After a few minutes of walking around the town, we find a suitable coffeeshop and head straight for the counter at the back of the shop. All around the counter are big jars packed with various types of Ganja: Northern Lights, AK-47, Durban Poison ... my mouth waters and my eyes bulge with delight.
We have a look a the menu and decide to try the House Special. 50 Guilders buys us a little bag with a sticky, pungent smelling Ganja bud - enough to roll a decent sized joint with.

We take a couple of skins from the counter, grab a party flyer to prepare the weed on, a couple of drinks and sit at a table.

We use the whole baggie for one joint. Roll it tight and light up. Aaahh ... what a fine flavour. Silky smooth on the throat with a fresh, fruity taste. The stuff is so nice that we end up smoking the whole joint. By the time it goes out, I'm feeling the freight-train of THC driving into my brain. We overdid it. We smoked way too much. The locals usually mix a tiny bit of this potent Ganja with tobacco, but we just smoked a whole joint of it ... and now we're as stoned as statues.

A young couple from Italy join us, making small talk and offering us a hit of their joint ... I knew I had more than enough, but couldn't resist the chance to try some more of these wonderful Dutch treats. The conversation is a little strained as we try to catch up with accents, which are made even more incomprehensible by the hazy stone of the weed.

After a while, our stomachs are beginning to complain and the munchies attack, so it's off on a mission to find some food and eventually, our hotel. Our sense of direction is now totally screwed, the traffic is coming from the wrong direction, and finding the hotel turns out to be quite a task, but we find it somehow and we crash into bed as soon as we get into the room. It has been a long day, we're still feeling a little disoriented and the Ganja has us goofed. Sleep comes quickly.

The next day, we wake nice and early. St. Nicholaas has prepared a traditional Dutch breakfast of ham and cheese and after fuelling up, we go exploring. The weather in September has a little bit of everything. It changes by the hour - sunny for a while, then rainy, sunny again and so on. A raincoat or umbrella is essential.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city...