Originally Posted by Tchocky (Post 1759280)

Kicking back on the balcony looking over the rooftops of Maastricht as I type this. As always, no drug tourism in sight. I will agree that the traffic on the A2 today was particularly awful.

Originally Posted by jimbuna (Post 1759338)

LOL...is the old market square ringed on 3 sides by coffee shops and pubs still there?

IIRC the square was used as a car park.

Originally Posted by Tchocky (Post 1759356)

Yeah, the squares are still ringed, but now it's cafes and restaurants. The coffeeshops are tucked away in smaller streets. Not that I frequent, I have neither the appetite or inclination. I'm also too fond of my job to do something so irresponsible ;)

Originally Posted by jimbuna (Post 1759400)

Actually, 25 Guilders used to get you a quaint message on a postcard written from a pen that was definitely not being held by the writers hand :DL

Originally Posted by jimbuna (Post 1759438)

Ity would appear you understand.

Mrs Buna still has the postcard and is well aware of its origin :03:

Originally Posted by jimbuna (Post 1759101)

Ah, right....I resided there over 21 years ago so there's a good chance it is something else now...unfortunately :DL

Originally Posted by jumpy (Post 1759047)

Jim,
I don't recall the name of the venue - it had a canal running by it and looked decidedly seedy.
QUOTE]

Dutch Flowers by any chance? Mind you, it's about a decade since I was last there but I don't remember it being too seedy; quite nice really. I spent a lovely afternoon there drinking coffee, reading and sheltering from the snow, (like many European cities Amsterdam is especially pretty on a cold winter day.) I quite liked the small, local style coffee shops you find here and there but utterly loathed the huge commercial operations (Bulldog? is that one of the chains) which seem no different from the large warehouse style super pubs you get here in Blighty. I imagine the growth of these monsters and the attendant public peace issues are one of the big reasons why the Dutch government is looking to a tourist ban - how they are actually going to achieve it will be interesting.

I like the Netherlands as a country and I think it is a real shame that for many people it is synonymous with sex and drugs but I can't see how a national ban is actually going to work without full criminalization on cannabis again. Is that a good idea? Well, ymmv.

I got offered a job in a coffee shop once. Might have been fun! :woot:

Originally Posted by jimbuna (Post 1759400)

Actually, 25 Guilders used to get you a quaint message on a postcard written from a pen that was definitely not being held by the writers hand :DL

Originally Posted by Egan (Post 1759278)

Urgh... Bulldog... in the leiderspline? awful place.
My favourite was opposite the central station. A tiny little place with a counter at one end and a dozen or so wooden tables and benches. Quiet, no booze, and a friendly bloke who explained the menu to me :DL http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/Central.html is the place (internet is great sometimes). I found I most enjoyed amsterdam when there weren't so many tourists about.
I always liked the dutch accent - those klm air hostesses.. *swoon*
Only time I ever saw holland in winter was from inside schiphol airport. Would have been nice to see the rest of it out of season, as it were.



lol Calligraphy I bet it was not!