Sam and Brain's World Domination: AmsterDAMED: onward thru the fog!!

On to the next chapter... Amsterdam!

-After being separated for a little less than a week, we managed to meet up at the Stay-Okay Hostel in Vondel Park and get our feet/Bicycles under us.

-Our first stop?....the grocery store to get the European essentials....Cheese, Bread and Bier! We were amazed at how tasty, flavorful and potent the Dutch and Belgian biers were.

-Stop number 2 was more or less an almost endless journey through the fog! Locals told us it was the foggiest they had seen the city in almost 20 years...making it extremely easy to get lost in the city, especially after having some Belgian trippels and hitting a coffee shop or two! The fog managed to settle for the remainder of our stay, making the wonderful city that much more magical.

Why is everything so cool?!

-On our second day we took our first daytime bike ride through the city.

Cars, bikes, trams and massive steeds roaming the narrow streets

Biking through the fog, keep on your toes or you could get hit by a bus!

-Later we met up with Sam's Brazilian homies, David and Daniel who traveled with him from Barcelona. We took a short stroll in Vondel Park and then headed over to the Van Gogh Museum.

-It was a surreal experience being able to stand a few feet from his masterpiece, the detail of which left us at a loss for words! Brain of course had to break the rules and sketckily took some photos and video with his GoPro in his sleeve, prompting a security guard to keep a close eye on him toward the end of our tour; luckily she never figured out what he was up too!

Chuxxsters chillin' in Vondel Park

-That evening curiosity got the best of us as we meandered toward the Red Light District, but not without getting totally lost once again on the way! We made it there only because a mysterious local, who went by the name 'el presidente', came up from behind us in the fog and guided us there via his bicycle. He gave us the low down on the inner-workings of the city and vanished into the fog as quickly as he appeared!

-On Day 3 we met up with Thomas, whom Brain met in Costa Rica a year earlier, we spent the day inside keeping warm and catching up over many cups of Coffee.

Kicking it at the Doors Coffee shop with Thomas

A little cappuccino to warm the soul

-That evening we spent biking around, getting a few photos/time lapses and discussing life with fellow American Bob Jones, a native american Vietnam vet from Oklahoma who there as a judge for the annual cannabis cup which takes place inside the city.