I got up early and had two apples in the cafeteria alone. Zane was still asleep, I knew there would be nothing for me there, but still, I just wanted to eat in the same space as the other people there. As much of a lone wolf I seem to be at times, Im really much more of a social animal than I admit to be, even to myself. A reality most lone wolves probably share. When Zane woke up we left for the city center to have brunch, Zane didn't feel like a salad, so Venkel was out, which meant we'd have to discover something new. After walking about aimlessly in our usual way through the city center I chose a place that in the end, was way too expensive and low quality in both portion and taste for the price. Kinda bummed at the whole affair we returned to WoW and after a short rest headed back out at around 6ish for our last night out in Amsterdam. We had our first two pints each at the same place we played pool last night. We played four games together, Zane won the first game easily, I beat myself the next two games by calling the wrong hole for the 8 ball, but won the final game. Just as the night before, after playing a few games of pool the establishment told us the table was closed. Then when we left and swung around later the table was open again for other players... Was it just us? Or do they do that for everybody all the time just to keep the competitive nature in people down to a minimum? I couldn't say. Whatever the case may be, Zane was sure it was because of his pool playing prowess and they couldn't have unbeatable players ruling the table.Since we were now fairly inebriated, the next thing to do was to smoke, this time it was my idea, so I got to choose the place. Remembering a sweet little shop we entered before but left for lack of a bong, I decided to go there. On our way, as we were crossing a small bridge ,we saw a man flailing on the ground, twisting and reaching for things round him. He seemed to be alone but I couldn't really say. He wouldn't be for long, because a moment later several security personnel appeared and held him down. He screamed and continued to shout in panic as they then dragged him away behind an ambulance. From the looks of him, he was most probably on a strong psychedelic, mixed with all the usual suspects, tobacco and alcohol. Which in a major city environment such as Amsterdam spells disaster for almost anyone not well versed in the trans-dimensional arts. Inside this little shop I bought a gram of something and rolled it up into a pure joint. We went up to the upper level and sat by the window, watching as that poor guy was being sedated by a gang of strangers sent to take him away. It wasn't long before the shop would close, in fact we had to power smoke the joint just to beat their closing, which was fine by us. I still had some unrolled marijuana left, but I didn't care to smoke it in the morning, so I just ate it plain, which is actually not all that uncommon for me, it doesn't get you nearly as high, but its far better for you than smoking it.We went into a few more bars after that, including the karaoke bar we met the Belgian girls, which was now full of 50 high school German kids, so we didn't stick around. Then Zane convinced me to go to a live sex show, but I instantly regretted it before we got inside and backed out the last second. Instead we decided on a topless bar, which cost 5 Euros to get into for the night, instead of 2 Euros a minute for the sex show. We get into this place and its all run by ladies, topless ladies, there isn't a single lady there with a top on, so it's well and truly a topless bar. Everywhere you looked there was a seductress of one flavor or another waiting for the smallest excuse to run up to a guy and trap him in a lap dance, or better yet there was a bleach blond white girl at the bar who would fling her legs around your unsuspecting head and work her thighs as she held onto a metal bar above the catwalk. That was my first impression. My second impression came down on me like the sword of Damocles, in the form of a huge black woman dancing in dangerously sharp heels on the bar. She flew down from the walkway that her and the other girls were dancing on and then she went looking wildly at each man before her with her piercing gaze. Finally she came to me and grabbed my shirt pulling me to her, I immediately threw my hands up and made every effort to indicate I had no money to pay her for the service, luckily she saw this to be true and moved on to a well dressed white man in his 60's, he tried the same technique but she wasn't buying it and he literally had to run away from her, not once but three times! At this she jumped back on the bar and tore off her underwear and went harder than ever on the pole. Three other men rejected her in the same way as she attempted then to reel them in. But I'm sure that a man befitting her caliber would be around sooner or later.by huge I mean she easily had 70 pounds of pure muscle on me and could probably pop my head open like a rotten melon between her thighs. This is not to say she was unattractive, she was simply too much woman for me or anyone there apparently to handle. Zane spent €37 on two gin and tonics that glowed in the bar light, which made is both broke for the night, so we left as soon as they were empty. We were pretty smashed when we left, I don't think we even knew where we were going. We were following behind a group of girls when suddenly and without the slightest warning one of them smashed her head into a stores plate glass window at full force. Luckily Zane and I were just in time to grab her limp body and help her down. Instantly every one of her friends disappeared, leaving just us and this poor girl who had just knocked herself out cold. She came to in a few seconds and we explained what happened to her, she seemed to understand so we helped her up, then just as soon as she seemed to be all together her eyes roll back in her head and she begins to spasm out, this time falling to the floor so quickly he couldn't catch her. This is when her friend comes back with the police. "Do you know this girl? What happened?" They say cooly, with complete detachment, obviously having seen this same thing hundreds of times before. 
Zane tells them "We were behind her when she just hit her head, we don't know her," and then I show them the mark she left on the window. Before we leave Zane gets a one on one with the girls friend and tells her that she really needs to watch her, she could really hurt herself. We leave the seen content with our part in the story and make it to the night bus, getting home by 2am, and so concludes our first trip to Amsterdam!
Alter Egos
The morning light peered in between the black out curtains of our 12 person dorm room, yet both Zane and I slept in, the walk home and the flights we took were reason enough for anyone to do so, not to mention we are on vacation. This however wasn't to last, our stomachs were growling, and that urge promotes all kinds of adventurous behavior, regardless of the situation. So we left for the super market, resupplied ourselves with organic apples and rice milk, then headed out to the city center. Not surprisingly the city was much different in the day. All the shops were open, people were everywhere and the ladies behind red lighted windows had vanished to whatever occupation or situation they possessed in the day light hours. Before we continue with the story there is something you should know. Im on this journey for two reasons. The first being that Zane and I have never gone traveling together and its the best way to reinforce your bonds with someone, or destroy them completely, depending on how strong they were to begin. This is important to me because for a few years Zane and I didn't talk at all. First because I chose to spend more time with my girlfriend than my friends in school, and ironically enough, because Zane dated this same girl afterwards and she wanted nothing to do with me, neither did Zane. A solid karmic consequence. But years later after they broke up, Zane and I became friends again, and here we are.The second reason I'm going is because I love traveling and the bonus reason is that I already had a return flight to Europe before I ever agreed to join Zane on his trip. So its really a perfect string of coincidences, if you believe in such things..Zane's reasons are the same but with other emphasis', such as wanting to party. Which although I do partake in, I've long since passed my partying heydays. This is most definitely due to my change in diet and lifestyle, and for which I am eternally grateful. So, what makes Amsterdam so special in terms of the party scene? Well, to start, many drugs, such as marijuana and mushrooms are legally sold and used here. There are a great number of "coffee shops" as they call them that sell marijuana in large variety of strains and ways in which to use them, such as pipes, bongs, pre-rolled mixes of tobacco and marijuana etc. but smoking straight tobacco in the shops is strictly forbidden, or in some cases, allowed in sectioned off areas of the establishment, our first Coffee shop was such a place. After walking around a while looking for one we found the Dolphins Coffee shop. Inside it was designed to imitate an underwater marijuana wonderland. With the walls made out of ejection foam molding and painted blue and green, with artwork all over it of mermaids and sand castles. Everywhere you looked there was Marijuana in one form or another, the seaweed for example, was Marijuana. The mermaids hair as well. We ordered a strain of the shops own creation, Dolphin Diesel, their strongest Indica, sativa hybrid and got one of their bongs to smoke with, which was actually very dirty, it looked like it had been smoked out of 150 times since it was last cleaned. There are a number of reasons why this isn't an ideal situation. Cleanliness being the first, ease and effectiveness of use being second. The other thing about this bong that struck us both was that it had a carb, a whole at the bottom to place your finger over and release when you were ready for the smoke. No bong we've ever seen has had one.This was the first time Id smoked in over three weeks, so after 2 hits I was very much inside the ocean surrounding us. Zane on the other hand had smoked within 24 hours so his tolerance was much higher, he went on to hit it 5 times, which would have made me as useful as a doormat underwater. As much as I enjoy where being in these states takes me, I've always believed in being more in possession of my wits when abroad then not. In fact these I days I feel that way regardless of where I am. The assistant behind the bar was reserved but friendly enough. The only thing that put us aside from every other person that came in was that she didn't ask to see our ids, probably the beards. The thing we came to understand very quickly about Amsterdam is that the people here, especially the coffee shop and bar owners have to deal with a multitude of people from all different cultures getting legally high on all kinds of drugs and most of them are not prepared to handle the social graces of such an experience. Thus the locals have very strict and immovable policies towards visitors and have no problem asserting their position. Which is, follow the rules, or get the fuck out. Mind games don't work on them either, so don't think you can Jedi mind trick your way through town. Respect the rules and stay cool, if you cannot do this, you'll quickly be schooled. We left the Dolphins after feeling sufficiently coordinated to do so and had a few local beers at a pub before heading back to the hostel for some rest. During this time I remained in the lobby while Zane slept. There I met two people whom I got increasingly philosophical with about reality, god, purpose and choices. It was an impressive rant on my part, more and more these days I can stop myself from talking and have patience enough to listen while engaged in deep metaphysical or political discussions, unless Im drunk and high, which is exactly what happened next.We entered the city, found a bar and ordered a pint of beer each, we immediately struck up a conversation with the bartender and his friends who were all transplants to Amsterdam of a decade or more each. Three pints later and a few hits of Zane's pipe and I was the old Danny again, raving mad like Hitler in the beer hall, oblivious to the shock and awe I was unleashing upon unsuspecting and undeserving customers. Certain as any prophet sent by god shouting his gospel to any and all if only they would listen. It was 3 Am before I realized the bar was nearly empty and about to close. In truth Zane was the one that got us out of there, his senses of the situation were much keener than my own. We exited into the street and hailed a taxi, he wanted 17 euro for our ride home, which I flatly refused, my go to response to any negotiation regardless of time and place since beginning my traveling experiences alone. But Zane had already gotten in, and agreed on the price, my nose wrinkling as I exhaled sharply, I quickly got in. We were dropped off a half a mile away from our hostel, my fault for giving the only directions I could remember, so we walked the remainder of the way. During all of which Zane was convinced Id led us a stray. But I knew where we were, thanks to my two hour stroll through this part of the city to find the Alchemist Garden, and within a few minutes we were asleep in our bunks...