Away from the main platz, two or three blocks in any direction gets you to the cafes. Each intersection is flanked on all four corners with outdoor venues, seats for the crowds watching the show as long as you have enough euros to keep up business. These outer passages, away from motor traffic, flow with pedestrians and bicycles. Streets are narrow, perfect for strolling musicians, magicians and artists. Fellow travelers and revelers, some opposite, some diagonal spill into your attention. It is a party, one long, lovely party and I am enjoying myself.
We needed a break from Dutch art. The cafe was cool and the drinks refreshing. New Zealanders at the next table offered a cascade of diversions, we toasted the Tour de France, World Cup and beer, and beer and another round of beer. Homegrown comedians, realpolitik and the inevitable venus/mars discourse melted into what's for dinner. In the confines of Amsterdam, any food to please the palate is available. Our new found friends suggested Thai and offered to show us a wonderful time. So, we packed up our gear and headed off to dinner.
Our first stop was a nearby coffee shop. Seems we needed to verify our quest for Thai by ordering another round of beer and a round of Thai stick. Perfectly legal in Amsterdam, especially if you are white and over eighteen. So, while in Rome as they say...
The menu is quite impressive. For 12 euros, you can get a nice taste of just about any variation of marijuana or hashish available. The wonderful staff will help you along on your quest; they can mix for you, roll for you, light you up, they just won't smoke it for you. You must inhale, your choice, your responsibility. But it's LEGAL.....what a concept!!
The consensus moved us forward to a quaint Thai restaurant where I had the most amazing mussels in spice and garlic, a nice German zinfandel and such exciting dinner conversation. New zealanders do know how to party.
Exchanging addresses and lots of hugs, we set out to walk the streets of Amsterdam. (I feel a song coming on)! Cocentric circles originate at the primary train station, also the bus station, so all roads eventually lead to the last bus home: Gaasperplas.
We are camping at a deluxe place, 50 meters from a metro station, hot showers, groceries, pub....nirvanna! The ride from central station south is another adventure entirely.
Amsterdam is weekend party central, no doubt about it. Come Sunday, there's a different feel to the town, a no nonsense hausfrau personna takes over and the clean up crews are working their collective asses off to pick up rubbish and hose down the streets. Monday morning, Amsterdam is all business, grown up, professional, adult. Responsible and productive, an EU player, getting the job done. And waiting for the weekend...maybe next Saturday, who knows what we might have for dinner. Any suggestions?