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February 22, 2005
Back in Town
What a whirlwind trip! We started out on Friday morning when Ronan picked me up in our very sporty Volvo, which we had rented for the occasion. He was appropriately attired with a leather jacket, sunglasses, and driving gloves, and with more than 200 CDs for our listening pleasure. We swung by Polhemsgatan and picked up Kerly and Benny and hit the road.
What Ronan estimated to be a 7-9 hour drive actually took 16 hours. For a road trip, though, it was pretty fun. We drove to Copenhagen, then down through Denmark to the ferry, which took us across to Germany. A foray across Hamburg and Bremen eventually led us to the Netherlands. A couple hours later, we finally hit Amsterdam around 3 a.m. The main reason for the long trip was the terrible weather. Ronan and I switched off driving, and we were rarely without snow, ice, or fog. Even driving a breakneck speed during the patches of good weather couldn't make up for the snail's pace that set our course.
Once we were there, we meandered around until finding our hostel, where Amy had already checked in. We took a quick walk down to the ATM so we could pre-pay for the night, then settled in and quickly fell asleep. The next morning, we enjoyed a late breakfast at Bean and Bagel, and spent the afternoon wandering around town. We made a quick stop at Baraka Coffeeshop, then took a longer walk to Barney's Coffeeshop, which was the recipient of the 2004 Cannabis Cup gold medal for it's Amnesia Haze strain. Very fun.
By then it was time for dinner, which turns out to be the low point of the weekend. I'm sorry to say that walking down the street, trying to find a place for dinner, we all spontaneously stopped in front of a huge sign reading Kentucky Fried Chicken. Yes, in fact, we had fried chicken for dinner. Feeling rather sick to our stomachs afterwards, we strolled across town and went to see Meet the Fockers. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but it was funny and I was finally able to get warm. A late night walk back to the hostel, and then an even later-night walk back to the only convenience store open that late to buy some water for the next morning, and we called it a night.
The next morning, we split up. I ended up going to see the Van Gogh Museum, which was less than 2 blocks away from our hostel. I spent a couple hours there, which meant that I missed seeing the Museum of Modern Art. So instead, I just met up with everyone back at the hostel for dinner. That night, we visited Wagamama for dinner (I had a forgettable Chicken Kare Lomen), Australia for dessert (waffle and ice cream), and Smokey Joe's for pool. Smokey Joe's was high on the "cheesy" scale, but was fun nonetheless. Benny, who had never played pool before, teamed up with Ronan to consistently beat the girls. I tried a chocolate bar laced with Arjan's Haze (winner of the 2004 People's Choice award at the 2004 Cannabis Cup), which Ronan had thoughtfully picked up for me during his afternoon trip to Greenhouse so that I wouldn't have to smoke anymore (my coughing every time was bringing the group down).
We made it back home and fell asleep, only to get up at 9 a.m. for the return trip. Thankfully, Ronan drove the first half, so I was able to sleep in the car (still feeling a little groggy from the Arjan's Haze). We had great weather and were able to make it back in just over 12 hours. I hopped into bed and reveled in the non-smoky nature of my apartment the next day. Then I opened my luggage to unpack, and the stale smell of smoke washed over me again. I'll have to do laundry before I leave for Oslo on Thursday.
So far today I've taken out some of the recycling (tromping down to the recycling parking lot past Willy:s), gone grocery shopping, and checked email. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the rest of my day (or evening, as the case may be). Roya and Jess are gone for the week in Germany, so I have the place to myself. Perhaps I'll walk around naked.
