There are 3 different barneys! But let me know when you are in Amsterdam, would be nice to have a drink! x

Jeanie, on 15 March 2011 - 12:53 PM, said:

let me know about you barneys
i shall be in amsterdam the late afternoon/evening of june 28. ace!

Jeanie, on 15 March 2011 - 11:00 AM, said:

@boywiththegoldeneyes: hopefully you aren't the tourist who can handle the weed on that day.

KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THE KUSH!^^

brother_ging, on 15 March 2011 - 7:15 PM, said:

it's going to be another business trip with my boss, colleagues and a number of university students. so no way drugs are going to be involved.

also, music is my only drug. which I can handle, mostly at least.

BoywiththeGoldenEyes, on 15 March 2011 - 1:25 PM, said:

BoywiththeGoldenEyes, on 15 March 2011 - 7:29 PM, said:

LOLZ, so it's all about the students. keep us informed!

Jeanie, on 15 March 2011 - 11:00 AM, said:

And this !

brother_ging, on 15 March 2011 - 10:08 PM, said:

well I really hope they do not find barneys but those I know by now seem to be okay and could be enjoying amsterdam without drugs. there'll be some more joining in the trip, don't know those yet - will see...

Bwahahaha Goldenboy! That video.

On a more serious note: Whats up with this Amsterdam-Drugs thing? Is this the general idea people seem to have about Amsterdam ; that everybody smokes weed and does loads of drugs? Just wondering! Because the only people i know that are doing lots of drugs and weed are tourists. I'm not saying myself and my friends are saints, but we are more recreational users (once or twice a year).

Amsterdam is the most beautiful city in the entire world, and it frustrates me that 90% of the tourists only see the dodgy places like the big squares, red light district and coffeeshops!

x

Jeanie, on 16 March 2011 - 10:28 AM, said:

I do not! I am really looking forward to our guided city tour, a boat tour on the Grachten (are they really called "canal" in Dutch???) and a nice meal in a good restaurant and hopefully also time to meeting up with you! I just think it is the typical young tourists' thing: "Drugs are legal in Netherlands, whooohooo! (which they are not really) Let's get stoned!" Regardless of where they are going (apart from Maastricht as you cannot get stuff from coffeshops any more if you're not a Dutch citizen and resident) but most of them are going to Amsterdam actually for it's the capital, hm? We'll be in Den Haag for most of the time but as Amsterdam is so beautiful we have decided to spend few hours there. The prof accompanying us is in his 70ies so I do not think he's into the whole drugs/red light district thing.

Last time I've been to Amsterdam was when I was 10 or so, so I wasn't either by then... and still am not.

I visited Amsterdam as a backpacker once ... back in 1978!! I found it pretty magical as a visitor but I must admit I was permanently stoned while there

Jeanie, on 16 March 2011 - 10:28 AM, said:

Haha i wasn´t refering to you goldenboy!

Canal is the english word fot ´kanaal´ and ´kanaal´ is almost the same as ´gracht´.
You will LOVE the boattour, they call Amsterdam ´venice of the north´.

And you are right, drugs are not legal in Amsterdam. Even mushrooms are now illegal. And weed is actually not legal aswell, it´s ´allowed´ (strange dutch law, you are not allowed to grow weed but than where do the coffeeshops get weed from....)

Only a few hours in Amsterdam is not enough! If you have time any other day, let me know, i can show you around! Chemical brothers and siters united! Hahahaha.

Aww jealous! I'd love to be heading over to the dam again. You''ll love it!

yes, amsterdam is way too beautiful to do drugs 24/7. this time we hope to make it to amsterdam arena to watch a ajax amsterdam football match. last times we also did this touri grachten journey. it was so impressive to see those beautiful buildings. other thing is, that nearly all of the dutch citizens in dam are really friendly, going tru live with a smile.

amsterdam on nye 2007 we made the big big mistake to join dam square on midnight and visiting red light district. it was pure midnight madness, but in a bad way. there were so much people, everyone went crazy. sometimes i thought they do TNT in those narrow streets, broken glass everywhere (people pissing on the....LOL).

for the red light district: it's funny once but it's not a must see in future amsterdam trips. too much is going on there at night. people everywhere and dealers all around

amsterdam in summer was the best. chillout in vondelpark, good restaurants, 100% beautiful ladies (and i don't mean the red light district hookers), exploring new districts of the town. btw dutch girls: are they so fit because they are biking all day long or because of drawing little boats? impressive. and so friendly and sweet at the same time.

ok, we also like to smoke some good weed in amsterdam because we like to but it's not like jumping from bridges or lying besides the streets totally stoned or something. we are not moking around and stuff. when we are in amsterdam it's like coming to friends and so we are to them.

only thing we had to critize was, that the club culture is totally different like in austria or germany. everything is starting a bit earlier and also the music was not our cup of coffee at clubs we went to. mostly rnb and trancy stuff. of course there will be parties where everyone would say: wohoooo afterwards but when we viited we couldn't find anything good (last summer we went, there was this 2 days white sensation party but we think that fete blanches are mostly annoying in general).

but with the years it's not so important to us to party through clubs till next morning.

to sum it up: amsterdam is not about drugs it's the drug itself and a dream of mine is to live there one time.

On Drugs and Amsterdam, It's a weird stereotype promoted in Western Culture I think. It's like how BC is known for its excellent bud even though it is illegal (think it has to do with the moisture ).

Back in October, 4 of the Americans I was studying/living/put up within London went to Amsterdam and the only thing that I heard they did was find mushrooms and fuck about. Their plan was to do this from the start of the trip when we arrived in Washington during August. I was happy just sticking around London going for the occassional Shisha where the most hassel was having at least 4 people paying.

If I was to go to Amsterdam I'd probably be more interested in seeing the architecure or trying to find the space invader pixels across town. I have found them now in Tokyo, Paris, and London. Next up will be Rome in May.

To be honest, had I gone to Amsterdam when I was younger, I would have hit up a coffeeshop or 2. Or 3 or 4. I guess it would be a western stereotype we placed on Amsterdam but I think there's also a novelty factor that comes into play. Like, where I'm from, the thought of walking into a shop off the street and ordering a hash cake is quite novel. Same with walking down the street and seeing, erm, houses of ill repute just out there in the open. California has gotten pretty lax as far as pot goes in recent years, but in American culture sex and drugs are still the most taboo subjects around. So to be in a different environment where these things are out there, real and not shielded from public view is a novel thing that I think would appeal to a younger crowd. Personally at my age (and the fact that I've used up pretty much all my illicit happy fun-time points, etc etc) I can't really see me indulging in something like that if I were to visit Amsterdam. I think at my age I'd find it a waste of time. There's so much culture and art and other amazing things to indulge in. Like having Jeanie as a tour guide, for instance!

whirlygirl, on 16 March 2011 - 11:28 PM, said:

here you speak very wisely - once again!

http://bustallmajors.com/

Great Replies!

@ Brother_Ging: Yes, NYE damsquare is a place everybody should avoid. I've been there once (i think 2002) and it sucked, It's too crowded.
I don't mind tourists smoking weed in Amsterdam, at all. As long as they enjoy the beauty of our city and not only the inside of a coffeeshop. If i would be a tourist i wouldve visited a coffeeshop myself. But as you said; the city is the best drug!
As for the partying; i think you went to the wrong touristic places. Amsterdam actually has one of the best scenes in Europe. (Madpooter and Mippio will agree!) We have awesome parties going on every week. And with awesome , i mean REALLY top notch dj's (known and unknown). The techno scene is really REALLY big here (The good techno scene, not the commercial stuff). Next time you go i'll give you some reccomendations.

@ Whirls: I think you are right. Because sex and drugs are so out in the open, thats what people are interested in, espcially when you are from a country where this all is taboo.
Whats funny is that, yes Dutch people are very open minded. But me and my friends hardly smoke weed or do drugs. As for the red light district; i have to admit that when i bike trough that area on my way to something i don't even see it anymore. Because it's so normal to me. I think it's good that there is a place where guys can go to have sex so they don't go crazy and start doing crazy shit to innocent girls. They are trying to bring prostitution back to just this area, so it can be controled better.