Arriving in Amsterdam around 11am and with little sleep, they made their way to the apartment they'd booked from Paris - an upmarket townhouse flat not too far from the Van Gogh museum. It was bigger than they needed but the only option with a few days to spare. This time they were glad not to be right in the heart of the city centre.
They met the guy from the agency at check-in, Chris, who had cycled to the apartment to meet them and then had to cycle back and return with the right set of keys. Nice start but it gave Dave & Kate a chance to pick up some groceries while he was gone.
Chris was a full-on, enthusiastic English guy who had been on his way travelling elsewhere 20 years earlier, arrived in Amsterdam and decided to remain there and live on a houseboat. Kate was touched when he came round one day with some of his own teabags he'd been sent from England.
Once all checked in and sorted, Dave & Kate slept for a good chunk of the day... and for a good part of their first 4 days in Amsterdam. They had immediately felt a very different kind of energy here than in Paris and it seemed to be making them very spaced out and hazy. And that was before anything was smoked.
Yet again, they were thankful for the apartment that had come their way. There was an Albert Heijn supermarket 5 mins down the road, Vondelpark was 2 mins away, a tram stop right outside the flat (they only used it on arrival and departure) and everything else they needed was close by.
In the apartment they found various Buddha statues, photos of elephants and some spiritual books, including 'A Course In Miracles'. They never read any but this type of thing would repeat itself and indicate something was going on.
