Friday night, we´re a little fragile from the night before, so we decide to take it easy and head to Bar Gollem:
As I´m locking my bike, I met two Bulgarians from the wedding who are regulars at Gollem. They have just left after a session, and have that rosey cheeked Belgian Beer Buzz going on. I keep on promising a Whisky and Scottish food night. We´ll see.
Once we are in, there is a table of about 15 Antipodeans, and it doesn´t take long for The Kiwi to know a few of them. There´s a Kiwi/Dutch couple we´ve met here before, so 5 mins in the door, and we are going with the flow and supping some fine beers. I´ve decided to stay off the Devil based beer names(Satan, Lucifer, Duvel, Kwel), and drink a recomendation of The Bulgarian´s - Anker:
It's a fruity little number, and like most Belgian style beers, goes down a treat. Before long more lads arrive and the Lucifer's, Satan's, St Bernardus, Bush and LaChouffe is flowing.
We stay drinking unitl the place closes and then head off home; refreshed.
Saturday Morning, I stagger out of my room at about the same time as the Kiwi. He has mates coming to visit today. It's a mate of his from his Japanese adventures, and they were also at the Oktoberfest last week. He and his Girlfriend are visiting Amsterdam as part of her studies in Sweden, and they are staying at our place and taking the oppurtunity to see a little bit of Amsterdam.
The Kiwi and I have a slow morning. Not because we are hungover, but because it's been a long week, and we need a few hours to veg in front of the TV for our brains to catch up. For some reason, you don't seem to get a hangover when you drink Belgian beer's. I think it's something to do with the beer being better quality.
A few phone calls, and it's clear there are plans for tonight. We are going to house party. The truth is WE are constructing a house party at a Kiwi friend's house who lives in the middle of the Red Light District. This is our third night on the razz on the trot, so things are a little slow.
I spend the afternoon in Record Shops. Trawling through trays and trays of Vinyl. It's been months since I've had the time to do this. It's a very relaxing pursuit. I go to my favourite record shop in Amsterdam - Concerto:
It's a great shop for raking through lots of genres, media(DVD, Vinyl, CD) and thoughts. Its about 4 shops all joined together, and it's open on a Sunday, so I associatte it with timeless, wasted days and relaxation. Today, it turns out I buy nothing. There seems to be very few new additions to the vinyl collection, and no new music. Still it served the job of passing tiem between drinking sessions.
After Concerto I head over to Get Records which is across the road:
Even though I've just been paid, and was all ready to spend some money, I come away empty handed. Couldn't find any new albums, nothing took my fancy. The record industry should take note; I was ready to spend money, but they had nothing on offer.
I head home, have a quick shower and get myself spruced up, then head of to meet The Kiwi and two new Ozzies at the beer shop before heading red light-wards.
It's good fun watching people who have only been in Amsterdam for half a day. They are still shocked by the Stoner's, Junkies and Freaks who pollute the centre. It's strange(And a bit of a shame), but you become blaise to it after a while, and nothing surprises you or amuses you anymore.
Anyway, via a few Tourst windows, we arrive in Red Light Kiwi flat. There's two kiwi girls live here, and they are beer monsters. Almost every weekend is spent downing pints and watching rugby. Luckily they have a reaosanble music collection as well, so their flat is a perfect place to party. Slowly people trickle in and add their beer to the already overflowing fridges. We then dive into chaos, as everyone sits around has a laugh drinks beer, watch some music DVD's, tell jokes, stories, the antipodeans compare Oktoberfest bruises and generally everyone has a good laugh. Eventually everyone has gone home or fallen asleep................
Having stayed at the house, I get home at about 11am. The boys back in my flat are planning a bike ride, so isntead of having a shower and recovering from our hangover, we have decided to head off to the Heineken Experience to do the tourist thing. They are just leaving so I change my shirt and spray soem deoderant - which the Kiwi describes as a Mauri Shower.
We head throught he vondel park and have a long meandering cycle around Amsterdam, since it's Sunday, the weather's dry and we have tourists to play with. Vondelpark is starting to look Autumnal. The summer may be over:
I've been in Amsterdam 3 years and never been to the Heineken experience. Just never got round to it:
Our touring party is me, The Kiwi, an Ozzie, and a Dutchman. The Heineken Experience isn't a patch on the Guinness Warehouse that I was at just 2 weeks previous, but it's a good way to spend a few hours. I'm less than impressed with Exhibits telling me how beer is brewed and the History of Heineken. We have our three Biertje allowance, enjoy the "Pretend you're a bottle" ride and then collect our free glass before getting back on the bikes and heading off. It's a bit of a whirlwind tour, but now I can say I've seen it. Our recent passion for slightly better quality beers means that going to a museum to taste three piddly glasses is fun, but nothing special.
Once we are outside, The Kiwi heads off to Kick Boxing and I have two tourists to show Amsterdam.(The Dutchman's from Utrecht). I've decided that to keep the theme, we should head to the Brouwerij 't ij:
Brouwerij 't ij is a tiny brewery about 2km east of Centraal Station. It is housed in a windmill, so is pretty picturesque. More importantly it brews my favourite beer in Amsterdam. Zatte:
Zatte is beautiful. It is a Belgian style beer, which is full of flavour, and drinking it in the Brewery makes it taste, very very fresh. The brewery is open from 15.00 till 20.00 Wednesday to Sunday, and the four beers they brew cost less than 2 euros for a very reasonably sized glass. The only drawback of course is that Zatte is 8% so I usually limit myself to 2 of these babies before heading home. On a nice summer's day(Which this is not), it's a wonderful to sit outside the brewery and enjoy a few of these delights while enjoying the sun and the Canal boats which leisurly pass.
After our alloted two beers(Ontop of the Heineken we had for Brunch) it's back on the bikes to head off around Amsterdam again. Every Sunday should be like this. Not a care in the world, cycling around. We take a walk through the Jordaan District of Amsterdam where you can wander around and lap up the atmosphere of a more traditional looking Amsterdam:
We head back to the flat and I finally get a shower, we have some munchies, watch a film and then after a phone call from the kick boxer's it's off to Coco's Australian theme bar for some tucker and beers before going to bed.
Bit of a wild weekend, but when I'd worked for so long, I needed to let my hair down a little. I'm quite proud of the fact that on the 25th Anniversary of John Bonham's death and the Demise of Led Zeppelin, I woke up on in a house that wasn't my own after a kicking party, Visited two Breweries and drank in 4 bars:
BONZO WOULD BE PROUD!!!
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