sheer chance, heh)
Pm sent
So, we had a great time. Hung around with Faust a bit for the afternoon., and in the evening I dragged him and his girlfriend to Utrecht, where there's restaurants right at the wharfs next to the canals, so you can sit there and eat at water level which is really pretty, plus they had really nice food. And Faust's gf discovered she likes Kriek beer (Belgian lambic beer with cherry flavour, which is indeed really tasty, kind of like a crossover between cherry cassis and a light fresh beer).
I've had to play tourist guide in Amsterdam 3 or 4 times before, and only this one time I kinda felt like I did a good job about it. Turns out the solution is to take them away from Amsterdam and to Utrecht, where it's less crowded, less touristy, just as pretty, and I actually know my way around there :) And it's only 25 minutes and about 5 euros by train, so it's not really an excuse to not see more of the Netherlands anyway :)
The thing is, apparently not many people know this, but Amsterdam is part of a city conglomerate called the "Randstad" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randstad) (Rim city), it consists of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), and the surrounding areas, making up about 50-66 percent of the population in the entire Netherlands. The important thing for tourists to know about this, is that basically when you exist one of those cities, you immediately enter the next one, there's not much (or any) open space between them. (except in the middle of the ring, which is why it's called "Rim city"--thank you Wikipedia, I did not know that either :) ).
So for people visiting the Netherlands, there's not much reason to not check out the rest of the Randstad because it's really around the corner:
- Rotterdam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotterdam). You can maybe skip this one. Well, it's quite big and got about the same stuff as Amsterdam, technically, but all I know about it is that my girlfriend lived there for a couple of years and she hated it there, city's got no soul or something. But it's a big city so it's probably got some fun places too. Crime's a bit higher there as well, in Amsterdam you don't have to worry much about accidentally wandering into a ghetto, especially in daytime, in Rotterdam I'm not 100% sure. It does house the great (HUGE) harbour that makes the Netherlands such a great traders country, but it's a bit outside of the city afaik. If you like huge industrial installations with loads of pipes and metal and cranes and that sort of thing, check it out by night, it's all lit up, pretty cool but again sort of out of the way from the city center. Wikipedia's probably got a lot of info about Rotterdam, too.
- Utrecht (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht_%28city%29). Shame if you'd miss it. One of my favourite cities in NL. Partly because all my friends moved there after college :) (only reason I didn't move there is because I love the city I'm living in now even more :)). It's a bit smaller than Amsterdam, but less touristy, a bit less crowded. I like going shopping here. The restaurant I took Faust and his gf to is called 't Oude Pothuys (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=oude+pothuys+utrecht&fb=1&hq=oude+pothuys&hnear=Utrecht,+The+Netherlands&ei=UllyTNTuCea5jAfb6Y07&ved=0CH4QpQY&view=map&cid=9783852598730271726&ll=52.088156,5.121861&spn=0.004483,0.013797&z=16&iwloc=A) (the old pottery), though it's about 15-20 minutes walk from the train station. But it's a nice walk. It's also the city closest to where I live, so if you happen to go there it's both easier and cheaper for me to meet up :)
- The Hague (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hague). Again I don't know too much about this city, but it's a good once and you should probably check it out because the Royal Palace is there and the embassies and the International Court and all the political things. It's also got the typical "old Dutch city" pretty buildings just like Amsterdam and Utrecht. Check the wikipedia link to find out more.
(I was going to say something else but I forgot. Let's wait to hear about Faust's stories, though. We also got a few pictures, Faust should post them when he gets the chance)
Cool, thanks for the info Trip, hopefully I'll be visiting a friend studying in Utrecht in January, I didn't realise how close everything was around there, seems like a nice place to be all touristy.
Home again, very very sleepy. Had a great time, will post a full update tomorrow.
Welcome home, Fausty McFausterson.
pix???
Quote from: Cramulus on August 26, 2010, 04:12:07 PM
pix???
some pix, I'm waiting to post them and a rundown of the trip but I'm stuck at work (they called me in a day before I was even supposed to be back, they are lucky I wasn't still abroad).
Nearly forgot to update this, I had an absolute blast over there.
Half the reason we went to Amsterdam was to make the girlfriends sister homesick after she absconded a few months ago.
I'm just going to post the highlights out of order as they come to me.
Meeting Agent 000, the first Discordian I have met who hasn't wanted to kill me (IANAR). We got a nice long chat over a few drinks, in keeping with my Irish heritage any pilgrimage away from home involves drinking at every available opportunity.
After we picked up the gf, trip suggested we head out to Utrecht which was definitely one of the nicest places I have been to. I have a thing for old European cities, especially ones that haven't had their personality tarnished by the tourist trade. I would have liked to have a day to wander around it and fully take in the architecture and have a stop into some museums but a weeks holiday isn't enough.
We went for dinner in a gorgeous restaurant, first having a drink in the atmospheric underground candlelit section of the restaurant with steeped walls, followed by dinner outside right beside the canal with the occasional boat going by. 'twas lovely, we woudn't have found anything that nice if it wasn't for 000, thanks man. 000 is one of the soundest people I have met so anyone out in that neck of the woods should look him up.
I think on the second day we managed to find a strange little costume shop in the red light district selling some awesome masks (I think they were the ones used in eyes wide shut). I couldn't resist: I got a tri-corner hat mask and a blue velvet travelling cloak.
There's some really cool finds in the red light district for those looking, for instance I found a leather pouch that slings onto a belt in some Gay leather bondage shop, I've been looking for one of these for years.
Unfortunately the girlfriend was keeping me on a tight leash, alas no pot or space cakes for me. However I got her to relent and we went to see the Casa Rossa sex show.
It is very touristy, they have managed to ruin sleaze the same way we have ruined green fields and trad music in Ireland. But it was fun, or rather some acts were. The actual sex shows were pretty damn boring, I don't really find watching two people grinding away very entertaining for long.
But the striptease acts in between each one were either hilarious or really well choreographed. The audience participation is what made it more fun I guess. I think the highlight was the stripper admonishing the Chinese tourist with the camera for being too shy to put a buttplug in her.
Museum wise, steer clear of the Van Gogh. The exhibition is good, but there are so many fucking people. I couldn't enjoy it. if you are coming here go first thing in the morning, you might get more from it with less people about.
The Royal palace on the other hand is well worth the visit. The audio tour is well designed and explains a lot of the local history. The sculptures are really impressive and its just a beautiful building in general.
One other place stands out for food, we went to an Ethiopian Restaurant. Food is served in big platters with loads of nan bread for picking pieces up, lovely mix of spicy pork beef and chicken with spinach, lentils and some other stuff I couldn't identify but tasted delicious.
On the last night with the gf's sister we went to see a bar flair competition in one of the hostels. It was a good show, these guys were all amazing jugglers, I wonder what made them specifically want to juggle drink mix.
There is more stuff which I cant remember, if I realise I've missed something major I'll post it.
Tl;dr bottom line: cool place, lots of thrills.
glad you had a good time!
sorry to hear you didn't like the van gogh museum. I was blown away by it, but yeah, it was pretty crowded. Also let down by the realization that "van gogh's ear" is a dutch comic strip and not in fact a preserved severed ear.